Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

In response, venture capital firms like Sequoia and Andreessen/Horowitz are hiring new partners just to work with their portfolio companies and match them to corporations. Silicon Valley – a Corporate Innovation Candy Store. Startups are those companies that are still in the process of searching for a business model.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2016

These topics were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111. If you can’t hear the clip, click here. Want to be a guest on the show?

Detroit 120

Detroit Baltimore Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Today’s workforce has radically different expectations, brands are losing their power, physical channels are being destroyed by virtual ones, market share is less important than market creation, and software is eating world. As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Funding challenges and other issues founders face in the early days of starting up were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

Five Easy Pieces – The Marketing Mission After a few months of talking to customers , talking to our channel and working with sales we defined the marketing Mission (our job) was to: Help Sales deliver $25 million in sales with a 45% gross margin. Two paragraphs, Five bullets. It didn’t take more.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

SuperMac sold our graphic boards for the Macintosh through multiple distribution channels: direct sales to major accounts, national chains, independent rep firms, etc. But the computer retail channel was a large part of our sales. Or blame my MarCom department who approved it. Worry about the sales results. What did we learn?

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

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. Electron-based Venture Capital. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. Here’s why.

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Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

You’ll realize you’re ready to exit the Search step when you have customer validation: You’ve found a sales channel that matches how the customer wants to buy and the costs of using that channel are understood. Filed under: Family/Career/Culture , Lean LaunchPad , Venture Capital.

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

For our tech project (and likely others in our field) the value is in accurately predicting platforms and information channels in the next 6months-1 year. This is more challengine than it appears, and method of insulation is supporting varied input channels. Look forward to your next post a usual!

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I believe that: 1) a product is just a part of a startup, but understanding customers, channel, pricing, etc. How does it differ on the web versus other channels? Did anything change about Value Proposition or Customers/Users or Channel? Direct channels, indirect channels, OEM.

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Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

When venture capital teamed up with technology entrepreneurs in the 1960’s they brought with them the canonical MBA planning tool – the business plan. This makes sense in a company where your customers, channel and competition are known. The Business Plan ?- a roadmap for execution. This years winner were: 1. XoomPark , BYU.

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Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 263

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

In addition to Stanford I also teach at Columbia, and at these research universities – Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, and others – they all now have an internal incubator, they have maker spaces, they have their own venture funds, they connect to the community, they connect to venture capital. It’s a big idea.

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Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

Reply steveblank , on May 22, 2009 at 2:39 pm Said: Morteza, The comments about “ignore this post&# were meant that if your sales channel is the web you rarely go to trade shows. You are correct all channels, web or otherwise, need to generate awareness and leads.

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Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 128

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

press and use it to generate end user demand and then drive that demand into our sales channel. Reply SuperMac War Story 6: Building The Killer Team – Mission, Intent and Values « Steve Blank , on April 9, 2009 at 5:02 am Said: [.] The Potrero benchmark strategy was one component of this creating end user demand through PR.)

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 124

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

That was the message from the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on Sirius XM Channel 111. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere airs Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern on Sirius XM Channel 111. Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111 Filed under: Customer Development. Dave Lerner.

Artificial Inteligence 120

Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Silicon Valley New York 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The product development model is so focused on building and shipping the product that it ignores the entire process of testing your basic hypothesis about your business model (customers, channel, pricing, etc.) before you ship. Not testing these hypotheses upfront is a fundamental and, in many cases, fatal error most startups make.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

Since we had gotten out of the software business when we came out of Chapter 11 , and our sales channel didn’t know what to do with software, we licensed ReelTime to Adobe. But you probably never heard of ReelTime. You may know it by its final name.

Video 164

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 164

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

The show airs on SiriusXM Channel 111 (weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Before co-founding Biota Technology , he was an investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at Seed Capital , a investing in science-based innovation. Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111. .

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

The show airs on SiriusXM Channel 111 (weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Before co-founding Biota Technology , he was an investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at Seed Capital , a investing in science-based innovation. Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111. .

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Sales – What Channel to reach the customer? Each week, as the students learned something new about their particular project (what sales channel they should use, who the customer were, what type of manufacturing was appropriate, etc.) Who are the economic buyers? Market Type – Existing/Sustaining? New/Disruptive?

