Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We’re looking forward to channeling the energy and excitement attendees bring with them, and to providing opportunities to learn about not just things that have been successful, but missteps and major obstacles that have been overcome--all part of the Lean Startup process. For the whole program, please take a look here.

Lean 103

Lean Las Vegas Cofounder Startup 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” Percentages may be difficult at this early stage, but you need to get creative about slicing and dicing the market, sector, demographic, and sub-categories.

Hockey Stick 304

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 304

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. Horizon 1 activities support existing business models. Horizon 1 is the company’s core business.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

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. Get Out of the Building and test the Business Model.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2012

In these days of rapid change, almost every startup has to adapt their solution, business model, or target customer. You need to find vendors who can deliver in less cost and time than competitors, and build distribution and support channels. Leverage the technology to change directions as needed.

Startup 242

Startup Database Early Stage Distribution 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

Thus it is always a question of what you qualify for, and what you are willing to give up, to turn your dream idea into a viable business. Here is my list of the ten most common sources of funding today, in reverse priority sequence, with some rules of thumb to channel your focus: Seek a bank loan or credit-card line-of-credit.

Equity 266

Equity Startup Small Business Administration SBA 266

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

Thus it is always a question of what you qualify for, and what you are willing to give up, to turn your dream idea into a viable business. Here is my list of the ten most common sources of funding today, in reverse priority sequence, with some rules of thumb to channel your focus: Seek a bank loan or credit-card line-of-credit.

Equity 436

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 436

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 21, 2020

That’s why you should do research beforehand and ensure any platform you choose fits your business model. At the early stages of our business, we had a supplier who took £2,800 from us and never delivered the goods. We had to do a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul to stay afloat and keep the business moving.

eCommerce 242

eCommerce Customer Early Stage B2C 242

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2010

In these days of rapid change, almost every startup has to adapt their solution, business model, or target customer. You need to find vendors who can deliver in less cost and time than competitors, and build distribution and support channels. Leverage the technology to change directions as needed.

Entrepreneur 236

Entrepreneur Database Early Stage Distribution 236

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

As a startup, you’re working with limited resources and a lean business model. Building your brand presence on specialized outlets holds immense value for your business – especially in early stages. Ignore these pioneering risk-takers, and say goodbye to social channels of conversion. Target influencers.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Then there were also certain social channels that worked for awhile but didn’t stick. In the early days, StumbleUpon was a key part of the playbook. For awhile, that channel was a share option on all our blog posts, and we tried paying for stumbles for some campaigns. But HubSpot doesn’t even talk about that now.

Marketing 120

Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Well, I have coached early stage entrepreneurs for a couple of years now - diligently, patiently - and have learned a few things. First up today was Yogesh Sharma presenting Rangrut.com , a business that connects employers with learning institutions and on-campus students to fill job openings. On to the roundtable recap.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

If this happens, the risk of having an unpleasant experience is much higher, as an early stage startup cannot afford 7 months off the correct path. Our business model back then was very complex, and it included a B2C as well as a B2B business model, that wasn’t being implemented yet. It was all hypothetical.

Programming 124

Programming Chile B2B B2C 124

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

A Venture Capital Firm is a firm that invests in startups and early-stage companies. Early-Stage Investments vs. Mid-Stage Investments. Investing in a startup company carries a high degree of risk, particularly at the early stage. They can also help you develop your product and sales channels.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

View from Seed

JUNE 21, 2022

AB: While mid-market and designer items see successful recirculation through rental and resale platforms, only 10% of mass-market / fast-fashion is resold through traditional channels eg. RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? RH: Close your eyes and imagine where your business will be in five years.

Ireland 156

Ireland Europe Early Stage Founder 156

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

To do a solid holiday season he will need to balance the inventory and marketing budgets, and getting stuck in a complex situation with inventory being stuffed in the retail channels with bad terms will be a kiss of death. I will connect the company to a few larger companies that may be good OEM channels for them. JCLABoutique.com.

India 114

India Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 114

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

In a deep ocean of early stage investors, it’s important to signal to the market that you have specific areas of interest, even if you look to invest in everything. In the early days, I focused on anything data science related, then healthcare, and now I proactively look at climate/energy. Be a generalist and a specialist.

