Steve Blank

AUGUST 18, 2010

Here’s his story of when Customer Development failed. We were lucky to learn about Customer Development early on in the life of our startup. Along the way we were fortunate to meet Steve, develop strategic partnerships, and raise a series A round of investment. So how did Customer Development fail us?

Customer Development 231

Customer Development Developer Customer California 231

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 6, 2013

Once again, along with my partners at 500 Startups, we are proud to present the most substantive track at SXSW: [link] There was a running joke last year that "the Lean Startup track was the only place at SXSW you couldn't get out of the building." STAY #500STRONG ON THE INTERWEBS OUR STARTUP LOVIN' PARTNERS. We're back!

Lean 165

Lean Cofounder Startup Software Engineering 165

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

Companies pursuing innovation can Buy, Build, Partner or use Open Innovation. To move innovation faster, we now have 21 st century tools — Business Model Canvas , Customer Development , Agile Engineering – all adding up to a Lean Startup. Fast forward to today. Get to Yes.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Nick Kim , Crosscut’s Head of Platform, in his presentation at the 4th Annual VC Platform Summit, shared their Platform development methodology, which he viewed as an exercise in product development. For example, recruiting writ large is useful at all stages of development. I have developed a founder curriculum on my blog.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition.

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 266

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

Max and his partners interviewed and analyzed over 650 early-stage Internet startups. Founders that learn are more successful : Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x Filed under: Customer Development , Teaching , Venture Capital.

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

A decade later, I began to teach the foundations of Lean, first at UC Berkeley (Customer Development) and then at Stanford using cases and business plans. Lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering). Third, the tools for customer discovery (videos, sample experiments, etc.)

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Each VC firm/partner has a different spin on what to weigh more.) These types seem dangerous, yet are often the ones needed on board to get the fund to invest in the first place, seeing that the younger partners naturally have less pull during the Monday round-ups. I find the same still going on with a few firms and partners.&#

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 233

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The students “get out of the building” and test their hypotheses in front of potential beneficiaries using the Customer Development methodology, all while building and updating their Minimal Viable Products. They’re also focusing on developing relationships with and getting buy-in from key partners like the Red Cross and other NGOs.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The students “get out of the building” and test their hypotheses in front of potential beneficiaries using the Customer Development methodology, all while building and updating their Minimal Viable Products. They’re also focusing on developing relationships with and getting buy-in from key partners like the Red Cross and other NGOs.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

PEVCTech is partnering with Blue Future Partners to run the first large-scale survey of VCs’ technology stack. Johann Kratzer of Blue Future Partners , a fund of funds, observed, “The majority of the hundreds of funds we’ve diligenced rely predominantly on their relationships to source deals. Greylock Partners.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. VCs in seed clothing: Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, and Naval Ravikant interviewed - Venture Hacks , May 5, 2010 I recently got on the phone for a cross-continent conference call with Chris Dixon from Founder Collective , Mark Suster from GRP Partners , and our own Naval Ravikant.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

It’s the result of a decade of me learning from 1,000 of entrepreneurs, corporate partners, students and scientists the best practices of what wins in startups. In fact, you could say that all that remains from my last book are the four steps of Customer Development. Briefly, the new book.

Entrepreneur 294

Entrepreneur Lean Business Model Customer Development 294

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

As a founder you are testing a series of hypotheses about all the pieces of the business model: Who are the customers/users? Who are our partners? An early indication that you’ve found the right business model is when you believe the cost of getting customers will be less than the revenues the customers will generate.

Balance Sheet 303

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 303

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

We’ll build the class around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. Instead you will be getting your hands dirty talking to customers, partners, competitors, as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup actually works. What are the 9 parts of a business model?

Wiki 315

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 315

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

And worse, even if someone does manage to start something new, our management structure has so many financial, legal and HR hurdles that every initiative needs to match our existing business financial metrics, processes and procedures. There are financial metrics (Return on Investment, Hurdle Rate, etc.) Lessons Learned.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2010

I taught the class this semester with Ann Miura-Ko a partner at Maples Investments. This includes how the product gets distributed to your customers and how money flows back into your company. Customer Discovery. Metrics That Matter (Business Model Metrics). Teaching Goals. Regulation and Intellectual Property.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Business Model Customer Development Distribution 252

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

We pitch to potential partners, vendors, publishers, conferences, employees, and even lawyers. Dont keep banging your head against the wall - if you cant convince your potential partners that your startup is printing money, try to figure out why. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Investors get board seats to assure themselves and their limited partners that they are duly informed about their investment. 3) An experienced board brings an extensive network of customers, partners, help in recruiting, follow-on financing, etc. The Wrong Metrics. What do those numbers/metrics look like?

