Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

It’s the antithesis of how founders want to build a business. Rent seekers are individuals or organizations with successful existing business models who use government regulation and lawsuits to keep out new entrants that might threaten their business models. Bill Gurley’s point.)

Washington 271

Washington Government Marketing Silicon Valley 271

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 26, 2022

“Personal Branding” The term is fingernails on a chalkboard-level cringe for many of the best founders—mostly because it feels most of the people who spend time building their personal brand don’t actually have much there there behind it. Unfortunately, this has real consequences for founders. So how can founders differentiate?

Founder 103

Founder .Net Term Sheet Aggregator 103

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

While you are working away on your business plan, looking for ways to raise capital, finding the right people to hire, etc., But have you ever had the opportunity to pick the brains of founders who created amazingly successful startups and companies like Envato , Backblaze , Simple , or Treehouse ? Things snowballed from there.”.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Founder Startup Bootstrapping 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the business model.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). (BTW, What does this mean for startup founders? Here’s the thing most founders miss.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2015

Conscious Capitalism , a recent business movement which includes a large focus on culture and ethics, claims 3.2 I saw a good summary of these in a recent book, “ Ethical Leadership ,” by Andrew Leigh, an expert in this area. business culture entrepreneur ethics myths startup' Marty Zwilling.

Founder 120

Founder Software Review Offshore Startup 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2020

The required reading for this class was Chris Brose’s book The Kill Chain. We thought the students would find having the author discuss the thinking behind the book enlightening. Now we get down to the difficult questions of execution and implementation, which is where they have foundered in the past. War Made New.

Technical Review 361

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Technology United States 361

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Posted on June 11, 2009 by steveblank When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask them to take a walk around the block and ask themselves: Are you comfortable with: Chaos – startups are disorganized Uncertainty – startups never go per plan Are you: Resilient – at times you will fail – badly.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2012

But a new book argues that startup management teams need a balance not only of job experience and skills, but also in their psychological makeup. Successful businesses often have one thing in common: The management team has carefully designated roles. They are roles like “the logical one,” “the idea person” or “the touchy-feely guy.”.

Founder 144

Founder Silicon Valley Startup Incubator 144

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 10, 2017

by Mark Gilbert, founder and CEO of MBS Accounting Technology & Advisory. Roughly 27 percent of startups can’t get the funding they need to take their business to the next level, according to the National Association of Small Businesses. At the root of fundraising, it all boils down to the books.

Software Review 124

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 124

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Try innovating inside a large company where 99% of the company is executing the current business model, while you’re trying to figure out and build what comes next. Their book Lead and Disrupt describes how others can learn how to do so. So they prepare for future markets by exploring new ventures.

Incubator 402

Incubator Lean Agile Business Model 402

Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

The startups and the teaching team crafted a challenge for the kids to tackle using the Customer Development methodology, Lean Launchpad tools and the business model canvas. Knowing they had 3 weeks before presenting to the company co-founders, the kids felt intensity like no traditional classroom could generate.

Lean 334

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 334

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2012

Yet I continue to see business plans, or even talk to founders, and can’t find the specifics of the business model anywhere. As Guy Kawasaki says in his book “ The Art of the Start ,” if you can’t describe your business model in ten words or less, you don’t have a business model.

Business Model 238

Business Model eCommerce Business Plan Revenue 238

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

In previous posts I’ve talked about what the combination of Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Methodologies mean to startups and intrapreneurs in large companies; it’s the beginning of entrepreneurship as a science with its own rules and methodologies. Teaching In the Big Apple.

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Business Model Developer Design 270

Austin Startup

AUGUST 22, 2018

Co-owner and founder Michael Heyne said that people didn’t understand the original name, a reference to doner kebabs (which isn’t even available on the menu anymore). But Unimark was a failed business. A great brand can do a lot for your company, but it cannot fix a flawed business model.

Design 48

Design New York City Cofounder Bankruptcy 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

Sloan’s book My Years with General Motors , written half a century ago, is still a readable business classic. Sloan transformed corporate management into a real profession, and its stellar example was the continuous and relentless execution of the GM business model (until its collapse 50 years later).

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

Steve is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators with over 50 partners in 22 countries. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines. 18:05] How does the Founder Space operate? [20:21] He's the CEO of founders space.

