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 Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. Your blog post has provided a lot of useful insights for me which I’ve been implementing.

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

VC Cafe

APRIL 27, 2011

Despite the VC’s obvious disadvantage in the early stages, marketing and differentiation of venture capital funds is limited today. Below is a list of 10 action items for VCs seeking differentiation and added value: Create a blog and keep it updated – blogs are useful if they are updated and honest.

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Venture Capital Differentiation Incubator Angel Investor 90

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Finally, for those of you who need some additional infusion of courage, please study the story of Ryan Allis in North Carolina who bootstrapped his company iContact to $1 million in revenue and THEN raised venture capital to get to $40 million. In that case, the verticals of choice could be manufacturing, wholesale and retail.

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North Carolina San Diego Entrepreneur Balance Sheet 116

Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2009

Blog at WordPress.com. The relevant part starts about 4:30 into the video (wait for it to download.) luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Customer Development 124

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 124

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Back in 2018, my colleague Rob wrote a blog post about how the VC asset class is doing. Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. The chart below illustrates this, with the black vertical line representing the average VC return.

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. would look in each of the verticals. For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Others you need to know when you execute the plan.

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

Simulation to Reduce Invention Risk If you’re in a vertical where “invention risk” is dominant, then you want to do everything you can to manage and reduce those risks. When I wrote the Four Steps to the Epiphany , the Customer Development text, I hadn’t yet thought about what vertical markets it might be appropriate for.)

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Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 128

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 2, 2019

Each week we like share our thoughts on a range of topics from vertical markets to general startup advice and our reflections on investing. We’re proud to say that we wrote a blog post every week in 2018 – and we’ve done that now for the past three years. three-part blog series. Venture Capital. Happy new year!

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Silicon Valley Venture Capital Distribution Artificial Inteligence 144

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Below we copy from Steve Blank’s blog. Blank asks a lot of the right questions in his blog post: Am I a Founder? Blog at WordPress.com. takes to be a founder or co-founder of a company, or even an early participant. When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask [.]

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Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Reply One difference between VCs and Entrepreneurs « Lightspeed Venture Partners Blog , on April 20, 2009 at 7:06 am Said: [.] Reply Reversible vs. Irreversible Decisions at Oregonstartups.com Blog , on April 26, 2009 at 4:25 pm Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Great startups have a tempo of 10x a large [.]

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Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 300

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Back in 2018, my colleague Rob wrote a blog post about how the VC asset class is doing. Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. The chart below illustrates this, with the black vertical line representing the average VC return.

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

No internet, no blogs, no books on startups, no entrepreneurship departments in universities, etc. Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one.

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Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

To begin with, today, I gave her a set of immediate action items, including starting a blog, a PPC campaign with some ideas on how to position her keywords, as well as some guidance on merchandising. In fact, in the discussion on JuJu brands is yet another validation of the verticalization and niche-ization of the Internet.

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Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

on Cafepress, but is now literally priceless since the copyright owner put it on his blog.) Reply Pros and cons of Push and Pull product positioning and differentiation « Yet Another (ex-)VC Blog , on February 21, 2010 at 11:14 am Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Absolutely priceless. Well, it used to be $29.95

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Brendan McManus said: “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch [link] #startup #advice [.] I’m at jordan.cooper@gmail.com or blogging here: jordancooper.wordpress.com Reply Alain Raynaud , on November 12, 2009 at 4:42 pm Said: Or maybe it’s just the last slide that convinced the VCs.

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Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 209

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2011

Much like my career, in the last two years this blog has traveled a serendipitous path. For 2011, I’m glad to announce that you can now hear my blog posts via a podcast that you can subscribe to, download or have emailed to you a few days after each blog post goes live.

Silicon Valley 195

Silicon Valley California Vertical Customer Development 195

Ben's Blog

MARCH 1, 2011

In my career, I have never seen a position in any industry with more varying criteria than General Partner at a venture capital firm. When we started Andreessen Horowitz, our vision was to build the kind of venture capital firm that we would have wanted to take money from. One night on my knees, here it comes, the prayer.

Partner 78

Partner Technical Review Venture Capital Cofounder 78

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

This makes it laboriously difficult to identify rising stars and make comparisons within a specific vertical. At Version One, we have 6 investment themes (and more to come – stay tuned): Vertically integrated commerce. Vertical SaaS. Thank you for connecting me with Cassidy. I learned about x, y, and z from her.”

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Vertical B2B B2C Venture Capital 153

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). Network of vertical focused sites: BeachMint, BeachMint, WineMint, etc.;

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Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

Entertainment is more than newspapers, more than Hollywood, and more than the sum of specific verticals jousting for consumer eyeballs. Startup landscapes, while not perfect, are useful as they provide a way for us to define a space/category and the players of that vertical. Is it only one exciting vertical within the broader umbrella.

