Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2009

luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building. luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building.

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Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 124

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

A big piece of the solution lies in the scalable impact of entrepreneurship and an increase of successful entrepreneurs. Max continued, “That’s why I’m really interested in ways of optimizing the entrepreneurship ecosystem to allow more entrepreneurs to go from idea to reality. I was feeling pretty old.

Technical Cofounder 333

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 333

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2011

I was invited to Finland as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program partnership with Aalto University. Ultimately, Nokia’s difficulties will turn out to be good news for Finnish entrepreneurs. Finland itself has significant engineering talent, and is also attracting entrepreneurs from Russia and the former USSR.

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Finland Naming Russia Government 324

David Teten

MARCH 28, 2012

Best Practices in Venture Capital Portfolio Company Value Creation. Even the best VCs and entrepreneurs have a painfully high failure rate. Lowering that failure rate would be highly impactful on venture capitalist returns, if we could figure out how to do it. Entrepreneurs please click here.

Portfolio 144

Portfolio Private Equity Venture Capital Early Stage 144

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 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was consulting for the two venture capital firms who between them put $12 million into my last failed startup. Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. Arguments that I had heard at my own startups seem to be repeated at others.

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

After I retired, I began teaching Customer Development , a theory of how to reduce early stage risk in entrepreneurial ventures. As a pun on my last company as an entrepreneur, E.piphany, I called the book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Raising Money Using Customer Development……… 47.

Silicon Valley 202

Silicon Valley Customer Development IP Developer 202

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

Now with a new infusion of $8 million dollars of venture capital, SuperMac had been resurrected from the dead and was attempting to restart. They had no model of who their own customers were and what it would take to make those customers bang down their doors to buy their products. Nothing I couldn’t fix.

Silicon Valley 146

Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review RSS 146

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. Depending on the size of the venture firm they may have one to three EIR’s who stay an average of a year or so.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 24, 2014

Part 1: Bend, Oregon Ecosystem and Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds. Local entrepreneurs just made it up as they went. The most fertile source of entrepreneurs is the population of existing entrepreneurial companies. Local Early-Stage Risk Capital.

Engineer 307

Engineer Silicon Valley Oregon San Francisco 307

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Other Roles in a Startup Generic advice given to entrepreneurs assumes that everyone is going to be the founder/co-founder. Yet for every founder there are 10-20 other employees who take the near-equivalent risks in joining an early-stage company. Get customers first. This is the minimum feature set for founders.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Steve Blank

JANUARY 20, 2014

When Customer Development and the Lean Startup were just a sketch on the napkin, Dino Vendetti, a VC at Bay Partners, was one of the first venture capitalists I shared my ideas with. Over the years we brainstormed about how Lean entrepreneurship would affect regional development. Startups in Bend.

Silicon Valley 312

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 312

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. It’s what my textbook on Customer Development describes. I was an idiot.

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Customer Development ) to help you quickly recognize and reverse any incorrect decisions. Customer Development) to help you quickly recognize and reverse any incorrect decisions.&# Reply One difference between VCs and Entrepreneurs « Lightspeed Venture Partners Blog , on April 20, 2009 at 7:06 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 300

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Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

While the posts were theory I was a bit surprised when John Selep , an early-stage investor, approached me and said he was actually using the Investment Readiness Level (IRL) in practice. Entrepreneurs should always communicate their business’ very latest stage of customer development as part of their investor presentation.

Sacramento 306

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 306

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

Local venture investors and/or companies offer cash prizes for the winners. In exchange, these VCs/companies get early looks at new deal flow and offer aspiring entrepreneurs feedback and advice on their business plan. And even if they did – customers don’t ask to see your business plan. to compete.

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

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

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Filed under: Venture Capital. Venture Capital'

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

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 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 8, 2009

15, 2009 Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank blogged about being on the receiving end of a hostile outburst from his “abusive boss,&# the [.] 15, 2009 Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank blogged about being on the receiving end of a hostile outburst from his “abusive boss,&# the [.] Customer development isn’t just for [.]

Silicon Valley 271

Silicon Valley RSS Customer Development California 271

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

His point was that it was in the VC’s interest in having entrepreneurs swing for the fences. However the VC’s are managing a portfolio while you, the entrepreneur are managing one company – yours. Customer Development says having a vision, faith and a set of hypotheses are a normal part of the startup experience.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

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 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. Startups now understand what they should be doing in their early formative days is search for a business model. Victor Hugo.

Silicon Valley 281

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 281

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Filed under: Venture Capital. Venture Capital'

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 225

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Home Books for Startups Secret History-Bibliography Steve Blank Startup Resources Steve Blank Entries RSS | Comments RSS Categories Air Force (9) Ardent (9) Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan (29) California Coastal Commission (3) Conservation (2) Convergent Technologies (1) Customer Development (98) Customer Development Manifesto (..)

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

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. Entrepreneurs who have experience in the vertical market they’re entering do this analysis automatically. Just for discussion, the markets I chose were: Web 2.0,

Vertical 149

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 149

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Venture Capital Cafe > Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. A group of Seedcamp entrepreneurs started a startup tools wiki for that purpose, and we thought it would be well suited here. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old. Rather than invent a new form of corporate governance, venture investors adopted the traditional board meeting structure from large corporations. What is the entrepreneur supposed to be doing? Silicon Valley, New York). Here’s how.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Believing Your Own BS is Toxic Lots of noise and smoke before a product ships seems to be a toxic byproduct of enthusiastic entrepreneurs. Not being able to hear negative customer input is an extremely bad idea. Out of the Ashes A few of the key tenets of Customer Development , came from the ashes.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old. Rather than invent a new form of corporate governance, venture investors adopted the traditional board meeting structure from large corporations. What is the entrepreneur supposed to be doing? Silicon Valley, New York). Here’s how.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

The class provides Life Science/Health Care entrepreneurs with real world, hands-on learning on how to rapidly : define clinical utility before spending millions of dollars. understand who their core and tertiary customers are, and the sales and marketing process required for initial clinical sales and downstream commercialization.

San Diego 261

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 261

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

In this admittedly very unscientific survey I’ve found that between a quarter and half of the students I consider “hard-core&# entrepreneurs/founders (working passionately to found a company,) self-identified as coming from a less than benign upbringing. I’ve been surprised at the data. Let me know what you think.

Founder 297

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

To give you a better idea of what entrepreneurs in this industry are thinking about during each phase of the startup process, I interviewed SaaS entrepreneurs from all over the world, including our own COO Noah Parsons. Practical Market Research Resources for Entrepreneurs. venture capital. Step 2: Test your idea.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

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

MAY 22, 2009

Write it down and keep it in a tradeshow handbook for those who will follow. Go to trade shows like it matters.

Silicon Valley 128

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 128

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2009

You created it and own it.

Silicon Valley 175

Silicon Valley Chad RSS San Francisco 175