The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. I remember presenting our ideas for Marketing Automation to one VP of Marketing in a large Silicon Valley company.

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 233

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. They looked at their watches, gave our sales guy a quizzical look and left.

Technology 139

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 139

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

The Founder’s New Insight Smart founders are never satisfied with simply executing their current business model, they are constantly observing, orienting and deciding whether their current business model can be made better. It’s a natural part of learning about your customers and business model.)

Customer 203

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 203

Steve Blank

JUNE 4, 2012

As the morning fog burns off the California coast, I am working with Steve Blank, preparing for the Lean LaunchPad Faculty Development Program we are running this August at U.C. The tools and techniques available to small businesses on Main Street are the same ones that were being used for the last 75 years. Serendipity.

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Silicon Valley Lean Utah Customer Development 307

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Consumer Internet investing seems to have split off from traditional Venture Capital, and is creating a new category of VC’s: Lean VC’s. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. VC’s invested in things that ran on electrons: hardware, software and silicon. Here’s why.

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Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 260

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Start With a Business Model, Not a Business Plan | WSJ – [link]. The problem with a Lean Startup: the Minimum Viable Product | Paul Kortman – [link]. The danger of waiting to long to find a business model? In Silicon Valley, Technology Talent Gap Threatens G.O.P. – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

billion for a company with less than $50 million in sales. It may just be that the message of building companies that have predictable revenue and profit models hasn’t percolated through the VC business model. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 224

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 224

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He tells the story of how he was out of cash, stressed out, nobody in LA or Silicon Valley would give him money, he had finally found an investor in Minneapolis but his venture bank was going to shut him down for breaking a “covenant&# in their agreement by not having enough cash in the bank. He told them it was now or never.

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Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

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. Why It’s “Silicon” Valley. It might be its most important.

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Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 307

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, developed a methodology for creating businesses that runs in parallel with the traditional product development process. Startups rarely survive by guessing, and can only create products and business models based on facts about their target market.

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Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

Our Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences is one of them. ———– The National Institutes of Health recognizes that Life Science/Health Care commercialization has two components: the science/technology, and the business model. Lean Methods are one such tool. Lean LaunchPad Life Sciences (NIH) Teaching'

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San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 262

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

In this post we’re going to offer a new definition of why startups exist : a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. A Business Model. Ok, but what is a business model ? A business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value.

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Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2018

Today, I want to introduce a new approach to business planning: Lean Planning. Lean Planning replaces lengthy business plans with a 20-minute planning process that focuses on increasing your chances of success in business. Lean Planning is simpler and faster than writing a traditional business plan.

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Lean Forecast Software Review Business Plan 134

Up and Running

DECEMBER 7, 2012

The goal of any business is to find a scalable and repeatable business model. So, what’s a business model? Let’s start with a quick definition of what a business model is. Let’s start with a quick definition of what a business model is. Reduce risk by documenting your business model.

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Business Model Developer Silicon Valley Business Plan 105

Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Today, I want to introduce you to a new concept for starting and growing successful companies: Lean Planning™. Before I dive too deeply into the Lean Planning methodology, it makes sense to talk about its history and where it comes from. It starts with “Plan-As-You-Go” instead of detailed, formal business plans.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

However, in catching up with the VP of Sales of Ardent last night, I was reminded one of the few times I did return for closure. In my career I’ve been involved with lots of sales deals, and for some reason losing this was the one deal I never forgot. It was for sale on Ebay. I liked to fail fast, move on, and not look back.

Silicon Valley 193

Silicon Valley San Diego RSS California 193

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 247

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 247

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Execution by Vertical Market As the class progressed, students asked how the activities/functions of a startup; (Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Development, etc.) For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Is marketing different if you’re in the cleantech business versus medical devices?

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 123

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

Rule 1: In an existing market Customer Development means not only understanding potential customers, but your competitors in detail – their product features, their sales channels, their demand creation strategy, their business model, etc. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 189

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 189

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

While finding product-market fit is important, getting the rest of the business model right is the difference between and a great demo and a great business. ” (But not focusing on the other aspects of the business model) hurt tremendously. Do we hire 50 sales people? What was the value proposition?

