Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Of course we also hoped that in listening to their advice in how to build the perfect computer for customers just like them, they would actually buy one of the first computers. Our company’s stock was an inducement, but all of them were in it to help us build a better computer.

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Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 221

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The Golden Age for Entrepreneurs and VC’s. The two decades from 1979 when pension funds fueled the expansion of venture capital to 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst were the Golden Age for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. Here’s why. The system worked in predictable and profitable ways. Success Means That You’re Acquired.

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Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 303

The Next Web

MARCH 11, 2014

For the past year, they invested in the team and technology to prioritize speed of iteration with disregard to traditional methods of customer development and company building. In many cases, these are good advice but sometimes it’s a waste of time or worse, directs entrepreneurs away from something truly great.

Silicon Valley 151

Silicon Valley Cofounder Stock Options Mobile 151

Steve Blank

AUGUST 12, 2013

—— Jason, an entrepreneur I’ve known for over a decade, came out to the ranch today. I realized most entrepreneurs don’t know how to get meetings with people too busy to see you. I’m not an investor, and I’m really not looking for meetings with entrepreneurs for deal flow. Not for stock. Perfect World.

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Silicon Valley Deal Flow Customer Development Stock 336

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. Tesla is not.

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Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

As the conversation began to get down to how much stock and salary we could offer van Dam, we left the barber to finish his work and went to a payphone to call our CEO to confirm the deal. We were painting a picture of hypertext on every desktop computer. The response from across the country?

North Carolina 131

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 131

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you’re an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you’ve never heard of. If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. One key difference: unlike HP, which had restricted stock ownership to the founders and top management, Perry made sure everyone at ESL had stock.

Silicon Valley 194

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 194

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.

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Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Silicon Valley New York 120

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Sure I can build a stock chart, like this one , that shows that eBays stock price went into a four-year decline immediately after "eBay Inc Acquires Dutch Company Marktplaats.nl." The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Youve just experienced vanity metrics hell.

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Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. This is a customer development problem. So What is Customer Development? The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses. Website Analysis.

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Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 13, 2010

One of our first customers was a stock trading company in NY that wanted to host live stock chats. Another customer was my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, who was using it to host online class discussions for its distance education program. In a nutshell, Product Development is about building something.

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Revenue Developer Java Customer Development 72

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy. They take common stock, not preferred, a fact that the entrepreneurs mentioned to me many times. And every year, it looks as if one or two entrepreneurs from the program decide to stay. And do your customer development.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

But the investor is already being compensated for that risk in the low price of the stock, so it is unfair to delay. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha. more data about their trajectory. Even VCs do it.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

VC’s worked with entrepreneurs to build profitable and scalable businesses, with increasing revenue and consistent profitability – quarter after quarter. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. For VC’s and entrepreneurs the gold rush to liquidity was on. 1970 – 1995: The Golden Age. Tools in the New Bubble.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Witness, for example, this terrific Fast Company article on Bill Nguyen , serial entrepreneur who’s seventh startup “Color” famously raised $41m for a new mobile app before it even launched. invested, IPO’ed in 2000 for $32/share — stock price now $2. Which explains why their stock price is at $2.43

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IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

But this cinematic view of entrepreneurs is flawed in many ways. Contrast this with other high-risk situations, like buying a high-risk stock. Although the specific payoff of a specific risky stock is not known, investing in many such stocks can be modeled accurately. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Startup Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

I avoid these entrepreneurs like the plague.) It’s the decisions that you make that might cost you an order, a sale or a higher stock price. Think through if you want to win at any cost. (I A final note. I’m sure at Enron and Madoff there were plaques and posters about ethics. Do the right thing. It pays off in the end.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley RSS Startup California 127

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. Development firms have all the current leverage. mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Jason Penny Stocks stockexplosion I completely agree with you. Jason Penny Stocks stockexplosion I completely agree with you. Jason Penny Stocks [link] poker rakeback Employees that feel they have a vested interest in their company will work much harder than those who don't. stockexplosion I completely agree with you.