Vertical 113

Vertical Artificial Inteligence Distribution IPO 113

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Greg Boutin Founder, Growthroute Ventures, [link] Reply TO REVENUE » Talking on Techie-Biz Divide at Communitech Guelph on Sept. Reply shiftMode » Blog Archive » Nobody Cares About Your Product , on August 31, 2009 at 2:30 pm Said: [.] 3 , on August 31, 2009 at 12:48 pm Said: [.] I added some comments there [.]

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Haystack

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

By all accounts, the Utah-HQ’d company did everything the right way, was an overnight success 16 years in the making, and only raised venture capital as a growth company after years of bootstrapping. Of course, SAP or others could’ve made a run at Qualtrics earlier, and who knows – maybe folks had tried and failed.

Acquisition 105

Acquisition Utah IPO Venture Capital 105

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

We wanted to learn more about the nuanced industry market forces before applying the same hands-on investing model we do with tech startups in other verticals. The venture capital market in this category is fairly concentrated among series A and expansion-stage funds that prefer to invest in companies with substantial revenue.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

Hunter Walker

MARCH 4, 2014

Approaching Homebrew’s one year anniversary at the end of April so expect some ‘reflective’ posts on my first 12 months in venture capital. . Venture capital isn’t the only way to fund your business and for many at the earliest stages of their startup, it’s one of the worst choices.

Seed Stage 134

Seed Stage Venture Capital Vertical Finance 134

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

a bit more panache and patience, they’re likely to break less furniture as they leave,&# blogs Steve Blank, serial entrepreneur and author of “The Four Steps to the [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Reply Nathan Furr , on September 24, 2009 at 9:20 am Said: Great post and wise advice. on July 9, 2010 at 12:50 pm Said: [.]

Customer 195

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195

Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

Darcy Murphy , on March 21, 2009 at 9:46 pm Said: I’m really impressed with your stories – in fact, that’s what I like about this blog the most, you’re writing stories. I’ve never said this before on a blog, but I can’t wait for your next post. Blog at WordPress.com. Thanks for sharing!

Silicon Valley 134

Silicon Valley Customer RSS Philippines 134

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Back in 2018, my colleague Rob wrote a blog post about how the VC asset class is doing. Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. The chart below illustrates this, with the black vertical line representing the average VC return.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Customer Development Manifesto , Market Types « “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch Closure » 21 Responses Tweets that mention Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development « Steve Blank -- Topsy.com , on November 16, 2009 at 7:20 am Said: [.]

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

cdixon.org - chris dixons blog. My posterous blog. link] Closer To The Ideal » Blog Archive » If you have an idea for a startup, talk about the idea with everyone. [.] But it’s probably wise to be more secretive in some vertical markets: [link]. Follow @cdixon. cdixon.org contents. Twitter: @cdixon.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Glad to see you blogging! thanks Reply Denis , on March 27, 2009 at 7:05 pm Said: Steve, is this blog in addition to the book or instead of it? What part of this blog should I read if I am also reading the book? Steve Blank has started a blog. Blog at WordPress.com. Add this to your must read list.

Silicon Valley 141

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 141

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

EE Reply My take on Customer Development and the Lean Startup | Recess Mobile Blog , on January 9, 2010 at 5:30 am Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. What a sly dog you are (wink) having set your “competitor&# up for failure. Good read and thanks to the comments on this post. Good stuff too.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

Unfortunately most startups learn this by going through the “Fire the first Sales VP&# drill: You start your company with a list of potential customers reading like a “who’s who&# of whatever vertical market you’re in (or the Fortune 1000 list.) Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 131

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 137

Silicon Valley Turkey United States RSS 137

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

on April 10, 2009 at 6:58 am Said: Amazing blog. Reply Process for the Enterprise » Blog Archive » People, Staffing, and Steve Blank’s SuperMac Series , on April 17, 2009 at 11:40 am Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Thanks so much for sharing such stories. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

» 8 Responses Strategy versus Relentless Tactical Execution « Yet Another VC Blog , on April 2, 2009 at 6:19 am Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential? Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 124

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

Reply Donna White , on June 6, 2009 at 1:40 am Said: I found this post through a comment on Fred Wilson’s blog. Reply Flow » Blog Archive » Daily Digest for June 7th - The zeitgeist daily , on June 7, 2009 at 1:20 am Said: [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Put faith in facts!

Silicon Valley 212

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 212

Haystack

JANUARY 12, 2020

For those following this blog and the seed market over the past decade, you may have noticed that every year, we see increases across the board — more investors, newer funds, and funds that get larger. Rather, this short blog is filled only with my own observations from being in the middle of the evolving seed market since 2013.

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Seed Stage Cram Down Early Stage Cofounder 106