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

As part of The Startup Magazine Founders Interview Series , we interviewed Luisa Mendoza and Tim Carter—CEO and COO of UKONIK —a true startup that began early this year. Tim: Our vision is to combine innovation, grit and expertise to help businesses grow exponentially while connecting communities and resources around the world.

Founder 145

Founder New York City Marketing New York 145

www.startuplessonslearned.com

MAY 4, 2012

Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founders Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. Noam is one of a rare breed of business academics: he studies entrepreneurship using a rigorous empirical approach.

Equity 72

Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. This one is controversial.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

You can review all the specifics of this approach in a book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur''s Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the business model. Process myth: Why building a product leads to failure.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2017

The best founders operate with a key set of internal principles that allow them to break through all but the toughest business obstacles. I found this perspective validated in a new book, “ Plan Commit Win: 90 Days to Creating a Fundable Startup ,” by serial entrepreneur and strategic consultant Patrick Henry.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Stealth Lean Social Media 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the business model.

Startup 161

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 161

Austin Startup

MARCH 13, 2020

Since then, we’ve served 500+ unique customers, worked with 10+ space partners, pivoted our business model from B2C to B2B, signed on advisers, and have raised money from outside investors. Your partner matters To all those solo-founders out there?—?kudos kudos to ya’ll. Our biggest example of this was our pivot from B2C to B2B.

B2C 62

B2C Austin B2B Cofounder 62

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 4, 2014

If there’s a sure sign that shows how interest in online flash sales have waned, it’s how many daily deal sites have either deadpooled or pivoted away from that particular business model. In the News business model daily deals flash sales luxury travel Singapore TheLuxeNomad'

Flash 164

Flash Business Model Sales Singapore 164

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 28, 2023

Her first book, Unemployable: How I Hired Myself details her life story and guide to financial freedom. It’s important to leverage the power of AI and digital tools to start and grow a business and develop each person’s superpower. Questions I ask Alysia Silberg: [01:52] Tell me a little bit about the artwork from the book cover. [03:07]

South Africa 66

South Africa Africa Global Silicon Valley 66

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. This one is controversial.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

You can review all the specifics of this approach in a recent book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the business model.

Startup 296

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 296

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

You can review all the specifics of this approach in a new book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the business model.

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

In two of these three phases – the first and third – volumes of helpful information and numerous organizations are readily available to help guide and support founders of startups. These are the consultants and books that offer founders the tools and insights needed to “cross the chasm” ( as Geoffrey Moore put it ) and begin to scale.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors. Investors look for “street smarts,” or examples that didn’t come from a school book or a corporate process. Not afraid to make a decision.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Software Review 152

VC Cafe

JULY 29, 2012

In his book “ Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ “, Daniel Goleman covers in-depth this relatively new area of research. make a copy of this Google doc template of the Business Model Canvas to re-jig who your users, collaborators, channels and business model(s).

Engineer 145

Engineer Technical Review Software Review Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

Overall I like the principles in the classic book “ Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival ,” by Robert F. Savvy investors tell me that startup founders who claim to have never failed are either lying or have never tried anything innovative. Business risks are not just development risks.

Intellectual Property 343

Intellectual Property Metrics .Net Social Network 343

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Customer Development is a technique startups use to quickly iterate and test each part of their business model. How you execute Customer Development varies, depending on your type of business. In my book, “ The Four Steps to the Epiphany ” I use enterprise software as the business model example.

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 266

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

Key components of revenue architecture go beyond simply predicting sales to include: the name and attributes of the startup’s category, a messaging matrix, a pricing strategy, a sales strategy and other business model elements. Whatever the product and business model, entrepreneurs must be prepared to build critical momentum.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2018

Most of you new venture founders I meet as an angel investor seem convinced that starting the business is the hardest part. You look forward to the day when your business becomes self-sustaining, and settles into a long-term growth curve, ensuring financial success. Examples would include Pets.com, Webvan, and Blockbuster.

Angel Investor 167

Angel Investor Dilution Software Review Distribution 167

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2023

Some argue the only way to start is to drop everything and jump in with both feet, while others recommend an overlapped approach to the lifestyle, including not quitting your day job until you have revenue and a proven business model. I’m definitely a proponent of this latter approach.

Private Equity 255

Private Equity Salary Cofounder Equity 255