Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Super Angels have greater scope to match talent with a startup.

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Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Principles of Lean Startups, presentation for Maples Investments Image via Wikipedia Steve Blank and I had the opportunity to create a presentation about lean startups for Maples Investments. Agile software development. you get the idea.

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Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 15, 2010 Some IPO speculation Inspired by Steve Blank’s post today about the “lost decade&# of IPO’s , I’d like to make some predictions. The fact that IPO’s are disappearing makes intuitive sense to me. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian.

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IPO San Francisco Lean Silicon Valley 166

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? The world of building profitable startups ended in 1995.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Agile VC

JULY 16, 2014

Some lament the relocation of Plastiq and other companies who start in Boston but end up moving to Silicon Valley or other startup hubs. In that regard our startup talent pool here in Boston isn’t a leaky bucket… it’s a everlasting, self-replenishing spring.

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Boston Silicon Valley San Francisco Cofounder 208

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. Why It’s “Silicon” Valley. It might be its most important.

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Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 305

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. How to Fund a Startup [link] Its obvious why investors delay. Whats a startup to do?

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San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Join the Lean Startup discussion at Web 2.0 Expo for free Im honored to announce that my Lean Startup session at the Web 2.0 Everyone else can register to come to both sessions for free, including the Lean Startup talk in the main conference. What does this mean for you?

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Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Expo Intensive rocked, the mainstream media has started writing about the Lean Startup, and - most of all - the movement continues to grow and evolve. First of all, the Startup Lessons Learned conference exceeded my wildest expectations. He inspired me to take a deeper look at what we all thought we understood about startups.

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Now that Google’s acquisition of ITA is closed, following lenghty FTC review, it would appear Kayak is poised to proceed with their IPO in the coming months. =.

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Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. VC’s invested in things that ran on electrons: hardware, software and silicon. In 1980 Genentech became the first IPO of a venture funded biotech company.

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Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I have some limited experience in dealing with patents though, both from my time as a VC and also back in my own startup days. And at PayPal we were hit with a couple patent disputes while in the midst of our IPO process. With Facebook in the late innings of its IPO process, Yahoo!

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IP IPO Social Network Silicon Valley 100

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

It was one of those brilliant startup brainstorms that comes to the team in a flash, with a giant thunderclap. Eric, Excellent article about an essential technique for startups. To help find the right keywords, Ive written an article on my blog Web Startup Help that details How to Do Keyword Research for startups.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, May 14, 2009 The Lean Startup Workshop - now an OReilly Master Class My rate of posting has been much lower lately, and this is mostly due to preparations for the upcoming Lean Startup Workshop on May 29. I joined a financial services tech startup in 1999. You can click here to learn more.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Tech IPOs Are Back – So Now What? Three of the five “blockbuster” tech IPOs I predicted have happened (LinkedIn, Groupon, Zynga) and the biggest of all (Facebook) has filed and will likely go public within the next 90 days. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC.

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IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Where did Silicon Valley come from? Those of us who have had the privilege of working in the premier startup hub in the world often take its advantages for granted. You might be wondering: who were those brilliant people who made the key decisions to mold Silicon Valley?

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Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 9, 2009 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo , which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. ericnakagawa : Show of hands how many in startup here? I am now decompressing with a guinness.

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Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, November 17, 2008 The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: part one Ive written before about some of the advantages startups have when they are very small, like the benefits of having a pathetically small number of customers. A "startup within the startup" feeling is a good thing.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. I highly recommend this book for all entrepreneurs, in startups as well as in big companies. Heres the catch. Theory of market types.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. So Groupon obviously filed their S-1 the other day to formally being the IPO process. It also puts another chink in the armor of the meme that monster internet companies can only be built in Silicon Valley (LivingSocial, Kayak, Gilt Groupe, CSN Stores, et al doing damage here too).

