Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2011

I was invited to Finland as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program partnership with Aalto University. Ultimately, Nokia’s difficulties will turn out to be good news for Finnish entrepreneurs. Finland itself has significant engineering talent, and is also attracting entrepreneurs from Russia and the former USSR.

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Finland Naming Russia Government 324

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.

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Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

While it sounds simple , the Build Measure Learn approach to product development is a radical improvement over the traditional Waterfall model used throughout the 20 th century to build and ship products. Back then, an entrepreneur used a serial product development process that proceeded step-by-step with little if any customer feedback.

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Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

The rub is that a startup likely has the ideas to take it straight to the top, but it’s also likely that the company lacks the business skills to make it truly successful. A talented group of specialists including engineers, designers, financial analysts, and lawyers are assigned to develop various facets of the company’s framework.

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Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2011

I spent the month of September lecturing, and interacting with (literally) thousands of entrepreneurs in two emerging startup markets, Finland and Russia. —— I was invited to Finland as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program partnership with Aalto University.

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Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 324

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

By the end of the 20th century, case studies and business plans had reached an evolutionary dead-end for entrepreneurs. The Rise of Business Schools – Management as an Occupation. The business school was invented in the first decade of the 20th century in response to a massive economic transformation in the U.S.

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Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 433

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2010

In my last post I described my approach to one of the three classes I teach at Stanford in the engineering school: Fundamentals of Technology Entrepreneurship. The key things I want students to take from the class are: Understand that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a profitable business model.

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Business Model Silicon Valley California Engineer 226

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.

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Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

While all the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ), Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, each of their journeys was unique. And our course advisor, Tom Byers , Professor of Engineering and Faculty Director, STVP. It Started With An Idea.

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Lean Security Asia SBIR 385

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 6, 2012

Follow along as we explore 10 of the most exciting college business incubators around today, and be sure to share your own favorites in the comments: Entrepreneurs Hall @ The RIT Global Village. At Rochester Institute of Technology’s Entrepreneurs Hall, innovation is a way of life. Engineering Translational Technology Center.

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Incubator New York City Boston Intellectual Property 202

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 25, 2010

Over the last 50 years engineers have moved from building computers out of individual transistors to building with prepackaged logic gates. It’s the combination of Business Model Design and Customer Development. Business Model Design. It instantly creates a shared visual language while defining a business.

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Customer Development Business Model Developer Customer 329

Steve Blank

MAY 23, 2016

NYU Engineering Commencement Speech. Thank you for the opportunity to address you on your graduation from this esteemed engineering school. Established businesses execute business models while startups search for them. I’m honored to help you celebrate this important milestone. Actually they’re entirely different.

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Lean Technical Review Vietnam Engineer 221

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” The Yin and Yang of Product and Engineering - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 22, 2010 For a tech company, product and engineering are the heart and soul of the business.

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Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. It might be its most important. ———-. Cold War Spin Outs.

Engineer 305

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 305

Steve Blank

JULY 28, 2011

Silicon Valley was born in an era of applied experimentation driven by scientists and engineers. The combination of Venture Capital and technology entrepreneurship is one of the great business inventions of the last 50 years. It provides private funds for untested and unproven technology and entrepreneurs. billion U.S.

Engineer 278

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Intellectual Property 278

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

business models. Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Almost every entrepreneur I met was using VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Entrepreneurial Culture.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2016

To be honest I built the class out of frustration watching schools teach aspiring entrepreneurs that all they need to know is how to write a business plan or how to sit in an incubator building a product. using the business model canvas as the framework. Every week we teach the practice of Lean. Reflection Week.

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Lean Incubator Business Model Channel 120

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

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Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ) Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique. I observed that teaching case studies and/or how to write a business plan as a capstone entrepreneurship class didn’t match the hands-on chaos of a startup.

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Oakland Asia Lean Video 301

Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

One of the confusing things to entrepreneurs, investors and educators is the relationship between customer development and business model design and business planning and execution. When does a new venture focus on customer development and business models ? is known , you will be executing it.