Cofounder 182

Cofounder Portfolio Capital Gains Vertical 182

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

But to do it, you need to actually have a sustainable business model. Starting a business is too risky. — An experienced team made all the difference to 2U finding success, Jeremy said: We had a phenomenal early group of people that were brought together to try to address the problem. Our revenue model was wrong.

Cofounder 142

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 142

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. They might have some seed money and are thinking or raising a Series A based on success of an early release (MVP). Think about how you can prove your business model with an MVP. is a requirement.

Valuation 198

Valuation Revenue Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 198

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 14, 2011

a group of entrepreneurs from TiE Chennai gathered at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) Research Park campus, and we spent the next four hours discussing strategy and tactics of early-stage entrepreneurship. The majority of the discussion was about go-to-market strategy, channels and regulatory issues.

India 126

India Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 126

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. The most frequently used channel to research people is unsurprisingly Linkedin , followed by Twitter.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

But to do it, you need to actually have a sustainable business model. Starting a business is too risky. — An experienced team made all the difference to 2U finding success, Jeremy said: We had a phenomenal early group of people that were brought together to try to address the problem. Our revenue model was wrong.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120

Gust

JANUARY 4, 2012

Most investors will assume that if the business plan is solid and a large market opportunity exists, there will be vigorous competition from other players. The amount of investment in IP in any direct sense is generally small for early stage startups. Large companies] win by locking competitors out of their sales channels.

Intellectual Property 143

Intellectual Property IP Startup United States 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

Thus it is always a question of what you qualify for, and what you are willing to give up, to turn your dream idea into a viable business. Here is my list of the ten most common sources of funding today, in reverse priority sequence, with some rules of thumb to channel your focus: Seek a bank loan or credit-card line-of-credit.

Entrepreneur 240

Entrepreneur Equity Small Business Administration SBA 240

Steve Blank

MARCH 7, 2012

The premise of the class is that startups, are not about executing a plan where the product, customers, channel are known. Startups are in fact only temporary organizations, organized to search –not execute–for a scalable and repeatable business model. Yet this isn’t an incubator. And do it in 8 weeks. Team EngineKites.

Lean 256

Lean Business Model Agile United States 256

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 15, 2020

Remember: don’t be fooled into thinking your current business model can simply be reproduced across different international markets. For international expansion, focus on consumer behavior, marketing channels and product preferences. Every country has different rules and regulations for businesses to follow.

China 90

China Early Stage Business Model Matching 90

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2010

One of the toughest problems for entrepreneurs is to keep score as they search for their business model. One of the key concepts of Customer Development is writing down your initial hypotheses (guesses) of all the parts of your business model, then updating them with the facts you find outside the building. Keeping Score.

Customer Development 211

Customer Development Business Model Early Stage Channel 211

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” Percentages may be difficult at this early stage, but you need to get creative about slicing and dicing the market, sector, demographic, and sub-categories.

Hockey Stick 266

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 266

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

I got to spend time inside his company while I was using their software to analyze early-stage ventures. Tossing their agile development process and at times their entire business model in the air, the company would go into fire-drill mode and engineering would start working on whatever his latest insight was.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. I work hard, don’t get me wrong. That’s fun.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

They make a lot of money, and nothing in Anuj's business model convinced me that these people have any interest or incentive to go around teaching, especially in rural India. I asked Anuj who would be teaching these workshops, and who would be paying for them. I asked him to abandon this idea and find a better one.

Channel 115

Channel India Bootstrapping Silicon Valley 115

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 8, 2009

This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. Normally, when I am talking to the founder of any startup trying to figure out what they need to do, one of the things I always try to do is understand their business at its core. We need to make sure we have these numbers.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

02:06] Can you share your experience starting with an early-stage company (Hubspot) that eventually went public? [07:11] I think the net of it is it went from HubSpot teaching a business model to follow to more of a partner program where you're reselling technology. You can measure how many. (16:02):

Metrics 75

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 75

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Errol Arkilic , former program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), now founder of M34 Capital. Steve Weinstein , CEO of MovieLabs. The Origins of National Science Foundation I-Corps.

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business Model I would like to propose that in addition to team, product, and market, there is actually a fourth, equally important, core element of startups, which is the need for a viable business model. These new business models focused heavily on how buying behavior has changed because of the power of the web.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103