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. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds.

Silicon Valley 314

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 314

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. And they expose the startups to a vast network of mentors, none of whom get paid for their involvement. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2021

That said, there are three types of advisors that I don’t see as commonly utilized by early stage startups — at least the ones we’re not advising. A sales and marketing tactic as much (or even more) than a customer development one, try setting up a Customer Council Advisory Board.

Advisory Board 150

Advisory Board Equity Vesting Startup 150

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

3) An experienced board brings an extensive network of customers, partners, help in recruiting, follow-on financing, etc. Why don’t we have standards for what metrics VC’s want to see from their early stage startup teams? Early stage board meetings are often clones of large company board meetings.

Silicon Valley 292

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 292

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

They also enjoy multiple rounds of biz dev wack-a-mole—taking every inbound meeting that comes through their inbox and pinging people in their network and one circle away based on the biz dev idea of the day, flailing around the graph aimlessly like a wounded duck. If you’re going to do product, do product.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Developer Technical Review Widget 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

But the early customers all compared it to MySpace. This was 2004, and we had never even heard of MySpace, let alone had any understanding of social networking. It required hearing customers say it over and over again for us to take a serious look, and eventually to realize that social networking was core to our business.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

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

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

3) An experienced board brings an extensive network of customers, partners, help in recruiting, follow-on financing, etc. Why don’t we have standards for what metrics VC’s want to see from their early stage startup teams? Early stage board meetings are often clones of large company board meetings.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 263

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 9, 2018

In this example the startup is creating a new category – a lifelong learning network for entrepreneurs. Most early stage startups don’t have the regulatory domain expertise in-house. I’ve always thought of my startup as the center of the universe. So, put your company in the center of the slide like this.

Marketing 322

Marketing Startup Government SEC 322

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

Resegmentation means these startups are trying to lure some of the current or potential customers away from incumbents by either offering a lower cost product, or by offering features that appealed to a specific niche or subset of the existing users. Do you know the archetype of their customers? Me – “Have you used Company x’s product?

Silicon Valley 188

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 188

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?” Let me highlight the 7 deadly healthcare startup sins!

Startup 120

Startup Early Stage Azure Lean 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Lane also founded Wheelhouse, a Canadian organization that supports other entrepreneurs through mentorship, access to early stage capital, and connections to global business networks and executive expertise. . Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Cofounder 146

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 146

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Lane also founded Wheelhouse, a Canadian organization that supports other entrepreneurs through mentorship, access to early stage capital, and connections to global business networks and executive expertise. . Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 120

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur, educator, thought leader and creator of the rigorous "Customer Development" methodology that helps startups optimize their chances for success while reducing risk. An experienced board brings an extensive network of customers, partners, help in recruiting, follow-on financing, etc.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

BeyondVC

MAY 5, 2004

More often than not, the principals of a service business may have developed expertise and a network in a particular industry, developed a solution for a customer, and decided that they could resell it multiple times turning their business from a service one to a more scalable product-driven company.

Product 60

Product Software Review Technical Review Early Stage 60

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 17, 2016

By taking these guiding traditional principles and marrying them with the right online plan and cloud-based to platforms, you can quickly and easily deliver modern customer service that seamlessly integrates with social networks.

Customer 100

Customer Singapore Advisory Board Asia 100

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2009

Don’t confuse your passion for your tools with why your customers will buy your product. Also, are you available for talks at a Silicon Valley networking group for job seekers. There is talk about trying to make a “vision&# into a non-profit.

Silicon Valley 142

Silicon Valley RSS California Video 142

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

It did so by building a national network of a 1,000+ Productivity Promotion Centers. Innofund is designed to bridge early stage technology companies that have innovative technology and good market potential but are too early for commercial funding (banks or VCs.) China Customer Development Technology Venture Capital'

Programming 280

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 280

www.ashmaurya.com

AUGUST 29, 2012

Running through the complete process in the early stages makes you much more efficient in later stages as you get a feel for the industry and have warm introductions. It is very common for my insight into a market to improve as I do customer development. Use FollowerWonk to get a feel for their followers.

Email 52

Email Customer Tennessee Software Review 52

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

Win, lose or draw, these students have a life changing experience where they can network and get smarter as they see what good startup thinking looks like. MootCorp in particular has an impressive track record of putting early stage tech companies on the right path towards funding.