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

MAY 16, 2016

In companies this would be product line extensions, more efficient supply chain, new distribution channels. Examples are a company-owned manufacturing facility, big data or machine learning engineers, DOD proposal writers, venture capital, etc. Resources are the internal company-owned activities.

San Diego 142

San Diego Metrics Indonesia Silicon Valley 142

Steve Blank

JULY 11, 2016

And, Pitch Johnson who was the chairman of the board at Boole & Babbage and a venture capitalist, took me around and introduced me to every venture capital firm in Silicon Valley at the time. I started working with startups and venture capitalists. Tune in Thursday at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on Sirius XM Channel 111. .

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Cofounder Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

You make several first order approximations about your business model, distribution channels, demand creation, and customer acceptance. The person who can quickly re-channel that excitement to a different idea (one based on fact, not faith) will have much more success. There is no certainty about a startup on day-one.

Silicon Valley 212

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 212

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Continuous innovation requires the imagination and courage to challenge the initial hypotheses of your current business model (channel, cost, customers, products, supply chain, etc.) Filed under: Venture Capital. This requires retaining a startup culture for years – and who best to do that? The founders.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

After that there’s a discussion of how the product will reach the customer and the potential distribution channel. The startup develops its first positioning statement and uses this to explain the company and its benefits to venture capitalists. Building the sales channel and supporting the marketing can burn a lot of cash.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

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.) have product/market fit,) then you invest the dollars to create end user demand and drive those customers into your sales channel.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

With that implicit assumption, startups hire a VP of Sales with a great rolodex and call on established mainstream companies while marketing creates a brand and buzz to create demand and drive it into the sales channel (web, direct salesforce, etc.) End result? If they had done this, there would have been zero dollars in sales.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

To an entrepreneur, being asked to join a venture firm with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence title means you have been tapped on the shoulder by the VC gods. The CDROM content business in the early 1990’s was one of the many of the long line of venture capital fads. We understood none of this. More detail in future posts.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Ask yourself: Are there now new customers, new services and new channels to pursue? What do you think is the right thing to do? Days 3 and 4: Prepare new business model and operating plan. First, think about potential pivots.

South Korea 333

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Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

These sources are a lot more forgiving of iterations and pivots than later-stage venture-capital funds. In times of unlimited cash (internet bubbles, frothy venture climates) you can fix your mistakes by burning more dollars. There are two reasons to take venture money. Filed under: Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I finally understood how valuable these contests can be for students in cities or countries without a venture capital or entrepreneurial infrastructure. Over scrambled eggs and diet coke, I listened to this seasoned startup veteran describe the excitement of his students who came to the U.S. to compete.

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

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.

Silicon Valley 181

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 181

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2009

I remember after a month or two of talking to 14-22 year old male gamers (our potential target market,) I realized that for the first time in my career I had no emotional connection to my customers or channel partners. I was about 90 days into the company when I began to realize there was something very different about this business.

Silicon Valley 139

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

The absolute number depends on your channel and industry. In Customer Validation it is when you have enough early sales to declare that you have discovered a repeatable and scalable sales process. For example, if you are selling enterprise software, getting 3-5 early customers may be enough in Customer Validation.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Steve Blank

MARCH 22, 2022

In 2021 venture capital funds invested over $2 billion in 90+ Quantum technology companies. Quantum Cryptography/Quantum Key Distribution can distribute keys between authorized partners connected by a quantum channel and a classical authenticated channel. Over a $1 billion of it going to Quantum computing companies.

Technology 436

Technology Algorithm Stealth Distribution 436

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

I knew we were selling through a multi-level indirect sales channel. Market messages to indirect sales channels are just like that. As we found out when we interviewed our dealers, our sales department was using extra commission payments – called Spif’s – to incentivize the channel to move our product.) What did I learn so far?

Silicon Valley 185

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Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

And since there was no Venture Capital in the 1950′s/’60′s where was the money coming from? In contrast, spark gaps are broad-band radio “noise&# sources – the idea of discrete radio channels was impossible spark gaps because of this. I’ll stop channeling James Burke now. to do that.

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