VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As David Sacks from All in put it: On aggregate, a lot of funding was also deployed to startups in the application layer – investing in founders leveraging generative AI to either solve narrow tasks, or bring automation to tasks to reduce costs, increase accuracy, speed etc.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI ChatGPT Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 78

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.

Vertical 123

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 123

VC Cafe

MAY 23, 2023

More and more, established companies are leaning into generative AI by either adding generative AI features to their existing suite of tools or partnering with AI companies (mostly OpenAI or the open source HuggingFace) to launch entirely new products. There’s an interesting thing happening in the generative AI world.

Generative AI 165

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT API 165

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

Simulation to Reduce Invention Risk If you’re in a vertical where “invention risk” is dominant, then you want to do everything you can to manage and reduce those risks. When I wrote the Four Steps to the Epiphany , the Customer Development text, I hadn’t yet thought about what vertical markets it might be appropriate for.)

Vertical 130

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 130

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

Be honest with yourself VCs are now going to be looking closer at margins, cost structures and true sales, and product market fit. Lean” doesn’t come to mind when you think of a business that needs trucks, warehouses, cross-docks, and thousands of employees to run efficiently. You’re going to spend A LOT of time with them.

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 119

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Sunset BoulevardBOOTY SHAKE CONTEST GONE [.]

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 228

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. customers aren’t buying it, the cost of distribution is too high, etc.) Product Development Diagram 1. business model.

Customer Development 241

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 241

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. Over its lifetime a Lean Startup may spend less money than a traditional startup. What’s the customer acquisition cost?

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Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 250

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

As the costs of production fall, it’s getting easier and easier to send in a proposal or even a complete work. Just like in the world of startups, we can start to use micro-scale pilot programs, executed in lean fashion, to gather real facts for making ROI decisions about new project investment. 12comments: Dougvs said.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Reply Lots of low cost experiments « Open Ambition , on April 22, 2009 at 8:58 am Said: [.] Reply Killing Innovation with Corner Cases and Consensus « Steve Blank , on April 22, 2009 at 5:04 am Said: [.] “Speed and Tempo&# – Fearless Decision Making for Startups [.]

Silicon Valley 302

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 302

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. The first question to ask is: “Does your startup have market risk or is it dominated by technical risk?” Lean Startup /Customer Development is used to find answers to the unknowns about customers and markets. End of theory.&#

Customer Development 223

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 223

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2013

Streamline management costs. Don’t forget to measure all of your marketing efforts to see which ones are indeed cost effective. Ask employees what they would do to grow your business, fix business issues, or cut costs. Keep you office running lean and mean. Make everyone a salesperson. Mix things up.

Entrepreneur 234

Entrepreneur Vertical Reputation Valuation 234

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

Unfortunately most startups learn this by going through the “Fire the first Sales VP&# drill: You start your company with a list of potential customers reading like a “who’s who&# of whatever vertical market you’re in (or the Fortune 1000 list.) Your board nods sagely at your target customer list.

Silicon Valley 133

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 133

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Here’s the problem: Every other poor schmuck in every other vertical has used the exact…same…photograph. million in losses to online scams in 2019, and many scam sites lean heavily on low-priced stock photography. It was taken with a point-and-shoot camera that cost a couple hundred bucks.

Stock 71

Stock Software Review Arizona Technical Review 71

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JANUARY 6, 2011

Although the industry is in much better shape than the dark days of 2008 and 2009, many CEOs have fully embraced the continue to internalize the lean startup principles that came out of those years. Measure of success: more than doubling our customer base without doubling our cost per acquisition. Improve the product.

Stealth 60

Stealth Startup Lean Cofounder 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2012

Streamline management costs. Don’t forget to measure all of your marketing efforts to see which ones are indeed cost effective. Ask employees what they would do to grow your business, fix business issues, or cut costs. Keep you office running lean and mean. Make everyone a salesperson. Mix things up.

Startup 236

Startup Vertical Reputation Valuation 236

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Was the company attempting to be a low cost provider by introducing cheaper products to an existing market? Therefore, no, we weren’t really equipped to be the low cost provider. Was SuperMac attempting to introduce radically new products and create a new market ? No, not really. And we lost money when we did so.

Silicon Valley 144

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 144

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2011

Streamline management costs. Don’t forget to measure all of your marketing efforts to see which ones are indeed cost effective. Ask employees what they would do to grow your business, fix business issues, or cut costs. Keep you office running lean and mean. Make everyone a salesperson. Mix things up.

Startup 230

Startup Vertical Reputation Valuation 230

Steve Blank

APRIL 15, 2011

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. Veritas , the team building a low cost, residential wind turbine. But the big project for the week was testing and analyzing Customer Acquisition Costs. Worse yet, each of these clicks cost about a $1.00.

