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Customer Development in Japan: a History Lesson

Steve Blank

I asked Tsutsumi-san to write a guest post for my blog to describe his experience with Customer Development in Japan. After helping build the first Ethernet switch startup, I was attracted by Asynchronous Transfer Mode 25Mbit/sec technology, (ATM25) which was 2.5x But customers didn’t agree. ————-.

Japan 292
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The Government Starts an Incubator: The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps

Steve Blank

They launched an incubator for the top scientists and engineers in the U.S. 63 scientists and engineers in 21 teams made 2,000 customer calls in 8 weeks , turning laboratory ideas into formidable startups. 19 of the 21 teams are moving forward in commercializing their technology. The I-Corps Incubator Program.

Incubator 301
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China’s Torch Program – the glow that can light the world (Part 2 of 5)

Steve Blank

The previous post described how China built its science and technology infrastructure. This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Torch has four major parts: Innovation Clusters , Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), Seed Funding (Innofund) and Venture Guiding Fund.

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China’s Torch Program – the glow that can light the world (Part 2 of 5)

Steve Blank

The previous post described how China built its science and technology infrastructure. This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Torch has four major parts: Innovation Clusters , Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), Seed Funding (Innofund) and Venture Guiding Fund.

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Why Real Learning is Outside the Building, Not Demo Day

Steve Blank

We think teaching teams a formal methodology around the Lean Framework (Business Model design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) is a natural evolution of how successful incubators/accelerators will build startups. Technology in search of a market. The next customer segment we tried was startup founders.

Lean 315
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When It’s Darkest Men See the Stars

Steve Blank

This doesn’t mean just more technology stuff, though we’ll get that. Over the last half a century, Silicon Valley has grown into the leading technology and innovation cluster for the United States and the world. What’s happening is something more profound than a change in technology. The story to date is a familiar one.

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Qualcomm’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Program – Lessons Learned (Part 2)

Steve Blank

With hindsight we should have had “proof of concepts” tested in a corporate center (think ‘pop-up incubator’) where they would do extensive Customer Discovery. Eventually Qualcomm did create a corporate incubator to handle projects beyond the scope of traditional R&D, yet too early to hand-off to existing business unit).