ConversionXL

MARCH 29, 2017

High-growth companies simply have something most companies don’t, right? Some secret growth hack or silver bullet that skyrocketed them to household names. The truth is, they simply had a solid growth marketing process. Growth Process > Growth Hacks. Growth experts largely believe the same. via How to Start a Startup). via RobSobers.com).

Marketing 48

Marketing Distribution Retention eCommerce 48

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Fail Fast and Cheap Fred and Maheesh had started 9 previous companies in 6 years. Fail Fast and Cheap Fred and Maheesh had started 9 previous companies in 6 years. Their motto was: “Fail fast and cheap. Here’s how they did it. And learn from it.” They couldn’t keep up with the orders.

Venture Capital 209

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 209

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was consulting for the two venture capital firms who between them put $12 million into my last failed startup. (My My mother kept asking if they were going to make me pay the money back. Surprisingly, I enjoyed seeing other startups from an outsider’s perspective. At about the same time, two newer companies asked me to join their boards.

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

The best entrepreneurship textbooks and blogs assume that advice to startups is generalizable. But as I learned from my students this “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work for all startups. And the students nodded, OK, yes sir, and they wrote down, “a half a million bucks to start.”

Vertical 149

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 149

Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2009

I didn’t need to look much further than the “new building&# debacle I had a hand in. Signs of Success One of the things you do right in a startup, is you move from one cheap and cramped building to another as you grow, with desks, cubicles and engineers piled cheek to jowl. This happened to us at SuperMac when our sales skyrocketed.

Silicon Valley 205

Silicon Valley RSS Lean Agile 205

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Entrepreneur-in-Residence After SuperMac I had been approached by one of our venture investors to be an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), a Silicon Valley phrase which says one thing but means another. Depending on the size of the venture firm they may have one to three EIR’s who stay an average of a year or so.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

While the Rocket Science press juggernaut moved inexorably forward, a few troubling facts kept trying to bubble up into my consciousness. The company was founded to build games with embedded video to bring Hollywood stories, characters, and narratives to a market where “shoot and die” twitch games were in vogue. That’s OK, because we knew better.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. Dancing Around the Question Union Square Ventures was kind enough to sponsor a meetup the night before my class.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

As a reminder, this post is not legal advice, it’s not even advice. It’s just a story about what happened to me. Customer Development We were starting Epiphany, my last company. I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

If you’re a startup raising money or just want to see your name online, there’s not a better blog on the web. Reading this TechCrunch post made me remember the first time I saw someone confront a worldview they didn’t expect. It’s part of growing up but can happen at any age. What you do when it happens shapes who you’ll become.

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

In this one month we had learned more about desktop publishing on the Mac than any one of our competitors. Now the question was what to do with it. First I need to make sure what we really learned was information we could base a company strategy on. First, I presented what I had learned.

Silicon Valley 134

Silicon Valley Customer RSS Philippines 134

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Yet there is one specific technique that I learned most clearly from this book: asking why five times. When something goes wrong, we tend to see it as a crisis and seek to blame. A better way is to see it as a learning opportunity. Not in the existential sense of general self-improvement. Heres how it works. This is completely typical.

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

I gave him some advice; maybe you’ll find it useful, too. Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Finding a Technical Partner for Your Startup Today I received an inquiry from a student at an Ivy League university who wants to launch a web startup. And James doesn’t have any money to pay for development.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

www.cscyphers.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Tutorial Day At #RailsConf » Why Trying To Find A Technical Co-Founder Will Almost Always Fail. A number of the people I met were interesting and one or two may hold some promise, but it struck me that these events are pretty much set up to fail from the beginning. 13, 2011 13:30 in Startups. It’s All About Your Team.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Review Founder Software Review 40

Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli

APRIL 21, 2010

The fact that a personal experiment fails or is delayed is no big deal, the fact that someone relies on a deadline and quality that you can influence is different. I accepted both propositions and fast forward, I failed in delivering properly both projects and our own. my potential mentor is asking me to work with him!

Ruby 28

Ruby Australia Software Review RSS 28

VC Cafe

JUNE 18, 2012

Content providers and owners facing diminishing revenues from their SD sales, due to increasing demand for HD content, can now restore the full economic value of their vast archives, by transforming them to True HD. There hasn’t been such a full list of Israeli startups coming to Europe since Barcelona’s World Mobile Congress.

Securities and Exchange Commission 133

Securities and Exchange Commission Technical Review Software Review 133

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

However after closely watching several hundred startups that have failed, I observed that a very large number of these had solved the product/market fit problem, but still failed because they had not found a way to acquire customers at a low enough cost.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

But it is a start-up in the sense of making a big quantum step forward in the marketplace. (Not logged on) | Register | Log On Home Discuss Jobs About The Business of Software A community discussing the business of software, from the smallest shareware operation to Microsoft. A part of Joel on Software. Please register for a free account.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

www.ere.net

JULY 15, 2012

Browse Articles by Tag. Browse Articles by Tag. Even among recruiting leaders, it’s common for them to realize that their hiring process is failing but be unaware of which steps in the process are causing the problem. ERE Expo returns to South Florida, September 5-7. Register by Friday, August 3 to save $200. ERE Awards.