Business Plan 143

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 143

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

It did so by building a national network of a 1,000+ Productivity Promotion Centers. Innofund is designed to bridge early stage technology companies that have innovative technology and good market potential but are too early for commercial funding (banks or VCs.) China Customer Development Technology Venture Capital'

Programming 172

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 172

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Customer development would be reduced to a single person exercise that could be repeated in parallel dozens of times over, ultimately yielding 30+ companies a year. However, valuing the intangibles of time saving, expertise, network, etc. Our model at Casual Corp. I spoke with Thatcher Bell , Managing Partner, CoVenture.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

www.instigatorblog.com

MARCH 2, 2010

I think if you’ve done a good job networking and building relationships with people in the past, you should be able to have a similar system in place if you’re funding is — ridiculously — low. Basically just people that we can call and email for advice, tips and recommendations when we want a more experienced opinion.

Advisory Board 40

Advisory Board Startup Cofounder Equity 40

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

After quitting my job and starting Sorced , I spent a few months validating my business concept by creating the product mockups and doing customer development. Lead Gen: I utilized my friends, professional contacts, and Harvard networks by sending out emails to list serves, reaching out to people, and getting referrals.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. Do some Customer Development instead.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Rethinking “F@#$ You Money” - Tony Wright dot com , August 2, 2010 Now that I’ve stepped down from RescueTime, I’m pondering my next thing (whether it’s a product role at a very early stage startup or spinning up my own for the 3rd time). As most, if not all, of the games on social networks use the freemium business model (i.e.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

1) It all starts from the Growth Hacking Funnel - in the early stages, startups should not just focus on top/bottom line metric like unique users and revenue. Customer Development Labs recently shared a great experiment on using mTurk to interview 100 customers in 4 hours for less than $200.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. So that means stuff like thinking about what a business model might be, it does mean customer development. So I have a question for you, Jason.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

Occam's Razor

APRIL 8, 2013

That’s because they require you to have a deep understanding of your customers. In the Lean Startup world, this is called customer development. As a social network based on user-generated content, Circle of Friends only grew when its users were engaged. But they are. Step 1: Figure out what metric to improve.

Metrics 156

Metrics Analytics Lean Churn Rate 156

Steve Blank

MARCH 26, 2012

And to help teach these many teams, the NSF will recruit other universities that have engineering entrepreneurship programs to become part of the Innovation Corps network. If we’re correct, we can compress the time for commercializing scientific breakthroughs and reduce the early stage risks of these new ventures.

America 242

America Rhode Island Southern California Illinois 242

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

Could we have built the first college-based social network five years before Facebook ? We were focused on revenue, but we didnt understand that revenue is not important for its own sake in an early stage company. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 4, 2013

And that’s not to mention the advice for very early-stage companies on topics like getting your first users, or choosing metrics. The livestream site will include a chat area for all of the livestream hosts, an opportunity to connect and network around the world.

Lean 167

Lean San Francisco Conversion Startup 167

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

How to stay lean and iterate quickly while you’re building a two sided marketplace, especially when “network effect” and “critical mass” are the two main focuses? When it comes to early stage investing – it’s all gut. Spend 20% of your time building a network of advisors that can help you.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 19, 2013

The product was still evolving but their execution ability and customer development had accelerated nicely during the startup’s first few months. We’ve got clarity in our mission, goals and a simple true north: create the type of early stage fund that we would have wanted to take money from.

Cofounder 105

Cofounder Term Sheet Seed Stage Portfolio 105

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. I plan to use the internet as my networking base, and friends as my streettalkers. I plan to use the internet as my networking base, and friends as my streettalkers.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

" => I have not bothered to put up a landing page, survey to test customer demand, or done any customer development whatsoever. "Where is the best place to find a rockstar developer to bring it to life?" Ability to sell and evangelize the idea to recruits, press, customers. So it can be done.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

Peter: Techstars is probably the most famous accelerator but the idea of the accelerator versus the incubator because there is living field, because there’s this very early stage fields for them both. The cool thing is with the device like, that with the science like that, there’s a lot of early stage proving ground needed.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60