Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

The Customer Development process is the way startups quickly iterate and test each element of their business model , reducing customer and market risk. The first step of Customer Development is called Customer Discovery. outside the building and test them in front of customers. How can I help?”

Burn Rate 250

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston 250

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. In most agile development systems, there is a notion of the "product backlog" a prioritized list of what software is most valuable to be developed next.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

While the last post was titled “ You Know You’re Getting Close to Your Customers When They Offer You a Job “, this post should probably be titled, “You Know You’re Getting Close to Your Customers When You Offer Them a Job.&# Context here.)

Engineer 214

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 214

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

While he correctly understood how to frame his hypotheses with a business model canvas, and he was doing a good job in customer development – the third component of Lean is using Agile Development to rapidly and iteratively build incrementally better versions of the product – in the form of minimal viable products (MVP’s).

Cofounder 336

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Coder 336

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. He just hired Meg Whitman.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2012

by Bill Lee, author of “ The Hidden Wealth of Customers: Realizing the Untapped Value of Your Most Important Asset “. Consider for a moment the annoying, interruptive, often obnoxious nature of traditional marketing. It seems clear that marketing as we currently practice the discipline is on its way out.

Marketing 234

Marketing Software Review Technical Review Social Network 234

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Who can I hire later? While most of the early attention in a startup is paid to finding product market fit ( the match between value proposition and customer segment on the right-side of the canvas) it’s the left side of the canvas that will tell you what your founding team should look like. Customer Development'

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Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Lockdown restrictions and social distancing guidelines have led to a loss of customers. However, some stores have found creative ways to get around this, including adopting new marketing strategies. Below are just some of the most effective ways to market your independent store during the pandemic. Social media marketing.

Marketing 246

Marketing Social Media PPC SEO 246

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. Steve,&# he said, “you’re missing the most interesting part of vertical markets. Markets with Customer/Market Risk are those where the unknown is whether customers will adopt the product.

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Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 154

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. They never understood Market Type. Why does Market Type matter?

Customer Development 212

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 212

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. Freemium models have their own scorekeeping.)

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 225

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2018

He has been an entrepreneur since he was young, founding top conversion and marketing companies like Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics, Quick Sprout, and more. These don’t require coding skills—they’re usually visual templates that are easy to use but don’t allow for great customization (that would require technical skills). Custom development.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Technical Review Hosting SEO 107

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, January 19, 2009 Lean hiring tips In preparing for the strategy series panel this week, I have been doing some thinking about costs. And all of that cost was caused by one activity: hiring. Hiring is no different from any other company process. Sounds a little abstract, though, doesnt it?

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Lean Hiring San Francisco Continuous Deployment 140

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Was SuperMac attempting to introduce radically new products and create a new market ? Was the company attempting to be a low cost provider by introducing cheaper products to an existing market? Was the company attempting to be a low cost provider by introducing cheaper products to an existing market? No, not really.

Silicon Valley 149

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 149

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM), now largely replaced by Facebook and Twitter. The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 29, 2018

If you want to take your business to the next level, you should consider app development. Are you are a startup that needs to market your products and services ? Either way, custom software development is an effective way to build brand awareness and give your business a competitive edge. How to Hire Remote Developers.

Developer 107

Developer Offshore Software Developers Software Development 107

Steve Blank

MARCH 2, 2011

corporation – starting a new technology division bringing disruptive technology to market at General Electric. One of GE’s new divisions – GE’s Energy Storage – has been given the charter to bring an entirely new battery technology to market. This battery works equally well whether it’s below freezing or broiling hot.

Silicon Valley 234

Silicon Valley Agile Customer Development Early Stage 234

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2011

For a company in a rapidly changing market, that’s usually the beginning of the end. He hired an operating exec as the CEO a few years ago. As we’ve grown we’ve become less and less responsive to changing market and customer needs. Given how dynamic and competitive the market is, this move is a company-killer.

Part-Time VPE 322

Part-Time VPE Agile Engineer Startup 322

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. The result is process theater.

Government 319

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 319

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM), now largely replaced by Facebook and Twitter. The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on?

Technology 141

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 141

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2011

I spent the month of September lecturing, and interacting with (literally) thousands of entrepreneurs in two emerging startup markets, Finland and Russia. The number of serial entrepreneurs is very low and until recently most of the talented sales and marketing professionals choose to work for Nokia.

Finland 327

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 327

ConversionXL

JANUARY 24, 2014

How to get your software business to the point where you can hire a business development director. Hunter shares some extremely valuable insights that will prove useful in building beneficial relationships and getting highly qualified customers. How To Come Up With A Value Proposition In A Crowed Market. Affiliates.

Developer 104

Developer API Cofounder New Jersey 104

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Note that the inner ring shows their global equivalents.). I can’t imagine a U.S.

China 326

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 326

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Broadly speaking this last trend has been healthy as it has brought an increase focus on launching products that you can test with the market and on capital efficiency.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Similarly, customer introductions are invaluable in the early days, but become less valuable once a company has a fully-formed go to market function.”. For example, I suggest it doesn’t make a lot of sense to hire a full-time team member who’s an SEO consultant. Customer Development. Is the service scaleable?

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Gust

APRIL 20, 2014

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM), now largely replaced by Facebook and Twitter. The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO.

CTO Hire 171

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 171

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

This isn’t just about having a eureka moment; it’s about understanding the problem you’re solving and why it matters to your potential customers. Take the time to research your market, identify your target audience, and refine your idea until it’s both good and compelling.

Intellectual Property 158

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 158

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM), now largely replaced by Facebook and Twitter. The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO.

CTO Hire 227

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 227

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

At the same time we were educating the press , we began to educate our own marketing department about what exactly we were supposed to be doing inside the company. During the first few weeks I asked each of my department heads what they did for marketing and the company. Titles are not the same as what your job is. This is a big idea.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 267

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work. Things start to get a little fuzzy in terms of priorities, but not to fret, the new office is coming along really well with all of the hiring! Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Note that the inner ring shows their global equivalents.). I can’t imagine a U.S.

China 218

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 218

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2013

But we were meeting to talk about sales and marketing. They outlined their retail channel and PR strategy and told me about the type of consultants they wanted to hire. Hiring Channel Sales. “So Hiring PR Agencies. We had an almost identical conversation when the subject turned to hiring a Public Relations agency.

PR 318

PR China Lean Channel 318

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) Many of them had heard the phrase “product/market fit” before, but now they were living it. talk to more customers? outside of Stanford.

Customer 239

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 239

The Next Web

MAY 4, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Stefano Bernardi, who is on the founding team of Betable , where he heads Customer Development. On top of deciding if the market is big enough, most investors only do one type of due diligence for seed deals: reference check the founders. it’s hard to check them. Fundraising.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco Europe Technical Review Due Diligence 159

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

The limited partners could put their money in the stock market, but instead, they give it to you, the venture capitalist, which is much more risky, but you’re promising them huge returns. — Getting Keen Home’s smart vent to market was no small task. So there’s what called spot market, and a futures market (for parts).

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 26, 2018

In our experience, structured customer development work is right up there amongst the most valuable things a founder can do in the early days of their startup. Once you have an idea that feels strong, it’s imperative to speak with customers about it. But good customer development is tough to do.

Customer 75

Customer Framework Differentiation Customer Development 75