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. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

I’ve introduced a new class at Stanford to teach engineers, scientists and other professionals how startups really get built. We’ll build the class around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. ——————– Engineering 245.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

A few of the detailed case studies include: Tech legend Bill Gross building an MVP in 1999 to test demand for online car sales, which grew into CarsDirect.com. PayPal, under the leadership of David Marcus and Bill Scott, re-defining and re-engineering itself by embracing Lean Startup to improve the product experience. It's a big tent.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

Steve Blank

AUGUST 17, 2012

We had closed four $100,000 deals for our customer relationship management software. Joe Dinucci, our VP of Sales, was hot on the trail of our next big order. After seeing the demo, the CFO walked Joe over to the office of Autodesk’s VP of sales, and said to her, “I think this product might solve your sales reporting problem.”.

Forecast 290

Forecast Sales Matching Customer Development 290

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. Later you will want to come back and create a proper sales forecast, cash flow forecast, and expense budget.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Get 18 months or more of cash (runway) in the business against a conservative forecast. Everyone from the receptionist to engineers is selling. This can take the form of a traditional sales pipeline or a registration-activation-revenue chart. Defer all facilities expansions, capital expenditures. Use Google Apps.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

They made other assumptions about the type of sales channel, partnerships and revenue model they would need. And they rolled all of this up into a set of financial forecasts with a “size of market” forecast from brand name management consulting firms that said they’d have 42 million customers by 2002.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

I’d implemented a business plan including marketing, engagement, sales strategy and realized a few months in that it wasn’t servicing a key influence or in the sales process. Don’t try and all the sudden add in search engine optimization and whatever else to the mix. Right out of the gate. Taste the product.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

I wondered if business plans and 5-year forecasts were the right way to plan a startup. Experienced entrepreneurs kept finding that no business plan survived first contact with customers. I read a ton of existing literature and came up with a formal methodology for search I called Customer Development. Sign up here.

Lean 317

Lean Georgia Michigan Business Model 317

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Many of our job postings for Engineering positions describe the company as a place “where the word ‘millions’ is used frequently and in many contexts&#. Listening to first-time entrepreneurs talk about their competitive advantages is as predictably invalid as the local weatherman's 10-day forecast. We have the most features.

Software Review 217

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Technical Review 217