Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. Other than “I’ll know it when I see it”, there’s no formal way for an investor to assess project maturity or quantify risks.

Sacramento 315

Sacramento Framework Lean Customer Development 315

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Are there customers for what you are building? How many are there?

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. Reinventing the board meeting may allow venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. for a business model. Victor Hugo.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 293

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. And we can offer investors metrics to play Moneyball – with the Investment Readiness Level. We think we can do better.

Oakland 331

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 331

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

We still have some collective scar tissue: the idea conjures up the hordes of dot-com hopefuls that descended on VC’s and angel investors with little more than a business plan. And it’s not just investors who are having trouble. I also frequently see the reverse. You’d be better off just selling ads.”

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How To Pitch A Product - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , August 4, 2010 I've said a bunch of times on this blog that the perfect pitch is a very short intro to provide context followed immediately by a demo. As most, if not all, of the games on social networks use the freemium business model (i.e. Developer.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I’m not afraid to pick up the phone, cold call someone, use LinkedIn to find someone who’s recently left a company that might be considered competitive and ask them for advise around the business model and marketplace. How I can find the right investor (software)? No investor cares about a business plan.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44