Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. Commercial product prototypes.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. Commercial product prototypes.

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Early Stage Angel Investor Incubator Government 412

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?

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Aligning the Startup Team Strategy with the Capitalization Strategy. The single most important factor to raising capital for any tech startup is the management team. This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. Typically, these hires fall into 2 buckets: product development and sales.

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Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

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?

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

On the other hand, if you arrive at a VC pitch without a comprehensive understanding of the industry you’re hoping to compete in, or without a clear path to profitability or a thoughtful product-development road map, you’ll likely leave empty-handed. Investors want to feel confident that they’ll see a return on their investment.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

In times when venture capital is hard to get, investors extract high costs for failure (down-rounds, cram downs , new management teams, shut down the company.) This “get out of the building” activity is the Customer Discovery step of the Customer Development Model.

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Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2018

Schramm, author of “ Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do “ If I asked you to describe the prototypical successful entrepreneur, you may share a story mythologized in our culture of a brilliant young man with an idea so good and so disruptive that he just can’t waste any time finishing college.

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Silicon Valley Forecast Venture Capital Business Plan 157

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.

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Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 7, 2024

Plan Long Term It seems obvious that every company should have a business plan, yet experiencing sudden growth can affect these plans and too many entrepreneurs are eager to leap ahead without considering how it could affect the business.

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Startup Forecast Social Media Cost 109

Up and Running

DECEMBER 22, 2015

I have to admit, I’ve seen some judges of graduate-level business plan competitions care about IRR, but never an actual angel investor during actual due diligence. Please, get a clue: Real businesses usually turn out net profits in single digits, and only rarely up as high as 20%. You’re out of school now.

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Angel Investor IRR Software Review Startup 60

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Venture Capital Cafe > Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). Great for visualizing work of product development. Boilerplate Venture Funding Documents. National Venture Capital Association â?? Raising Venture Capital. Venture Hacks equity section. About VC Cafe. Seed Startups.

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Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

of our company in exchange for the $300K, and my business partner and I each diluted from 50% ownership down to 33.3% Best of luck to you in your startup venture! Law and Taxes Partnerships Starting a Business Strategy Venture Capital and Angel Investors attorney tech' The deal we made with him was he’d get 33.3%

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 15, 2022

In many cases, your advisor will identify key employees and create a business plan to help you find a buyer and negotiate the best price possible. When selling your startup with a mergers and acquisitions advisor, it’s essential to identify the key employees who have made the most valuable contributions to the business.

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Merger Acquisition Due Diligence Valuation 128

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Love/Hate Business Plan Competitions……… 39. Raising Money Using Customer Development……… 47. Lessons Learned – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch……… 52. Customer Development Manifesto. The Leading Cause of Startup Death: The Product Development Diagram.

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Silicon Valley Customer Development IP Developer 202

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Typically they can be used to fund product development and commercialization that would otherwise require outside investors. A good place to start looking is the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which is a lifeline for high-tech startups. Pursue grants and investors in parallel. Marty Zwilling.

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Government Equity Cost SBIR 230

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.)

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Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Later Stage 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2011

Typically they can be used to fund product development and commercialization that would otherwise require outside investors. A good place to start is the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which is a lifeline for high-tech startups. Pursue grants and investors in parallel. Marty Zwilling.

Government 221

Government SBIR Dilution Database 221

Hearpreneur

JULY 10, 2017

Prior to starting Ozmo both Ming and I worked in a design house creating new and better products. Throughout my five years of experience in product development, I realized that most of product launch failure could have been avoided by getting the product right earlier on, or understanding the limit of the maker.

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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.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2013

Incorporate your startup after the business plan, but before you spend a dollar on product development. Legal requirements and tax requirements change as a business grows, so your entity needs to be reviewed regularly. Here are the key steps: Form the simplest legal entity early to cover your efforts.

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LLC Nevada Delaware Limited Liability Company 234

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.

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Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

The sessions cover everything that goes into running our startup: raising venture capital, marketing, sales training, product development, technology decision-making, user experience, and user testing. In a few weeks, there will be an opportunity to pitch our company to angel investors and venture capital firms.

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Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

And as they do, sometimes even unknowingly that beautiful dream of a business exit and financial windfall recedes depressingly into the sunset. Putting out there as to what our financial results will be , and why - in the form of well-documented and reasoned financial forecasts.

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Harvest IP Software Review Forecast 48

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

If it's not your plan to get venture capital down the road, then you'll probably stop in Stage 2-receiving enough funding to boost your marketing, sales, and infrastructure to grow organically from there to the point where you are satisfied or ready to sell. Series B is the round that follows series A in early stage financing.

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Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

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?

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

YoungUpstarts

MAY 10, 2012

Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model. Getting to Plan B encourages startups to realize that business plans often change, and in fact, your success as a startup depends on your ability to do just that. Read this book to find out how to stress test your Plan A and reconfigure it for success.

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Startup Lean Silicon Valley Open Source 247

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

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Storm Clouds - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 12, 2010 We have enjoyed an amazing run in the web startup and investing space over the past five or six years. Competing To Win Deals - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 7, 2010 The venture capital business is highly competitive.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

Next, you have to deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers. And here’s where life gets really interesting, as the reality of product development and customer input collide, the facts change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant.

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Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

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.

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Entrepreneur Small Business Administration SBA Pennsylvania 60

Up and Running

MARCH 1, 2016

Boris Wertz, founding partner of Version One Ventures, believes that if you’ve worked in an industry you’re passionate about for a long time, you may know something about the market that nobody else knows. If You Want Venture Capital, You Need It. You can do this on your own too using the lean planning methodology.

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Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Non-Compete Naming 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want.

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Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Whether that advice and assistance pertains to marketing, sales, branding, IT, new product development, finance, company culture, strategy, exit planning, and everything and anything in between.

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Norway Russia Colorado Finance 48

Tim Keane

APRIL 24, 2006

Last night, Bob Zieserl, Venture Capitalist, and general partner at Stratus Ventures, was the keynote speaker at the Marquette University Business Plan Competition. "Over the last twenty years, 11,000 companies have had Venture Capital investments. The product development cycle was excellent.

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Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping Venture Capital 60

Gust

DECEMBER 12, 2011

The most basic element of every startup system is a written, agreed, and measurable business plan. Define and use well-thought-out systems, manual or automated, to ensure repeatable success of every key process. Manage priorities.

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Cost Business Plan Entrepreneur Startup 114

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

It was both by design and natural inclination of all involved, a working dinner where the main topic of conversation was the client's business model in all its permutations - new market penetration and geographies, new product development, prospective new hires, growth-by-acquisition opportunities, establishing Newcos to house new technologies, discussing (..)

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Conversion Los Angeles Europe Acquisition 48