Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Entrepreneur-in-Residence After SuperMac I had been approached by one of our venture investors to be an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), a Silicon Valley phrase which says one thing but means another. Peter described the first company in which “Hollywood meets Silicon Valley” and we were enthralled.

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Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

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. It’s just a story about what happened to me.

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Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. By now the company may have found and settled on a repeatable business model. Order Here.

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Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

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.)

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Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Startups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a profitable business model. Look at the Product Development model and you might wonder, “Where are the customers?” Look at the early Silicon Valley companies – Homebrew Club =>PCs. business model.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

Creating a vertically oriented regional ecosystem is a pretty amazing accomplishment for any country or industry. The trap most of them fell into (common almost everywhere): they were reading the blog posts and advice of Silicon Valley-based companies and believing that it uniformly applied to them. It doesn’t.

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Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

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. Hype before shipping any product is an obvious flaw, but what about hyping products that have shipped but have zero business model?

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Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Austin Startup

MARCH 3, 2020

I work out at the same gym as Kumail Nanjaini , and there would be days where I would be in the gym working out across from him, after having watched an episode of Silicon Valley the night before that had already hit too close to home with something my startup was dealing with. Tell us about a memorable celebrity encounter.

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Technical Review Los Angeles Cofounder Silicon Valley 63

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. And they probably never will be unless business model viability is reassessed across the board.

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Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 110

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you’ve tried to slog your way through my book on Customer Development you know that I’m insistent that the founders need to be the ones getting outside the building (physically or virtually) to validate all the initial hypotheses of the business model and product. Find out Memorex’s position in Silicon Valley.

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Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 11, 2011

One theme seems to come up over and again, especially from geographies outside Silicon Valley: lack of a reliable pipeline of deals. On the topic of business models, Spencer proposed building traffic and then selling the company, which I pushed back on. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant.

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Silicon Valley Columbus Ohio Incubator 105

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

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. Unfortunately, regardless of a VC’s age, their business models are suffering and IPOs seem to be a thing of the past for at least a while longer. Order Here.

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Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

At a university business plan competition, for the first time they can swim in the sea of expertise that we/I take for granted in the middle of Silicon Valley. I love business plan competitions (and with my valley-centric bias, I think Berkeley and Stanford have two of the best.) I now think that was a mistake.

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Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

You know you have achieved product/market fit when you start getting orders (or users, eyeballs or whatever your criteria for success was in your business model.) Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Is our solution compelling enough that they want to buy it or use it today? Order Here. Now In Print!

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 278

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. In contrast to simply executing your business plan, the Customer Development process is built on low-cost and continuous learning and iterating.

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 17, 2018

But a thesis centered around network effects isn’t static – and isn’t limited to any particular sector, business model, or platform. And we also look at companies that are creating the best product for a specific vertical – including bio/healthcare and other emerging tech. We invest across North America.

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Silicon Valley North America San Francisco LP 127

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Luckily (or maybe because we were in Silicon Valley where there was a domain expert for everything) there was a very smart consultant in the retail computer space, Seymour Merrin, who preached about the importance of packaging. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. Now In Print!

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Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

The dysfunctional family theory may explain why founders who excel in the chaotic early phases of a company throw organizational hand grenades into their own companies after they find a repeatable and scaleable business model and need to switch gears into execution. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

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Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2011

Today, startups receive only 4% of those funds, something Clearshore–now in the customer discovery phase–is out to change. To add your email to the free podcast alert service, click here.

Silicon Valley 195

Silicon Valley California Vertical Customer Development 195

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Lee, quite simply, has forgotten WAY more about the entertainment business than most of will ever know (see his biography below). And he has graciously agreed to give us the answers to the above questions, which winning business models to run with, which losers to run from, and much, much more!

Los Angeles 85

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Technical Review Distribution 85

Growthink Blog

JUNE 19, 2010

Lee, quite simply, has forgotten WAY more about the entertainment business than most of us will ever know (see his biography below). And he has graciously agreed to share the answers to the above questions, which winning business models to run with, which losers to run from, and much, much more!

