Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2013

.” It defined a startup as a “temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” Today its concepts of “minimum viable product,” “iterate and pivot”, “get out of the building,” and “no business plan survives first contact with customers,” have become part of the entrepreneurial lexicon.

Technical Review 219

Technical Review Lean Venture Capital Customer Development 219

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. By the way, the engineering definition of serendipity is, that life is too unpredictable to pre-compute.

Lean 221

Lean Technical Review Vietnam Engineer 221

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2014

. — Over the last three years the Lean LaunchPad class has started to replace the last century’s “how to write a business plan” classes as the foundation for entrepreneurial education. The Lean LaunchPad class uses the three “ Lean Startup ” principles: Alexander Osterwalders “ business model canvas ” to frame hypotheses.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Lean IP Open Source 281

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.

Business Model 226

Business Model Silicon Valley California Engineer 226

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2011

—— I was invited to Finland as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program partnership with Aalto University. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Teaching , Technology , Venture Capital. This is the first of two posts about Finland and entrepreneurship.

Finland 324

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 324

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Founders assumed they understood customer problems/needs, wrote engineering requirements documents, designed the product, implemented /built the hardware/software, verified that it worked by testing it, and then introduced the product to customers in a formal coming out called first customer ship.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

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.

Oakland 301

Oakland Asia Lean Video 301

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Companies are great at improving their existing business model and value propositions, but fall short when it comes to inventing entirely new business models, value propositions, and growth engines. Bad Habit #3: Insisting on untested and detailed business plans. Don’t ask innovators for business plans.

Non-Compete 329

Non-Compete Agile Business Model San Francisco 329

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

The class is designed for students who said they want a hands-on experience in what it takes to build a startup – not just writing a business plan or listening to lectures. This year, at one of the universities where I teach in the engineering school, our quarter was going to start right after the New Year.

Lean 278

Lean Customer Development Business Model Email 278

Steve Blank

JUNE 19, 2014

After seeing the process work so well for scientists and engineers in the NSF, we hypothesized that we could increase productivity and stave the capital flight by helping Life Sciences startups build their companies more efficiently.

Lean 269

Lean SBIR Intellectual Property Customer Development 269

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.

Lean 433

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 433

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

And as engineers they believed weed versus crop recognition, while hard, was doable. The biggest lesson for the students this week was the entire reason for the class – no business plan survives first contact with customers – as customers don’t behave as per theory.

Customer 234

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 234

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

And while startups and entrepreneurship courses are now being added to the curriculum, “How to write a business plan” seems to be the state of the art. Though they’re familiar with technology in the valley, I picked up some important cultural difference from students and startup engineers I talked to. Entrepreneurial Culture.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Steve Blank

JANUARY 30, 2013

I earnestly believe that large corporations should emulate Lean Startups (Business model design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering.) It gets really tough when these projects are launched and have to fight for survival against current corporate business models. Lessons Learned.

Programming 265

Programming Technical Review Incubator Intellectual Property 265

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 13, 2010

I’ve spent the last week in Santiago, a guest of Professor Cristóbal García at the Catholic University of Chile as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program. Teaching in Chile. Valaparaiso houses. Entrepreneurship and innovation in what I call “Chilecon Valley” is being talked about continually here.

Chile 235

Chile Silicon Valley Lean Agile 235

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. entrepreneurship is experiential and requires theory and a ton of practice.

Lean 120

Lean Incubator Business Model Channel 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2014

0:43: Business Plans versus Business Models. 1:46: The Differences: Accounting, Engineering & Sales. 6:07: Engineering: Waterfall Development in a Large Company vs. Minimum Viable Product in a Startup. 1:28: Using the Business Model Canvas. 4:24: No Business Plan Survives First Contact with Customers.

Founder 327

Founder Intellectual Property Lean Customer Development 327

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

And while startups and entrepreneurship courses are now being added to the curriculum, “How to write a business plan” seems to be the state of the art. Though they’re familiar with technology in the valley, I picked up some important cultural difference from students and startup engineers I talked to. Entrepreneurial Culture.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

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 ? And when do business planning and execution come into play?

