Burn Rate, Customer Development, Engineer and Startup

Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2014

Startups are not smaller versions of large companies, but interestingly we see that companies are not larger versions of startups. Two methods, Design Thinking and Customer Development (the core of the Lean Startup) provide the tactical day-to-day process of how to turn ideas into products. .

Customer Development

Customer Development Design Developer Customer

Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Don’t know the running rate for engineers?

Business Plan

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review

Create Structure out of the Gate and You’ll Thank Yourself Later

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

One of them used to be a lead developer at [insert hot consumer tech company here]. They need to raise money before building anything substantial after determining that they needed a little dough to follow the Lean Startup methodology. Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage

Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners.

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley

Crisis Management by Firing Executives – There’s A Better Way

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) Luckily most startups now realize there is a better way. Startups Are Not Small Versions of Large Companies. The revenue numbers and revenue model came from a startups original Business Plan.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development

Vision versus Hallucination – Founders and Pivots

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

Knowing how to sort between vision and hallucination can avoid chaos inside your startup. It was great to watch him embrace the spirit and practice of customer development. He was constantly in front of customers, listening, selling, installing and learning. Filed under: Customer Development.

Founder

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate

Lean Startups aren't Cheap Startups

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. Over its lifetime a Lean Startup may spend less money than a traditional startup. Lets see why.

Lean

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS

Death By Revenue Plan

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

You would think that would be enough to get wrong, but entrepreneurs and investors compound this problem by assuming that all startups grow and scale by executing the Revenue Plan. Another VC added that engineering should redesign the product to meet the price and performance of current users in an adjacent market. They don’t.

Revenue

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate

Reinventing the Board Meeting – Part 1 of 2

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet

Why Board Meetings Suck – Part 1 of 2

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet

What's Wrong With Today's Board Meetings: Part 1

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the startup, it's time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven't changed since the early 1900's. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part V: Happy 100th Birthday.

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

Berkeley Haas Business School was courageous enough to give me a forum teach the Customer Development Methodology. This wave of 1950′s/’60′s startups (Watkins-Johnson, Varian, Huggins Labs, MEC, Stewart Engineering, etc.) Who would have known?

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review

The Curse of a New Building « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2009

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. Engineers were packed in cubicles or desks right on top of each other? Now every engineer can have their own office.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley RSS Lean Agile

Lessons Learned: Cash is not king

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 27, 2009 Cash is not king Cash on hand is just one important variable in a startup’s life, but it’s not necessarily the most important. These successful startups managed to have enough tries to get it right. What matters most is the number of iterations the company has left.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC

Lessons Learned: Don't launch

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. In fact, in most situations its a bad idea for startups to synchronize these events.

San Francisco

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage

Lessons Learned: Achieving a failure

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Bring in an expert CEO with outstanding business credentials and startup experience to focus on relentless execution. I had the privilege, and the misfortune, to be involved with a startup that executed this plan flawlessly. After years of engineering effort, changing these assumptions was incredibly hard. Focus on quality.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment

StartUpRoar

Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development

Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Trending Sources

Create Structure out of the Gate and You’ll Thank Yourself Later

Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners.

Crisis Management by Firing Executives – There’s A Better Way

Vision versus Hallucination – Founders and Pivots

Lean Startups aren't Cheap Startups

Death By Revenue Plan

Reinventing the Board Meeting – Part 1 of 2

Why Board Meetings Suck – Part 1 of 2

What's Wrong With Today's Board Meetings: Part 1

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part V: Happy 100th Birthday.

The Curse of a New Building « Steve Blank

Lessons Learned: Cash is not king

Lessons Learned: Don't launch

Lessons Learned: Achieving a failure

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