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Los Angeles Silicon Valley Technical Review IP 76

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

You make several first order approximations about your business model, distribution channels, demand creation, and customer acceptance. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Faith-based Entrepreneurship At first, entrepreneurship is a Faith-based initiative. Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S.

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Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 212

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Getting Out of the Building Wasn’t Entertainment – Discovery and Validation Now that I was the master of the “facts” about customer needs in these specialized vertical markets , and with my team of vertical marketers , I thought I had achieved absolution and redemption. But there was one fatal flaw. Order Here.

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Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 172

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

– Mike [link] Reply Jeff Skinner , on May 24, 2010 at 9:28 am said: Steve, you don’t know me though I use your ‘Customer Development process’ video in my classes (Entrepreneurship at London Business School). Jeff skinner Faculty, London Business School. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Mucker Lab

MAY 1, 2013

From the outside, they are vertically integrated challengers to decades if not hundred-years old incumbents. Some had once argued that software is not a competitive advantage – that all the old dogs will learn new tricks and there will be little left for valley entrepreneurs and VC’s to pick over.

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Software Silicon Valley Los Angeles Columbus 107

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. We provide revenue-based funding and business acceleration support to service-based small businesses located outside of major capital markets such as Silicon Valley and New York City.”. “We

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Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

It’s in the heart of Silicon Valley, but against the traffic in the morning. This track brings together founders and funders and showcases exciting new companies, products, services, and business models across different verticals and industries. What has the startup experience taught you about life?

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San Jose Cofounder API Silicon Valley 75

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Was Ardent’s business model flawed from the start for being so short on potential customers with deep pockets? Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. I liked to fail fast, move on, and not [.] [.] Was it your error or cruel fate? Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

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Silicon Valley San Diego RSS California 185

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. Order Here.

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Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 181

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

If you can’t find enough paying customers in the Customer Validation step, the model returns you to Customer Discovery to rediscover what you failed to hear or understand the first time through the loop. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Reply Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Order Here.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Steve Blank

JULY 23, 2009

Startups were not just smaller versions of a large company, they were about invention, innovation and iteration - of business model, product, customers and on and on. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. At these startups both the problem and solution were unknown. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 121

Silicon Valley RSS California Chad 121

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

For the first 25 years HP’s business model was static. Of course HP did ship new products and innovate, but their center of innovation was sustaining innovation , around the core of their existing business. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S.

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Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 164

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 3, 2017

I knew there was a Friday night poker game in Silicon Valley where all the software pioneers were getting to know each other and helping shape the industry. The leadership centers of the microcomputer world shifted from Albuquerque to the San Fernando Valley (LA), the Bay Area, and Seattle. Deals were getting done there.

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Atlanta Albuquerque Incubator Austin 48

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Needless to say, this isn’t a business model that works in the pandemic world. For example, if you think you have a great idea for a business, a standard Silicon Valley startup technique is to create a faux website and run some Facebook or Google ads to see whether or not the concept appeals to the market.

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Startup Silicon Valley Business Model Mobile 36

pandodaily.com

JULY 18, 2012

But it’s possible that as the secret sauce of new media swings farther from disruptive technology and business models to a focus on curated and quality content, it’s the older entrepreneurs who are in the pole position. The Smart People Can Denounce Bravo's Silicon Valley All They Want. 25 comments.

Entrepreneur 45

Entrepreneur San Francisco Silicon Valley Technical Review 45

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

For four years we have offered the synchronization service for no charge, predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service. We had the wrong business model. Dave Jones made a virtue of having no business model for APB. Title: Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Especially since even Youtube is still struggling to try find a viable business model. link] Matt Merriam It’s been clear for sometime that the venture model, particularly early stage venture, is not the best approach for funding tech startups, but the hangover from the Internet days still lingers. dasein Yeah, I agree.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62