Search 320

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 320

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Yet startup companies have traditionally used this model to manage and pace not only engineering but also non-engineering activities. In the next few posts that follow, I’ll describe more specifically how this model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. release of the product.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2014

It has three parts: a business model canvas to frame hypotheses, customer development to get out of the building to test those hypotheses and agile engineering to build minimum viable products. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development. Product/Market fit now has its own book.

Business Model 335

Business Model Design Customer Development Lean 335

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

A month or two before the QuickTime public announcement in May, the SuperMac hardware engineers (who had a great relationship with the QuickTime team at Apple) started a “ skunk works ” project. So SuperMac engineering also developed video compression software, called Cinepak. The software was idiot proof.

Video 164

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 164

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Companies are great at improving their existing business model and value propositions, but fall short when it comes to inventing entirely new business models, value propositions, and growth engines. Bad Habit #3: Insisting on untested and detailed business plans. Don’t ask innovators for business plans.

Non-Compete 120

Non-Compete Agile Business Model San Francisco 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 28, 2010

The company headcount was mostly engineers accomplishing the impossible on a regular basis while a few of us were outside the building trying to do what we would call today Customer Discovery and Validation. First, I thought that not pumping up engineering every week would demotivate the team. Engineering was much smarter.

Business Model 239

Business Model Customer Development Engineer Vesting 239

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Both Stanford and Berkeley have been extremely generous in letting me test these ideas in their engineering and business schools. In fact, starting in January, Stanford will offer Engineering 245, a.k.a This class is not about how to write a business plan. International Business Model Competition.

Agile 250

Agile Business Model Customer Development Lean 250

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

My public talk at Columbia University was part of their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Startup lecture series. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development. Tags: Business Model versus Business Plan Customer Development. She posted her notes from the talk here.)

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Business Model Developer Design 270

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. Lessons Learned.

Lean 248

Lean Business Model Customer Development China 248

Steve Blank

JUNE 18, 2013

I wondered if business plans and 5-year forecasts were the right way to plan a startup. It dawned on me that the plans were a symptom of a larger problem: we were executing business plans when we should first be searching for business models. We were putting the plan before the planning.

Lean 286

Lean Agile Customer Development Business Model 286

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.

Lean 256

Lean Business Model Agile United States 256

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. Satish Kandlikar – The Spirit of Entrepreneurship.

Silicon Valley 242

Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development Business Model 242

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2012

The Business Model Canvas + Customer Development works even in this short amount of time. As we’ve already found, this class needs to be taught as a joint engineering/mba class. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Lean LaunchPad , Teaching.

Lean 258

Lean Business Model Customer Development New York 258

Steve Blank

MAY 14, 2012

Traditionally, engineering, sales, and marketing have all focused on the immovable launch date. Therefore, focusing on execution and delivering a product or service based on those initial, untested hypotheses is a going-out-of-business strategy. Writing a business plan that doesn’t allow for trial and error.

Balance Sheet 335

Balance Sheet Business Model Customer Development Metrics 335

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

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. SB: I think ethics are a critical missing component of most business curriculums.

Incubator 331

Incubator Lean Programming Government 331

Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2011

Autonomow team members: Jorge Heraud (MS Management, 2011) Business Unit Director, Agriculture, Trimble Navigation, Director of Engineering, Trimble Navigation, MS&E (Stanford), MSEE (Stanford), BSEE (PUCP, Peru). Vogt Holding), PhD Mechanical Engineering (FAU, Germany), MS Engineering (ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Business Model 236

Business Model Nebraska Peru Germany 236

Steve Blank

JUNE 7, 2019

All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , 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.

Oakland 266

Oakland Lean SBIR Afghanistan 266

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Notice that the traditional product introduction model leads to a product launch and the execution of a revenue plan. The revenue numbers and revenue model came from a startups original Business Plan. that make up a business model. Unless you were incredibly lucky most of your assumptions are wrong. Ritualized Crises.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

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. Many entrepreneurship courses focus on teaching students “how to write a business plan.” ——————– Engineering 245. Others emphasize how to build a product.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311