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North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Facebook S-1: The Most Anticipated IPO in a Decade. Here’s my first look at Facebook viewed through the lens of their IPO filing. Plus Facebook has ample cash on hand today and will get a huge slug more from the IPO. How To Think About The Future. February 2, 2012.

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IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Im not offering extensive studies or research to support this conclusion; the evidence from my peers right here in the innovation capital of America, Silicon Valley, is absolutely overwhelming. Asked to help, I am confident that Silicon Valley and every other innovation center will step up. They are nerds. Expo SF (May.

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Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

In other words, they are facing conditions of extreme uncertainty, just like startups. But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us. Most publishers are still caught up in an outdated “vision vs. metrics&# argument, which is already obsolete here in Silicon Valley.

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

Its even more critical in lean startups when they need to manage growth. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 20, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, May 20, 2010 Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the Lean Startup) The Wall Street Journal covers the Lean Startup movement in todays paper. who has organized three Lean Startup meetings for Beltway entrepreneurs since October 2009. Eric Ries is experiencing something different.

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Lean San Francisco Arlington Continuous Deployment 153

Agile VC

MAY 9, 2014

Some context… like many startups, the founders of Alibaba still own substantial stakes in the company and believe it’s in the company’s best interests for them to retain an outsized influence in the company’s governance longer term. Companies like Ford and the New York Times Co.

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Government Silicon Valley China Cofounder 153

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. The startup process has become demystified – information is everywhere. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering.

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Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 9, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23, 2010 in SF) Today we are opening up registration for the first ever Startup Lessons Learned Conference on April 23, 2010 in San Francisco. The Startup Lessons Learned Conference is by-and-for entrepreneurs, and only entrepreneurs.

San Francisco 151

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 151

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Execution by Vertical Market As the class progressed, students asked how the activities/functions of a startup; (Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Development, etc.) Startup activities/functions So we started by listing the basic startup activities/functions we thought that might differ by vertical market.

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, February 7, 2010 Tell your Startup Visa story Ive been promising big Startup Visa -related news on Twitter for a few weeks. This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley. This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley.

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San Francisco DC Startup Lean 118

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

It was still a year away from its IPO. The original Hewlett Packard which made test and measurement products was spun-out and renamed Agilent. Agilent is a $5.8 But first some background.) Things Change In 1956 Hewlett Packard (HP) was a 17-year old company with $20 million in test equipment sales with 900 employees.

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Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 164

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Thanks to those of you who were willing to fill out the survey, I learned my net promoter score (about 25) as well as some clear other segmentation insights: about 80% of you are founders of or work at a startup, you read many of the same other blogs, and many of you would like to engage with Lessons Learned in formats and venues beyond this blog.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre [Silicon Valley] –> Itself an outgrowth of the venture investing arm of the original Bank of America (based in SF), Merrill Pickard backed many startups that ultimately went public. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. Author howerl.

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Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Agile VC

MAY 23, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. In the wake of the undue frenzy leading up to and now ex post recriminations about Facebook’s IPO, the mainstream media and normal folks keep wondering if the non-existent “bubble” for internet companies has now popped. How To Think About The Future. May 23, 2012.

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Internet Silicon Valley IPO Seed Stage 182

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

As a startup hub, Amsterdam grabs the same amount of attention as the girl with braces at the high school dance. So is the Dutch tech startup story sold short? Beyond us claiming the first IPO ever, the Dutch could potentially claim (with a fair bit of imagination) history’s first ‘Super Angel.’ Not in my view.

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Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Agile VC

JANUARY 27, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Something has clearly changed within the last 5-6 years in terms of the speed with which monster startups are created in the software and internet space. Multi-billion dollar valuations for late stage startups like Dropbox, et al. Are Google-Scale Outcomes More Frequent?

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Getting educated about advertising, agencies, and media buyers I see lots of startups whose business plans revolve around selling high-value ad space to brand advertisers. So many startups hope to benefit from that seismic trend. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

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Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60