Hiring 57

Hiring Metrics Search Widget 57

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

Part 1 of this post offered some suggestions on going to trade shows to generate awareness. This post offers suggestions if you are going to a trade show to generate leads. This post offers suggestions if you are going to a trade show to generate leads. this may be a useful read. this may be a useful read.

Silicon Valley 128

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 128

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

You make several first order approximations about your business model, distribution channels, demand creation, and customer acceptance. You leave the comfort of your existing job, convince a few partners to join you and you jump off the bridge together. At each startup I couldn’t wait to do this. No building, no money, no customers, no market?

Silicon Valley 212

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 212

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So too would a team where one person’s more interested in enterprise startups while the other person’s passion lies in consumer experiences. I see that all too frequently – from business folks and techies alike. The first post, From Nothing To Something. How To Get There, is here. Seems a bit unintuitive, right?

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

If players with more money than others can simply buy their way to the top of the heap, a multiplayer game fails – because this makes the game un-fun for other players. In an ecosystem, each participant acts according to its own imperatives, but these selfish actions have an aggregate effect. And this is true outside of games.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Were startups failing because of product failures or was there some other failure mode? What was the difference here? Were all startups the same? Is there any way to predict success or failure? And even more importantly, was there any way to reduce risk in early stage ventures? That day, alone in the cabin I knew I had to find the answer.

Product Development 143

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 143

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

An Existing Market All four were trying to resegment an “Existing Market.” An existing market is one where competitors have a profitable business selling to customers who can name the market and can tell you about the features that matter to them. Me – “Have you used Company x’s product? Do you know have they distribute their product?

Silicon Valley 181

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 181

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2009

The company failed. Context here.) Getting Out of the Building Wasn’t Entertainment – Discovery and Validation Now that I was the master of the “facts” about customer needs in these specialized vertical markets , and with my team of vertical marketers , I thought I had achieved absolution and redemption.

Silicon Valley 172

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 172

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2009

There’s a big difference between being an employee at a great technology company and having the guts to start one. I love Google. I think its one of the smartest companies out there. And it hires very smart people from the best schools. And if you meet their criteria of a “good student”, you ought to go to work there. Or Microsoft or IBM.

Silicon Valley 327

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 327

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Eighty some pages later I realized that a) I had some great war stories as a good marketeer and failed CEO, b) I’d have to pay my wife and kids to read them, c) the three of them were probably the entire total available market, and d) when I looked at what I had done and what other entrepreneurs had done at their startups, that there was a pattern.

Redemption 126

Redemption Silicon Valley RSS California 126

bhargreaves.com

MARCH 7, 2010

The reasons why I am not a big fan of development shops are too numerous to go into here. Many capable founders aren’t developers, and I frequently meet with entrepreneurs that have taken a very different path. Sometimes, it just makes sense. But all that is for another post. 4 Points: Money is no object.

Hiring 40

Hiring Technical Review Agile Software Review 40

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world. This is a big reversal, as software has long been the dominant category for venture deals, but it’s unknown whether software has lost favor, or whether it’s just become so pervasive that it doesn’t really hold together as a category anymore.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

www.kalzumeus.com

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am currently engaged in a Ruby on Rails security safari, and anticipate publishing the results of that in February, after responsible disclosure to the relevant security teams. If you don’t know enough to know whether I’m trustworthy with regards to generic advice, pay someone you trust to get advice on this. How bad were those bugs?

Security 101

Security Software Review Ruby Startup 101

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Not All Startups Are Alike There’s an urban legend that Eskimos-Aleuts have more words to describe snow than other cultures.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

www.readwriteweb.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

We chatted with a panel of expert aesthetes in the space, including Spymaster designer Eston Bond , veteran creative director Rich Barrett , designer/developer Warren Benedetto , Mike Rundle of 9rules and Beak fame, and the Paul du Coudray Lowdown , the winner of this years Rails Rumble appearance category. Execution is everything.

Web 42

Web Design Startup Flash 42

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

The Customer Development Model Customer Development is designed to solve the problems of the Product Development model I described in the four previous posts. Its strength is its rigor and flexibility. These steps mesh seamlessly and support a startup’s ongoing product development activities. Each step results in specific deliverables.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

trada.com

APRIL 7, 2010

He noted that Chris Dixon ( @cdixon ) of Hunch tweeted, “New early-stage start up trend: get big quietly, so you don’t tip off potential competitors.&# First, let me say that a big part of the debate comes down to what people actually define as stealth mode. We’ve been in stealth mode at Trada for almost 18 months now.

Stealth 40

Stealth PPC Advertising Conversion 40

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Tech Gadgets Mobile Enterprise GreenTech CrunchBase TechCrunch TV Disrupt SF More TechCrunch TV Beta Invites Crunchies Elevator Pitches Gillmor Gang Podcasts TechCrunch Europe TechCrunch Trends TechCrunch France TechCrunch Japan Whats Hot: Android Apple Facebook Google Microsoft Twitter Yahoo Zynga Subscribe: From Nothing To Something.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. It has become an integral part of startup culture. The model became a catchall tool for all schedules, plans, and budgets.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260