Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Most large companies manage three types of innovation: process innovation (making existing products incrementally better), continuous innovation (building on the strength of the company’s current business model but creating new elements) and disruptive innovation (creating products or services that did not exist before.).

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits. Startups wrote business plans, generated expansive 5-year forecasts and executed (hired, spent and built) to the plan.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Up and Running

JANUARY 29, 2019

Though you may be tempted to immediately throw yourself into your new small business, don’t forget a crucial element: creating a business plan. Yes, the words “business plan” might trigger some dread about epic documents that take a ton of time to produce—but that’s not necessarily what a business plan needs to be.

Lean 64

Lean Business Plan Revenue Forecast 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model.

Startup 161

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 161

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. Read Business Model Generation pages 1-72, and The Four Steps to the Epiphany Chapter 3. Step 1: Set Up Team Logistics.

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Finally, promote your online store through social media and other marketing channels. Understanding The Business Model of a B2B Marketplace. A business model describes how your company makes money and is essential to developing an effective business plan. Monetization Strategies.

B2B 131

B2B Developer Technical Review Business Model 131

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model.

Startup 296

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 296

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Even if you already know what a SWOT analysis is and what it’s used for, it can be tough to translate that information and examine your own business with a critical eye. Reading an example SWOT analysis for a business that is either in your industry or based on a comparable business model can help get you started.

Botswana 148

Botswana Business Plan Oregon Distribution 148

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 235

Business Model Product Advisory Board Angel Investor 235

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model.

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Learning could be about product features, customer needs, the right pricing and distribution channel, etc.) These hypotheses span the gamut from who’s the customer(s), to what’s the value proposition (product/service features), pricing, distribution channel, and demand creation (customer acquisition, activation, retention, etc.).

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 248

Business Model Advisory Board Entrepreneur Angel Investor 248

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Alexander Osterwalder and I spent last week in Salt Lake City, Utah as judges at the 2 nd Annual International Business Model Competition , hosted by Professor Nathan Furr , and his team at the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship. The Business Plan ?- And your revenue plan is something more than a hallucination.

Business Model 263

Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 263

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

Simply stated, it means that your business has the potential to multiply revenue with minimal incremental cost. Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Build a business plan and model that is attractive to investors.

Hockey Stick 339

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 339

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Your revenue model has to make sense. Many of the Internet business plans I see these days say the service is free, and revenue will come later from a huge user base.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Funding might be a need in some cases — but it’s not an absolute necessity. ? The business should be self-sustainable. The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. Incubators and Accelerators.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. You may have heard that venture capitalists in Silicon Valley no longer read business plans. Provide specifics on the customer business model.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) How can we attract buyers to our channel before they make purchasing decisions? as well as channel partners and cloud industry technology consultants.

Customer 234

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 234

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. We were positing that 20 years of teaching “how to write a business plan” might be obsolete. This post is part one.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2019

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008.

Intellectual Property 250

Intellectual Property Business Model Angel Investor Channel 250

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2012

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. I support her assertion that a business model consists of at least the first seven of the following ten basic elements: Value proposition.

Business Model 242

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 242

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2011

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 234

Business Model Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 234

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

As we prepared for the new Hacking for Defense class at Stanford, we had to stop and ask ourselves: How do we use the Business Model Canvas if the primary goal is not to earn money, but to fulfill a mission? In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue?

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2011

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. I support her assertion that a business model consists of at least the first seven of the following ten basic elements: Value proposition.

Business Model 246

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 246

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Up and Running

JUNE 25, 2020

If your sales have recently hit a plateau, check out these 10 proven methods to continue growing your business. You went through the process of identifying a target market when developing your business plan. But now you have an active customer base that you need to engage with and in the process improve your business.

Small Business 180

Small Business Hosting Social Media Community 180

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 25, 2010

It’s the combination of Business Model Design and Customer Development. Business Model Design. Today every business organization from startup to large company uses the words “business model.” More importantly they showed how any company’s business model could be defined in 9 boxes.

Customer Development 329

Customer Development Business Model Developer Customer 329

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Simply stated, it means that your business has the potential to multiply revenue with minimal incremental cost. Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Build a business plan and model that is attractive to investors.

Hockey Stick 386

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 386

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Your revenue model has to make sense. Many of the Internet business plans I see these days say the service is free, and revenue will come later from a huge user base.

Business Model 171

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 171

Steve Blank

JANUARY 14, 2014

A pivot can change any of nine different things in your business model. A pivot may mean you changed your customer segment, your channel, revenue model/pricing, resources, activities, costs, partners, customer acquisition – lots of other things than just the product. Business Model.

Business Model 330

Business Model Lean Customer Development Channel 330

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Your revenue model has to make sense. Many of the Internet business plans I see these days say the service is free, and revenue will come later from a huge user base.

Business Model 244

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 244

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2011

Teams are iterating and pivoting right and left, one team threw their entire business model out the window and did a complete restart, and another team was having a meltdown over personalities. Last week the teams were testing their hypotheses about their Channel (how a company delivers its value proposition (i.e.

Revenue 213

Revenue West Virginia Oklahoma Oklahoma City 213

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

A valid milestone might be closing a specific big-name customer or channel, such as Walmart, or it might mean getting your first 100,000 social-media followers, by a given target date. Professional investors always look for a proven business model and an existing revenue stream to minimize the risk.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. Most likely, the investor has already seen multiple plans with similar solutions. Business model.

Business Plan 244

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Viral Lead Generation 244