Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Engineer 198

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Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 146

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 242

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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.

Customer Development 215

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Customer Development We were starting Epiphany, my last company. I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. Posted on December 7, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups, I had my ideas “stolen” twice.

Silicon Valley 225

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Steve Blank

MAY 1, 2009

The Customer Development talk can be seen here. It starts at ~40:30 in the video. That said I will be giving a Customer Development talk at TIECON , Saturday May 16th, 1:30 thanks for asking. steve Customer Development is Hard. Thanks to Dave McClure and Leonard Speiser for the opportunity to speak.

Customer Development 139

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 139

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

New strategic direction in companies with loyal customers have different consequences then when you had no customers Acquiring new customers are a lot more expensive that converting existing ones. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Customer 195

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 125

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. It’s what my textbook on Customer Development describes. I was an idiot. Berkeley and at Stanford.

Silicon Valley 179

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

So no post today on entrepreneurship, Secret History of Silicon Valley, Customer Development, Lean Startups, etc. Families gather from across the country to spend time with each other and feast on a traditional turkey dinner. Our friends who run the state park surrounding our ranch will join all of us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Silicon Valley 137

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Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. The Adventure of a Lifetime. This means you still need to have a resilient personality, and be agile.

Cofounder 219

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital | Tagged: Entrepreneurs « Customer Development Manifesto: Market Type (part 4) Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners (part 5) » 16 Responses Jon Ziskind , on September 14, 2009 at 9:19 am Said: Steve – Great post and really great advice.

Silicon Valley 217

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Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on? Customer Development and Selling Strategy If you’ve just started your company you are in customer discovery. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back. Now In Print!

Technology 138

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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. Is there some defining factor that easily distinguishes the difference? Sounds like handspring. Now In Print!

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

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 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

North Carolina 125

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Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

on April 10, 2009 at 6:58 am Said: Amazing blog. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 259

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Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

But then, because there might be entrenched competitors and your concept is radically new, you still need to invest in the customer development process to learn how to get design wins from companies who may be happy with their existing vendors. For example, complex new semiconductor architectures, (i.e. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential? To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 124

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Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

Facts are the rock on which you build your strategy and tactics In a startup second-hand facts are almost as useless as opinions. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 134

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Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Reply steveblank , on March 28, 2009 at 7:27 am Said: Denis, Over time the blogs tagged under the “customer development&# category will build up a narrative of illustrative stories of how customer development evolved in practice. What part of this blog should I read if I am also reading the book?

Silicon Valley 141

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Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve built my company using the Customer Development Model from Day One. I recently completed the Validation step (less the industry analyst presentations) and am ready to move on to Customer Creation. Can I buy you lunch to share it with you? &# Yes, I’m serious. So the ask is made — shall it be given?

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

And other startups are in a New Market — creating a market from scratch (like Apple with the iPhone, or iPod/iTunes.) (“Market Type&# radically changes how you sell and market at each step in Customer Development. It’s one of the subtle distinctions that at times gets lost in the process. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Silicon Valley 131

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 17, 2009

Stanford had a Customer Development loop going on inside their own lab. The discoveries in tube and circuit research suggested new electronic intelligence and countermeasure techniques and systems; in turn the needs of the Applied Lab pushed tube and circuit development. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 142

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Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

This post makes a lot more sense if you look at the earlier posts as well as the video and slides. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 180

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Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Hopefully you and your co-founders are experts in one or two parts (agile development, SEO/SEM, etc.) But the rest; sales, marketing, bus dev is actually customer development that the founder needs to understand. so at least some parts are being run by people who know what they are doing. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Sales 120

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Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

What didn’t? Write it down and keep it in a tradeshow handbook for those who will follow. Go to trade shows like it matters. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 128

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Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. If you’re an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you’ve never heard of.

Silicon Valley 171

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Customer Development is all about gathering a list of what features customers want by talking to them, surveying them, or running “focus groups.” Gathering feature requests from customers is not what marketing should be doing in a startup. And it’s certainly not Customer Development.

Customer Development 278

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 278

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2010

BTW, the definition of entrepreneurship I describe at 2:50 into the video is described in detail in the post “ You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur.&# Filed under: Customer Development « Requiem For A Roommate 2 Responses steve , on October 21, 2010 at 7:05 am Said: what did Carl say at 1:12 ? Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 140

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Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

Customer Development This strategy of starting on faith, and quickly turning them into facts is the core of the Customer Development process. Employ customer development. One of the key tenets of entrepreneurship is that you start your company with insufficient resources and knowledge. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 212

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Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2009

I can’t get this one out of my head. ———— The VENONA Project One of the most interesting (declassified) stories of cryptography is the deciphering of Soviet communications to their diplomatic missions in the U.S during World War II. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Blog at WordPress.com.

Silicon Valley 135

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Steve Blank

APRIL 22, 2009

He had just filmed the second of a series of videos called, Speaking to the Big Dogs: How mid-level managers can communicate effectively with C-level executives (CEO, VP’s, General Managers, etc.) As we were plotting marketing strategy, I mentioned that the phrase “Speaking to the Big Dogs” might end up as his corporate brand.

Silicon Valley 176

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Unintended Lessons « Steve Blank steveblank.com/2009/09/28/unintended-lessons – view page – cached + Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners (part 5) + Can You Trust Any VC’s Under 40? To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

North Carolina 143

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Great article youre now in my rss feeds :) October 2, 2008 4:37 AM kamilski81 said. Hi Eric, Great article - Ive added you to my regular RSS reads. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Wow I think you just wrote my job description for me. Great post, very educational.

CTO 168

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 14, 2009

Something you can appreciate if you’ve read my class text on Customer Development.) It was a rough draft you’ll see again when I can finish complete sentences. My only excuse is that this week I’m doing public service in my role as a California Coastal Commissioner. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260