Customer 252

Customer Cloud EC2 Channel 252

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Lean marketing. Your customer acquisition cost and lifetime value are the two magical numbers you need to calculate for each one of your campaigns. Cost of Acquisition (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a user through a given channel. Most campaigns can be optimized to increase conversion rates and lower costs.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Here’s the problem: Every other poor schmuck in every other vertical has used the Exact. Considering that nearly 2 million Americans fall victim to online scams a year, and many scam sites lean heavily on low priced stock photography… the odds are not in your favor. Photograph. Meet The Everywhere Girl.

Stock 129

Stock Software Review Lead Generation Arizona 129

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Computer hardware companies were faced with their customers asking for low-cost (relatively) desktop computers they had no experience in building. This was just before the IBM PC hit the desktop so there were no “standard” operating systems or applications for desktop platforms.

Technology 139

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 139

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

It will cost you your job.” By accountable I meant, “we agreed on a delivery date, and between now and the delivery date it’s OK if you ask for help because you’re stuck, or something happened outside of your control. But do not walk into my office the day something was due and give me an excuse. That kind of accountable.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 263

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

In less than a month they designed a low-cost video-capture board that plugged into the Mac and allowed you to connect a video camera and VCR. 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.

Video 168

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 168

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 9, 2022

The last link in a horizontal navigation menu (or the bottom one in a vertical menu) should be “Contact.” Luke Wroblewski took notes at a recent An Event Apart conference in Chicago where Jared Spool made this point about redesigning websites : They can mess with the knowledge gap— and cost you millions.

Design 116

Design Web Search Chicago 116

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

Often these funds are attempting to build out a reputation or gain exposure to a new vertical. Their earlier ownership stake allows the fund to dollar cost average into a more realistic total valuation. Previously the $50-100k checks were about information/relationship first mover advantage but this strategy is about cost leverage.

Later Stage 95

Later Stage Valuation Semantic Institutional Investors 95

Steve Blank

AUGUST 17, 2009

The university found government contracts profitable as the government reimbursed their overhead charges (their indirect costs.) This means they could fund other non-military academic programs from this overhead. The Stanford Applied Electronics Lab built prototypes which were handed off to the military labs for their evaluation.

Silicon Valley 144

Silicon Valley RSS California Government 144

Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

And now am leading a startup of my own ( [link] ) where we’re students of you and Eric Ries’ lean startup principles. In all the Germans had over 7,500 radars dedicated to tracking and killing the allied bombers. Each allied bombing mission lost 2-20% of their planes. Bomber crews had to fly 25 missions to go home.

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley Technical Review Europe Germany 185

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

Gorbachev, now the Soviet Premier, had to grapple with the spiraling cost of military systems that weren’t amortized by consumer purchases. Cold War strategy had gone from a “let’s be friends” to a “yes we can win” strategy. By the mid 1980s Ronald Reagan was cranking U.S. defense spending even higher. Arms control with the U.S.

Silicon Valley 176

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 176

YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2014

Masterful execution makes up one of the triangle’s two vertical sides. (I If you cut 1 percent in cost or time, that’s not much. They use lean teams. Such companies do three things exceptionally well, forming a structure what I call the triangle of lasting success. Great strategy makes up the base of the triangle.

Stock 157

Stock Memphis Balance Sheet Analytics 157

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

She said, “Dad, one of the great things you and Mom did was never tell us how much things cost.” Now that I’m older, I’m starting to know what things cost. It was something I never thought about, and when I first heard it I thought it was a terrible thing to have taught her. For a minute it was a pretty depressing thought for a parent.

North Carolina 146

North Carolina Silicon Valley RSS Connecticut 146

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

Different market opportunities present radically different startup risks and costs. Verticals Are Different I began to realize that entrepreneurs (and their professors) act like every vertical market and industry has the same set of rules. Just for discussion, the markets I chose were: Web 2.0,

Vertical 151

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 151

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

Lean Methodology consists of three tools designed for entrepreneurs building new ventures: The Business Model Canvas – to write down all the hypotheses about a new business; Customer Development – a process for testing those hypotheses outside the building; Agile Engineering – to rapidly build minimal viable products to test product/market fit.

Customer 421

Customer Marketing Lean Vertical 421

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. Combined with product costs, an engineering budget, and schedules, this results in a spreadsheet that faintly resembles the first financial plan in the company’s business plan. Ortho kills.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Growth marketing borrows a concept from the lean startup methodology. Growth hacking is a term that emerged from the Silicon Valley tech community and the lean startup methodology. One of Qless’s core verticals is the retail industry. How can you reduce the cost of testing and optimization?

Framework 102

Framework Marketing Acquisition Retention 102

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

As a private company you can decide that winning at all costs is your culture. You can decide that coming in first at all costs is your culture. Think through if you want to win at any cost. (I It’s the decisions that you make that might cost you an order, a sale or a higher stock price. And we decided not to.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley RSS Startup California 124

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Sloan put in place GM’s management accounting system (borrowed from DuPont) that for the first time allowed the company to: 1) produce an annual operating forecast that compared each division’s forecast (revenue, costs, capital requirements and return on investment) with the company’s financial goals.

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 161