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Cofounder DC Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Is there a profitable business model? The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. Can it scale?”

Customer Development 264

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 264

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

Things Change In 1956 Hewlett Packard (HP) was a 17-year old company with $20 million in test equipment sales with 900 employees. For the first 25 years HP’s business model was static. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. I’ll show you the memo in a second. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 170

Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 170

blog.startupsquare.com

APRIL 13, 2010

2 Comments Tags: Customer Development , lean startup , pivot , Strategy. note: For those not familiar with the term, pivot is a lean startup vocab word that states in it’s simplest form: If your business model isn’t working, change something. So I decided to make a list of my potential pivots.

Lean 40

Lean Startup Cofounder Architecture 40

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Our “Hollywood meets Silicon Valley” story played great in Silicon Valley, they ate it up in Hollywood, and the business press tripped over themselves to talk to us. The Customer Validation lesson of, “no formal launch until you have early sales validating the product and sales process&# was also born here.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

www.usatoday.com

JULY 16, 2012

But Viddy isnt based in the technology hotbeds of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. "It It would have been a lot more challenging to create a business like this up there," OBrien says. Theres also eHow parent Demand Media, streaming video site Hulu, car-shopping site TrueCar and one dominant player from Silicon Valley: Google.

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Los Angeles San Francisco Southern California Silicon Valley 87

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Little Indians and Big Indians At MIPS Computers , my second semiconductor company, I was the VP of Marketing and defacto head of Sales. As the engineers were busy rearchitecting the original Stanford MIPS chip into a commercial product, one of my jobs was to find out what features customers wanted. Then WHAT it IS? Order Here.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 280

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

And thanks to Ann Miura-Ko of Floodgate (my first Lean LaunchPad co-instructor) for her suggestions. Keep in mind that there is no “one way” to raise money Different investors will almost certainly have different models, and different regions may have different math. Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2015

While at The Washington Post, she broke stories on the Microsoft antitrust case from Washington before establishing the paper’s Silicon Valley office. ” These were by far the worst interviews of my life and it was so bad … that some guy leaned across the desk and said, “I’ve got an idea for you.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Washington New York City 120

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

In particular, a marketing launch can help you do three things (courtesy, as is most of my marketing advice, of The Four Steps to the Epiphany ): Drive customers into your sales pipeline. You have to know your business model. Most startups launch before theyve figured out what business theyre in. Gattiker said.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Read part one on the Evolution of Corporate R&D and part two on Innovation Outposts in Silicon Valley. . Today, large companies are creating Innovation Outposts in Innovation Clusters like Silicon Valley in order to tap into the clusters’ innovation ecosystems. W hat would be the charter for our Innovation Outpost?

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Acquisition Boston Early Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

This reality has fostered a popular new startup approach which dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of these corrections, pioneered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Eric Ries. Most startups these days use one of three primary growth engines: the viral, sticky, and paid growth models. Channel pivot.

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Lean Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Architecture 255

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, developed a methodology for creating businesses that runs in parallel with the traditional product development process. Startups rarely survive by guessing, and can only create products and business models based on facts about their target market.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2013

Five Branding Mistakes That Will Cripple Your Small Business (and how to avoid making them) – [link]. Empower Your Small Business: trust & loyalty, marketing insight, lean business – [link]. Always use data, not feelings, to make business decisions – [link]. ” – [link]. .

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 90

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

How to stay lean and iterate quickly while you’re building a two sided marketplace, especially when “network effect” and “critical mass” are the two main focuses? Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. Once you’ve done that – then.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2012

This reality has fostered a popular startup approach which dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of these corrections, pioneered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Eric Ries. Most startups these days use one of three primary growth engines: the viral, sticky, and paid growth models. Channel pivot.

Silicon Valley 273

Silicon Valley Architecture Startup Channel 273