Steve Blank

AUGUST 18, 2010

Here’s his story of when Customer Development failed. We’ve been a startup for the past two years or so and we’ve come to a critical point on this crazy roller coaster ride. We were lucky to learn about Customer Development early on in the life of our startup. So how did Customer Development fail us?

Customer Development 230

Customer Development Developer Customer California 230

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

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. Customer Development. AskAnything.VC

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Building a new startup hub Last week, I had a unique opportunity to spend some time in Boulder at the behest of TechStars. It was a great experience to see a relatively new startup hub in action - and thriving. Their model looks like a key ingredient in the startup brew there.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

This tendency is a two edged sword: by iterating strategy a startup can dramatically improve the size and trajectory of the company, but at times this process can be the bane of venture investors (and why they have prematurely grey hair.)

Customer 195

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195

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

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 30, 2009 Techstars brings The Lean Startup to Boulder Im very excited to announce a pair of events that will kick off a very busy fall speaking tour. The event will include a talk from Eric on The Lean Startup over dinner, followed by moderated table discussion and then final Q&A with Eric.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Austin: the Lean Startup tour continues Next week I head to Austin, TX for my first visit ever. The Lean Startup is a practical approach for creating and managing a new breed of company that excels in low-cost experimentation, rapid iteration, and true customer insight.

Lean 60

Lean Austin San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2018

Once you have gone past the initial stage of developing your idea and clarifying what your business is going to be, you will have many business meetings. Many startup companies stay undercover for years afraid of sharing their idea as someone might steal it. Develop Partnerships. Customer Development.

Stealth 198

Stealth Partner Developer Networking 198

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? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

Audience 119

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

Knowing how to sort between vision and hallucination can avoid chaos inside your startup. He turned his PhD thesis into a killer product, got it funded and now was CEO of a company of 30. It was great to watch him embrace the spirit and practice of customer development. Filed under: Customer Development.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

We pitch to potential partners, vendors, publishers, conferences, employees, and even lawyers. Its different from selling a product, because it is not part of our regular business practice, is not something that relates to our core competence, and tends not to happen in a repeatable and scalable way. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) Luckily most startups now realize there is a better way. Startups Are Not Small Versions of Large Companies. The revenue numbers and revenue model came from a startups original Business Plan.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

To promote innovation inside the NGA, they’ve staffed an Enterprise Innovation Office (EIO) to coach, educate and advise the entire agency, from core leadership to the operational edges, with methods and concepts of validated learning through rapid experimentation and customer development.

Lean 177

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 177

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

To promote innovation inside the NGA, they’ve staffed an Enterprise Innovation Office (EIO) to coach, educate and advise the entire agency, from core leadership to the operational edges, with methods and concepts of validated learning through rapid experimentation and customer development.

Lean 177

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 177

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

I pointed out to Bob the irony – in a large company “fear of failure” inhibits speed and risk taking while in a startup “fear of failure” drives speed and urgency. Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money. and how to price the product. That’s now changed.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

That’s what most startup decisions are like. Because of the extreme unknowns inherent in startup situations, we are all blind – to the realities of what customers what, market dynamics, and competitive threats. This startup has been busy transforming their culture and process to incorporate split-testing.

San Francisco 84

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 84

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 25, 2022

How do they make these transitions without alienating and losing their existing customers, distribution channels and partners? To succeed they realized this isn’t simply coming up with one new product. The scale of solutions needed dwarf anything a single startup would be working on.

Framework 389

Framework Distribution Channel Leadership 389

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. Or to some passionate customers.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

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. eric: briefly, you rock dude.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

viniciusvacanti.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

I currently just started a tech blog to cover under the radar, bootstrapped startups and this is great advice for the startups I cover and my readers. I plan on bootstrapping my upcoming startup. They were there for the job, not the startup. Thanks a lot for writing. Thanks again. link] Mark V. davetomback Great post.

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Ruby 43

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

189 Answers To The Top Startup Questions On Your Mind. 189 Answers To The Top Startup Questions On Your Mind. Written By Dan Martell on February 2nd, 2012 | Category: Hiring LeanStartup Marketing Metrics Startup Life | 6 Comments. I love startups. What is the best advice you can give for finding a business partner?

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Establish credibility with potential partners. Help you raise money.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

How would one set up such a startup to eventually raise capital from outside VCs, who will be wary of ‘dead equity’ (i.e., Customer development would be reduced to a single person exercise that could be repeated in parallel dozens of times over, ultimately yielding 30+ companies a year. What are the timelines? The discounts?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 7, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, April 7, 2010 Learning is better than optimization (the local maximum problem) Lean startups don’t optimize. Instead, we try to accelerate with respect to validated learning about customers. There are often counter-intuitive changes in customer behavior that depend on little details.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Lean Metrics Design 154

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. Noah has been a key figure in the making of LivePlan, our own SaaS product. The importance of a domain name.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

Its goal is to take the original idea and search for a repeatable and scalable business model - first by finding product/market fit, then by testing all the parts of the business model (pricing, channel, acquisition/activation, partners, costs, etc.). Speed, tempo and fearless decision-making are a startups strategic advantage.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 14, 2009 Business ecology and the four customer currencies Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model&# for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.&# A successful startup strives for this latter case.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Those who have the endurance are the ones that tend to lead teams and join startups, because you just cant be successful in a startup situation without empathy. When a startup encounters difficult technical problems, this is the guy you want solving them. I would characterize them as intolerant but not arrogant. What a waste.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Problem was, I seemed to suck at the whole startup thing. Rather, I didn’t have anyone around me familiar enough with startups to tell me that I was doing it all wrong. So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. You just can’t do it all.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?" " Web Development Startups Solo Founders I am a creative guy with a startup idea.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 20, 2012

Editor's note : This is the second in a two-part excerpt from the book The Startup Owner’s Manual , a step-by-step how-to guide for entrepreneurs. In this excerpt, authors Steve Blank and Bob Dorf continue to explain the Customer Discovery Philosophy (see Part One, " Is Your Startup a Valid Vision or Just a Hallucination? ").

Customer 119

Customer Advisory Board Engineer Cofounder 119

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

They have many, many man-years of development and customer development in them. You have your general management meeting and in your general management meeting you talk about product development, about marketing and about finance. That is always true for all startups until they get old, right?

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2009

This is especially useful in situations, like most B2B businesses, where the total number of customers is likely to be small. This case study illustrates one company’s attempt to do customer development by testing their vision with customers before writing a single line of code. Read on and judge for yourself.

San Francisco 144

San Francisco Customer Wiki Lean 144

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, January 2, 2010 Towards a new entrepreneurship When I started writing about the lean startup , my aspiration was to do more than just share a handful of tips and tricks that work for consumer internet startups. This belief led me to the lean startup, and to an amazing 2009.

San Francisco 122

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 122

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Useful blogs and links for startups Click Here ————– 2.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110