Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Learn why the traditional way of writing a five-year business plan is often a waste of time and how to use a Lean Plan instead for smarter, easier strategic planning to establish your long-term vision. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for the long term. What is a long-term plan?

Business Plan 83

Business Plan Lean Forecast Exit Strategy 83

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. This is precisely the dilemma that the doctrine of minimum viable product is designed to solve.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It should go without saying that this post is not advice, nor is it recommendation of what you should do, it’s simply my observation of how companies using Customer Development positioned themselves to successfully raise money from venture investors. Is there a profitable business model? What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

JANUARY 17, 2014

The phrase “lean startup” comes up a lot in conversations about entrepreneurship. I’ve been to several panel discussions on the topic, had it taught to me in a business school classroom, and read a book dedicated to lean startup methodology. Revise your product or service as quickly as possible. Getting customer feedback.

Lean 107

Lean Startup Philadelphia Business Model 107

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. Thats what business is designed to do.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

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

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

Steve Blank has devoted many years now to trying to answer that question, with a theory he calls Customer Development. This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. Heres the catch.

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. Analytics spark more questions and discussion than almost any other aspect of the Lean Startup method. Alistair and Ben, co-authors of the book Lean Analytics, will help you sort it out in our next webcast, Lean Analytics for Non-tech Companies.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

I had a lot of use for this concept back when I worked on game design and virtual worlds. In order to maintain game play balance, game designers have to take into account the needs of customers who have an excess of four different assets: time , money , skill , and passion. Having a balanced ecosystem is what game designers strive for.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The second thing that’s changed is that we’re now Compressing the Product Development Cycle. In the 20 th century startups I was part of, the time to build a first product release was measured in years as we turned out the founder’s vision of what customers wanted. Not kind of wrong but going out of business wrong.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

The Lean Startup Book is done. The finished book will come out on September 13, featuring an amazing cover designed by my IMVU co-founder Marcus Gosling and refined and tested by so many of you. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Up and Running

JULY 19, 2016

It’s about what your business does for people that other businesses don’t do. See Also: Business Planning Guide. I’m not sure where this classic positioning statement template started, or whom to credit, but I’ve found it very useful for years of developing business plans. Positioning diagrams.

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Developer Marketing Social Media 60

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

For most companies it feels like innovation can only happen by exception and heroic efforts, not by design. The Enterprise: Business Model Execution We know that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. By design not by exception. The question is – why?

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IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Figuring this out takes time, and few entrepreneurs have the patience to wait it out, because the business plan does such a good job of explaining what customers are going to think. The problem is that customers dont read your business plan. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

15,000 copies later, the horrifically bad proofreading, design and layout is now a badge of honor. Love/Hate Business Plan Competitions……… 39. Raising Money Using Customer Development……… 47. Customer Development Manifesto. Customer Development In the Real World.

Silicon Valley 202

Silicon Valley Customer Development IP Developer 202

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

For the rest of us, there is an alternative: to create credibility by building a lean startup. At IMVU, we were terrified by how early we shipped (and charged for) our first product. My startup business (web development) is being shunned by virtually every other potential investor I approached thus far. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

Some combination of the dot-com crash and a just terrible business plan prevented us from having to take our scalability problems to the next level. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. for Harvard Business Revie. Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Technology Continuous Deployment Lean 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Certainly venture-backed startups don’t have this luxury – every business plan has a model in it. This model of joint accountability is at the heart of the lean startup, and is just as applicable to venture-backed, bootstrapped, and enterprise startups. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. While these objectives provide an illusion of progress, in reality they do little to validate the business plan hypotheses about customers and what they will buy.

Customer Development 215

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Lean Methodology Sources. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Part 3- Lean Cust. Design/Front End: Twitter Bootstrap : Include this in your website, and you are half finished. LiveRoad : A Great IDE for design is very helpful. Color Scheme Designer. Steve Blank’s Lean Startup Resources.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 30, 2010

While it has been time-consuming, the market research, retailer meetings and focus groups with consumers has driven us to iterate in this way and we believe we have a much more realistic, and great business proposition in front of us. While we have plenty of materials to show you (including business plan, financials, design mockups, etc.)

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Later Stage 106

Up and Running

JUNE 20, 2016

The competitive matrix is important in a business plan for several reasons. Second, it can develop and explain positioning. Third, it is one of the most obvious, strategic visuals that business plan readers expect. See Also: Highlighting Risks in Your Business Plan Will Help You Get Funding.

Developer 65

Developer Business Plan Advertising Differentiation 65

Up and Running

AUGUST 4, 2016

Building Design + Construction. If your construction tastes lean toward the more aesthetic, check out Contract. This publication puts the spotlight on commercial interior design and architecture, an angle most other sites don’t take. You can find out more about becoming a member here. Magazines and blogs. Construction Enquirer.

United States 60

United States Architecture America Lean 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Customer Development by Vertical - Click to Enlarge (As a reminder, the Customer Development process says your business plan is just a series of untested hypothesis (unless you’re a domain expert.) You take your product vision and get out of your building to turn your hypothesis into facts. Waterfall, Agile, Lean?

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

These damn models weren’t designed right so we’re fixing them on the line.” Next, you have to deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer. It’s our hood alignment station,” the plant manager said proudly. And that’s just to get started.

Founder 297

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

Up and Running

MARCH 1, 2016

At Palo Alto Software, we use the One-Page Pitch feature in LivePlan to quickly validate new business ideas. You can do this on your own too using the lean planning methodology. See Also: One Easy Trick to Get Your Business Plan Done in Under an Hour. See Also: 10 Tools to Design Your Best Product Yet.

Non-disclosure Agreement 60

Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Non-Compete Naming 60

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

What sets this approach apart from practices like using focus groups is that companies base product development decisions not just on what customers say they want but on how they vote with their wallets. The Inc story, and many others, does a good job emphasizing its lean-ness. Read the rest. Read the rest.

San Francisco 137

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer – The 5.2 Risk-takers and Strategists: Jeremiah Owyang on Long-Term Social Media Planning - ReadWriteStart , November 10, 2010 Two years ago, 93% of Americans believed companies should have a social media presence. Your First Iteration of an Idea Will Be Wrong. Absolutely.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Ali G meets with business leaders and investors on Wall Street to learn how to create a new company around a new product idea. After some general lessons, he then proposes his first product idea, complete with flip charts, business plan, and marketing plan. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 104

San Francisco DC Continuous Deployment Lean 104

Up and Running

JULY 24, 2015

Business planning. To start your business, you’ll need a sound business plan. But here at Bplans, we make an effort to provide entrepreneurs with the resources they need to start and run successful businesses. Product development. They can help with development and licensing, too.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Small Business Administration SBA Pennsylvania 60

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

(a guide for hackers) (This post was inspired by a conversation with Nivi from Venture Hacks , but is otherwise not his fault) There has been a proliferation of frameworks and metaphors lately that are designed to help startups avoid the all-too-common fatal mistake of failing to find a market. for Harvard Business Revie. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 89

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Ruby Lean 89

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Getting educated about advertising, agencies, and media buyers I see lots of startups whose business plans revolve around selling high-value ad space to brand advertisers. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. for Harvard Business Revie. Expo SF (May.

Advertising 60

Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60

Software By Rob

AUGUST 5, 2010

The knowledge that you need 10,000 hours to master a subject, that certain trends become viral after the 412th person adopts it, or that you should make your product remarkable, is not going to help you launch. Nor will it save you a single minute during product development, or sell one more copy of your application.

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Founder Startup Software Review Software 78