Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

ASC starts building product, but as they get into the thick of it, the team realizes executing on their vision is going to be extremely hard. Heads down on product, they say. Eventually early product demos start happening but they’re rough and the product looks very alpha. Seven months in, there is a beta product.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

This is probably because many founders are product or technology people. The mistake many startup people make is they hire a “sales person&# to go out and talk with customers so they can do what they’re good at which is building product or “running the company.&# Sales people are a different breed, you say.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Are startup burn rates out of control? Hiring startup engineers? Six Things Physical Product Development Taught Me About Experience Design | UX Magazine – crowdspring.co/X7NCjD. How Everything We Tell Ourselves About How Busy We Are Is A Lie | Fast Company – [link] crowdspring.co/1uH6HVo.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

He turned his PhD thesis into a killer product, got it funded and now was CEO of a company of 30. It was great to watch him embrace the spirit and practice of customer development. We’re building the wrong product!” And the rule was we weren’t changing anything about the product architecture until Ben and I agreed.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

These false assumptions – that you know the customer problem and product features – led startups to organize their product introduction process like the diagram below – essentially identical to the product management process of a large company. The Revenue Plan – The Third Fatal Assumption.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

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. This post describes such a model.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And a few words about Persistent Systems, an outsourced software product development (OPD) company that is navigating its next phase of evolution are also warranted. Jeff has managed to keep his burn rate very low thus far, and a slow and steady crafting of the business is working nicely. Note, I said, validated.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

The full formula works like this: runway = cash on hand / burn rate # iterations = runway / speed of each iteration Very few successful companies ended up in the same exact business that the founders thought theyd be in (see Founders at Work for dozens of examples). Were talking PayPal -sized variations.

San Francisco 117

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Product launch) In todays world, there is no reason you have to do these two things at the same time. Establish credibility with potential partners.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Build a truly mainstream product. Build the product in stealth mode to build buzz for the eventual launch. The whole company and board play-tested the product to see its new features first hand. Everyone had fun; the product worked. After years of engineering effort, changing these assumptions was incredibly hard.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150