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Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 320

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

business models. Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Almost every entrepreneur I met was using VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Entrepreneurial Culture.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.) release of the product.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2014

Kauffman just launched Founders School - a new education series to help entrepreneurs develop their businesses during the startup stage by highlighting how startups are different from big companies. 0:43: Business Plans versus Business Models. 1:46: The Differences: Accounting, Engineering & Sales.

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Founder Intellectual Property Lean Customer Development 327

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

A place to start would be by recognizing the fundamental difference between an existing company and a startup: existing companies execute business models, while startups search for a business model. (Or Therefore the very foundations of teaching entrepreneurship should start with how to search for a business model.

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Agile Business Model Customer Development Lean 250

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2018

To organize my thoughts, I found a new book, “ Burn the Business Plan ,” by Carl Schramm, who speaks from experience founding five companies, working major corporate roles, and being an active venture investor. You need a business degree to start a venture today. Business strategies are best learned from experience.

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Incubator Angel Investor Dilution Equity 180

Steve Blank

MARCH 14, 2012

Today, the second half of the Stanford Engineering Lean LaunchPad Class gave their final presentations. As often happens, this team came into class convinced that their market research proved that their business was providing credit to underbanked customers. Class is a mix of engineering students and MBA’s. Team MiCasa.

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Lean Business Model Customer Development China 248

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 10, 2013

It’s difficult to fake corporate culture | Business Insider – [link]. How a 1-Page Business Model Will – and Won’t–Help Your Lean Startup | by Kevin Dewalt – [link]. The critical metrics for each stage of your SaaS business | by Lars Lofrgren – [link]. The Business Plan.

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

Innovators are not entrepreneurs. Steve Blank: When I first starting teaching, the capstone entrepreneurship class was how to write a business plan. But years ago, we had no alternative – how to write a business plan was it. .” The hard part is, “How do we deliver something?”.

Incubator 331

Incubator Lean Programming Government 331

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

I’ve introduced a new class at Stanford to teach engineers, scientists and other professionals how startups really get built. We have two great teaching assistants , plus we’ve rounded up a team of 25 mentors (VC’s and entrepreneurs) to help coach the teams. In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or

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Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Steve Blank

MARCH 7, 2012

Today, the first half of the Stanford Engineering Lean LaunchPad Class gave their final presentations. The goal is for them is to observe this class, then host and teach the next round of 50 NSF Innovation Corps scientist/engineer teams in July. Here are the first five. It Feels Like 20 Years Ago Today. Team ColorWheels.

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Lean Business Model Agile United States 256

Up and Running

MAY 10, 2017

We didn’t know anything about small business accounting or finance. We didn’t even know how to write a business plan. I had some limited knowledge about search engine marketing, but knew nothing about marketing in a more general sense. Suddenly, we were business owners.

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Startup SEO Montana Argentina 119

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Many of today’s most successful businesses got their start without an apparent business model in mind (I’m looking at you, Facebook). That’s the clear message from Dave Lavinsky advocates in his new book Start at the End: How Companies Can Grow Bigger and Faster by Reversing Their Business Plan.

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Engineer Startup Cofounder Business Model 60

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

It’s part three of a series, cross-posted from his own blog , in which he draws on his experience to offer advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. So far I have shared with you 9 simple steps to start your own tech business ((don’t miss part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 ). Skype), and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

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Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Our Lean LaunchPad class teaches scientists and engineers that starting a company is another research project that can be solved by an iterative process of hypotheses testing and experimentation built around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. And I am definitely enjoying it.”.

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Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development Business Model 242

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

In fact, I often have to tell aspiring entrepreneurs that their inventions have zero value, at least not until they are put in the context of a business plan, with qualified people committed to executing the plan. You need a viable business model and customers. Early-stage ideas fall in the same category.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. Reinventing the board meeting may allow venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. for a business model. for a business model.

Silicon Valley 281

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 281

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model. What is the entrepreneur supposed to be doing?

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Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290