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Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

Steve Blank

APRIL 19, 2010

The question is whether you are born with innate entrepreneurial talent or whether you can be taught to operate like an entrepreneur. Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, Jason Calacanis , founder of Mahlo.com, and Mark Suster of GRP Partners, have all weighed in on the nature side – you’re born being an entrepreneur or your not.

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley Venture Capital China New York 233

VC Cafe

JANUARY 22, 2012

Hello smart entrepreneur. I found they all apply to tech startups and below is my effort to apply the theory to the practice of customer development. Offline, companies like Zara thrive on this, as customers know that a product that fits and is in stock probably won’t be there tomorrow.

Startup 111

Startup Oauth Chicago Product 111

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

For some entrepreneurs this idea that the founder is not necessarily the CEO, is a surprise. Key attributes of an entrepreneur on a founding team are passion, determination, resilience, tenacity, agility and curiosity. Spend the time and take stock of who’s on the journey with you. It’s my idea!”

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Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

As a result, sitting here on this plane, Ive been pondering what message I want to deliver on behalf of startups and entrepreneurs. So heres my simple question: What do folks in Washington need to know about the global community of entrepreneurs? So what are good entrepreneur-friendly policies?

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DC Washington San Francisco SBIR 90

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Today, all things startup marketing are typically lumped under the term “growth hacking” Take a look at these “growth hacking” articles… The 6 Best Growth Hacks to Get Customers Without Having to Pay for Them by KISSmetrics. 6 Growth Hack Techniques You Can Try Today by Entrepreneur. via TechCrunch).

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Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

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. How to Write a Business Plan in Under an Hour.

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Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 30, 2008

Similar mechanisms are at work in the stock market, Google PageRank , and guessing an oxs weight at the state fair. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 83

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 83

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

My way of explaining our support and service role to the marketing department was that: Sales is the sharp end of the stick, and marketing at best, is the stick. But while the sales team works for commission, the rest of the employees have equity (stock) in the company. No one was confused after that. Who’s on the Sharp End?

Silicon Valley 132

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 132

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Welcome back to Smart Bear Live … the show were Jason speaks with entrepreneurs looking to improve their businesses. Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster.

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Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

If you’re an Entrepreneur, you can do it from any place in the world. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. How important is education when I know I want to be an entrepreneur? If you’re a young entrepreneur, than congrats!

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2009

A Harvard Business School professor and early evangelist for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, Doriot was the Fred Terman of the East Coast. Here’s a little history lesson, courtesy of serial entrepreneur Steve [.] play in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. play in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. But where did they come from?

Silicon Valley 178

Silicon Valley Securities and Exchange Commission Venture Capital RSS 178

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Instead of giving me a valuation that I now have to negotiate, why not just issue me debt and let me buy stock at the seed round valuation (maybe with a risk premium) with that debt. I already own stock in two companies which own no intellectual property. Which corporate entity do the founders own stock in? At what price?

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

It is the first in a series of posts he’s writing about the decisions a young entrepreneur needs to make when she/he is first starting a business. 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. Unless that person is … you?

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2008

Livelys launch was marred by zillions of sex chat rooms, with people spending hours and hours trying to figure out how to use Livelys stock animations to make their avatars do things that looked kinky. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Bring your questions.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

The Entrepreneurial Mind

MARCH 10, 2011

The goal was to support local entrepreneurs and to help accelerate the growth of start-ups in the Middle Tennessee area. entrepreneur and accelerate the success of the project. ownership in the Common Stock of the company. Program Content : "Lean Startup / Customer Development in practice. In return for.

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Nashville Tennessee PHP Ruby 65

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

This video should be the gold standard in explaining contract terms.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

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. List of Angel/SuperAngel Investors for entrepreneurs. Walker Law:Â Tips for Entrepreneurs. Codeacademy. Lean Methodology Sources. Steve Blank.

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Software Review Technical Review Startup 53