Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on? Customer Development and Selling Strategy If you’ve just started your company you are in customer discovery. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back.

Technology 139

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 139

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

But then, because there might be entrenched competitors and your concept is radically new, you still need to invest in the customer development process to learn how to get design wins from companies who may be happy with their existing vendors. In contrast, customer acquisition, brand, reputation, etc.

Vertical 147

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 147

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself. . 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy. The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. They take common stock, not preferred, a fact that the entrepreneurs mentioned to me many times.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Last May, I shared the news that long-time Lean Startup advocates Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits were working on a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur featuring illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. The Embrace infant warmer was developed - by getting out of the country -- and how Rob Emrich learned and scaled his non-profit, Road of Life.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Values – who and what founders and customers hold dear – were the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. The program examines the DNA of entrepreneurs: what makes them tick, how they came up with their ideas; and explores the habits that make them successful, and the highs and lows that pushed them forward.

Cofounder 146

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 146

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Supercomputers get Personal Back in Sunnyvale my friend had not only been hired but had convinced the team that we should be building hardware – making a new class of computers not a software application. We’re building a supercomputer.” We told Andy we’d talk further when he got back from Europe.

North Carolina 126

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 126

Steve Blank

MARCH 1, 2016

What it was like to get out of the research lab to build a startup was the focus of interviews with two of the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). We said, “Well, we’re going to hire our first employee, and you know what?

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Michigan Detroit 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Values – who and what founders and customers hold dear – were the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. The program examines the DNA of entrepreneurs: what makes them tick, how they came up with their ideas; and explores the habits that make them successful, and the highs and lows that pushed them forward.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 120

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? But all things are never equal.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

JANUARY 29, 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). And people would hire me to put on these events with the idea that if I captured enough rich people, that would do it.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Monaco San Francisco Cofounder 120

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, November 17, 2008 The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: part one Ive written before about some of the advantages startups have when they are very small, like the benefits of having a pathetically small number of customers. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

If your don’t have enough employees on the payroll, hire relatives, friends, or part-timers and train them. When I was at Intel, we hired the Hill Group to come in a train the entire team of sales and marketing people who were slated to staff any trade show booth throughout the year. You’ll never have to do it again.)

Silicon Valley 129

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 129

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. David Lerner is an entrepreneur, angel investor and director of entrepreneurship at Columbia University. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere airs Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern on Sirius XM Channel 111.

Artificial Inteligence 120

Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Silicon Valley New York 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 19, 2011

Lots of entrepreneurs believe they want a mentor. I attempt to offer them both theory, as well as a methodology, about building early stage ventures. And finally, I have them experience all of this first hand by teaching them theory side-by-side with immersive hands-on using Customer Development to find a business model.

Early Stage 296

Early Stage Audience Hiring Business Model 296

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

A discounted price is available for early stage entrepreneurs and students. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha. Lean Startup Circle - a mailing list of dedicated and helpful entrepreneurs.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. So I met the entrepreneur and asked him how his search for a business model was going. We’re in Customer Validation but we can’t seem to close a deal.” Hmm, I asked, “Can you go back to the beginning and tell me about your Customer Discovery process?

Founder 206

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 206

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

The people who are the lifeblood of an early-stage startup are earlyvangelists. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha. Lean Startup Circle - a mailing list of dedicated and helpful entrepreneurs.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

Here in Tampa, our biggest challenge is convincing the regions technology "leadership" that grassroots economic development is a good thing. That fostering and encourage entrepreneurs to bring companies and products to market is a great source of innovation, job creation, etc. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

leanstartup #goap It was great to be in an audience of entrepreneurs who recognized the value of iteration and speed. benjaminjoffe : early adopters of buggy product are visionary customers, sometimes smarter than founders! Many founders dont like to hear that visionary customers are as smart, maybe even more so, than they are.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. With that information in hand, Engineering estimates delivery dates and development costs.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Yet the processes that early-stage companies were using were identical to that of large corporations. Through trial and error, hiring and firing, successful startups all invented a parallel process to product development. It’s a process that doesn’t exist in large companies with existing customers and markets.

Silicon Valley 128

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital California 128

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

When it becomes possible to build products "live" with customers, the cycle time changes and design becomes a much more dynamic process. We still struggle to create Firm software that is defect-free, and it still requires customer insight (and maybe some customer development) to discover what will Delight.

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

If we already knew who the customer was, how they would behave, how much they would pay, and how to reach them, this wouldn’t be a disruptive innovation. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Changing Equity Structures for Early Startup Employees Tweet Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. His company had just closed an early round of funding and he wanted to cement the employee relationships. But I also told him that I though the numbers were wrong. .&#

Equity 41

Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

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. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

Lean 250

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 250

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2015

It is in need of innovation on many fronts and is also trying to embrace the amazing amount of innovation happening with early-stage companies. In working with eight early-stage companies in the last two months I have consistently asked, “What do you want from us?” This often tries the patience of entrepreneurs.

Startup 120

Startup Early Stage Azure Lean 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , SuperMac | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , Early Stage Startup « Killing Innovation with Corner Cases and Consensus The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part VI: Every World War II Movie was Wrong » 7 Responses David , on April 23, 2009 at 8:58 am Said: Excellent!

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

Have a loud product demo; give away pieces of candy; hire a masseuse and offer free back rubs. Offer a free bestselling book in your industry (can you have the author there to autograph it?); Hold a contest, (If you’re giving away a big prize make sure your most valuable prospect wins.) Plus tips on overall trade show strategy.

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 185

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

Without raising money, 1 of 2 situations would have fallen upon us: I would have had to dig deeper into my own pockets to continue to pay the contractor as well as hire others. I would have continued to scrape by with a product that was conceptually on point, but didn’t have the bells and whistles that customers expect nowadays.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

It got bigger by inventing new test and measurement equipment and it hired people who knew how to execute that strategy. Ben Reply Jerry Ji , on June 22, 2009 at 1:39 pm Said: Peter Drucker: Entrepreneurs need to be more managerial. Elephant Graveyard Reinvention of large companies, while making for great case studies are rare.

Silicon Valley 169

Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 169

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 17, 2010

Our sponsors continue to support the conference as well as deserving entrepreneurs. Three premier early-stage venture investors have joined forces to sponsor the event: Baseline , Floodgate , and First Round Capital. Our sponsors continue to support the conference as well as deserving entrepreneurs. Bring your questions.

San Francisco 107

San Francisco Romania Cleveland South Africa 107

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Ill mention one last thing about knowing what channels of communication your customers engage with. This is important, especially if you are a very early stage company. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? It also gives you insight into their language.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. Often board members give entrepreneurs two bits of advice regarding scale: Get a mentor. twenty in your wallet? The Dry Run.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve seen a range of options for supporting entrepreneurs, which I can rank from least to most involvement in companies by investors: financier VCs, e.g., Correlation Ventures. mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs. incubators, e.g., the many options in New York.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Entrepreneur-in-Residence After SuperMac I had been approached by one of our venture investors to be an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), a Silicon Valley phrase which says one thing but means another. I offered to introduce him to the firm whose Entrepreneur-in-Residence offer I had just accepted.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

I liked the flattering Venture Hacks commentary so much Ill just quote it: Many founders believe that early stage startups are endeavors of execution. The customer is known, the product is known, and all we have to do is act. He believes that many early stage startups are labors of learning. Bring your questions.

Lean 74

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 74