Silicon Valley 296

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 296

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

Or depending on your metrics for success, get users, grow traffic, etc.). A business model diagram also shows how the product gets distributed to your customers and how money flows back into your company. A business model diagram also shows how the product gets distributed to your customers and how money flows back into your company.

Agile 335

Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

That’s because many of our reports feed us vanity metrics: numbers that make us look good but don’t really help make decisions. Yet even among those who have access to good actionable metrics, I’ve noticed a phenomenon that prevents taking maximum advantage of data. Too much of this data is non- actionable.

San Francisco 84

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 84

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2012

She suggested that how cofounders fight was a key metric in predicting the success of a founding team. And, not surprisingly, I frequently get asked what to look for or what to think about when starting the process of finding a cofounder – a true partner to start your next company with. You’re looking for an employee, not a partner.

Cofounder 331

Cofounder IPO Early Stage Green 331

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

As a result, the companies get a lot of exposure to VCs, investors, and partners in larger, more traditional startup hubs. And do your customer development. Inspiring ideas: real-time biz metrics; safe continuous deployment; A/B split testing. Some of the mentors are based in Boulder, but many are not.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

You might get a bunch of inbound emails from other press and partners, and all of these things can contribute to a feeling that you’re on your way to getting tons of traffic. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? It strokes your ego.

Audience 119

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Investors get board seats to assure themselves and their limited partners that they are duly informed about their investment. 3) An experienced board brings an extensive network of customers, partners, help in recruiting, follow-on financing, etc. The Wrong Metrics. What do those numbers/metrics look like?

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 269

Steve Blank

MAY 16, 2016

This week teams figured out how to measure mission achievement and success, and our advanced lectures were on activities, resources and partners. They have to change the metrics across the entire organization. If not, then the effectiveness of the Horizon 3 effort will be graded using Horizon 1 metrics. Now back to the class.

San Diego 145

San Diego Metrics Indonesia Silicon Valley 145

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

I thought Id share a little bit of that, too: I’ve been interested in different approaches to software development going back to 1987 when – in my first company Feld Technologies – my partner Dave Jilk and I started talking about “semi-custom software development&# (way ahead of its time).

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

Do they “get&# Customer Development ? And some larger funds that specialize in later stage deals may have a partner or two who likes to invest at this stage. Do They Get Customer Development? Have they heard about Customer Development ? Is Your VC Founder Friendly? Who do they have as advisors?

Founder 232

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 232

Steve Blank

MAY 3, 2011

This week they were testing their hypotheses about Partners. Partners are the external companies whose product or service combines with your Value Proposition to create a complete customer solution or “whole product&# to satisfy customers. They worked on understanding their partners. The Nine Teams Present.

South Dakota 231

South Dakota Business Model Lean United States 231

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 11, 2013

Before this occurs, the sales process is a craft or an art - custom-made by the founder or evangelist sales VP. You dive deep into a customer development process, working closely with a few customers who feed you requirements and are willing to trial an imperfect product that is evolving quickly. Related articles.

Sales 50

Sales Technical Review Software Review B2B 50

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

The sales channels you will use to reach your target customers. Partners and resources. It’s structured around a model that Steve has become famous for—the Customer Development Process. Our self-guided tool will also help you forecast financials and manage your business metrics once you’re up and running. .

Curation 60

Curation Lean Software Review Finder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Herein lies the reason my partner and I started Dillotronics - as well as the reason your take on the matter resonated so well here. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thanks for an enjoyable evening. June 3, 2009 8:16 PM Tom Gimbel said.

Lean 60

Lean Austin San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

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. Investors get board seats to assure themselves and their limited partners that they are duly informed about their investment.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. List key partners and resources you will need, and then list your core team as well as their roles. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. Step 8: Track your metrics.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We did three iterations of the product in less than 12 months, each one progressively going off of different consumer metrics that we found and then partner feedback. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show. Ultimately, it didn’t work and we decided we had enough time to maybe do one last iteration.

Columbus 248

Columbus Entrepreneur Ohio Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. And we can offer investors metrics to play Moneyball – with the Investment Readiness Level. We think we can do better. Here’s how.

Oakland 329

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 329

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 1, 2009

I see that as a great way for my product to grow, but while Ive partnered with companies in my consulting business, its not something Im as familiar with now that Im on the product side. I question what numbers I would need to be considered respectable and/or worth a potential partners time. January 2, 2009 4:53 AM Dave McClure said.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60