Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

At a large company, sales usually means someone else has done the broad shaping for a potential customer. Customer Success roles : This is akin to handling a source. You make sure the customer is happy and keeps buying, preferably more. At first many start-ups hire a lobbying firm. They can vote to hire and fire the CEO.

Government 212

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 212

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco. I’ve watched the Valley go from Microwave Valley – to Defense Valley – to Silicon Valley to Internet Valley. So how did this happen? Where is it going?

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

And the wrong message is frankly strewn all over Silicon Valley. And this is fueled by the VC culture in Silicon Valley. It might be for technical reasons or it might be for customer adoption reasons. I worry that many people will read this post and get the wrong message. Or pivoted too quickly.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Stories about companies with lots of ping pong tables, free yoga classes, gourmet chefs—it’s starting to feel like the TV series “Silicon Valley” is a little too much like the real-life Silicon Valley. See Also: The Importance of Partnership Agreements, NDAs, and Security: Lessons from HBO’s “Silicon Valley”.

Hiring 60

Hiring Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.) Where Are the Customers? Product Development Diagram 1.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2023

While Silicon Valley remains iconic, cities from Bangalore to Berlin are making names for themselves as hotbeds of tech innovation. From custom app development to effective mobile marketing strategies, they embody the spirit of innovation. Focus on Customer Satisfaction Word of mouth travels fast.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Startup Silicon Valley Agile 137

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about 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. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

You know exactly when you want to sell to this customer and presumably it’s this quarter! And when I say this I’m assuming that you’re already identified the customer pain and talked about how you’re uniquely qualified to solve their business problems. .” Which customers to target: Elephants, Deer or Rabbits ?

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

In Silicon Valley the equivalent is the journeyman coder or web designer who loves the technology, and takes coding and U/I jobs because it’s a passion. They work as hard as any Silicon Valley entrepreneur. They hire local employees or family. They hire the best and the brightest. Most are barely profitable.

Government 335

Government Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 335

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Over the last half a century, Silicon Valley has grown into the leading technology and innovation cluster for the United States and the world. In the past, the time to build a first product release was measured in months or even years as startups executed the founder’s vision of what customers wanted.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital Software Review 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

In tech startups stock options were here almost from the beginning, first offered to the founders in 1957 at Fairchild Semiconductor , the first chip startup in Silicon Valley. It drove the relentless “do whatever it takes” culture of 20 th century Silicon Valley. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. And the bet worked.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

You need to segment your audience and find a way to get your highest quality customers over to O&O (owned & operated) inventory where you can get higher CPMs, sell merchandise and capture more customer information. But here’s what Silicon Valley doesn’t get about Hollywood. They have to. Think about.

Silicon Valley 374

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Java 374

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

For decades large companies have gone shopping in Silicon Valley for startups. Silicon Valley – a Corporate Innovation Candy Store. Corporate business development and strategic partner executives are flocking to Silicon Valley to find these five types of innovation.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Version One Ventures

JULY 14, 2014

The big debate among tech circles has always been if it’s possible to build a “Silicon Valley” company outside of the Valley. Is Silicon Valley a physical place or a state of mind ? Starting a company is one thing, but scaling is much tougher outside of Silicon Valley. Related articles.

Silicon Valley 154

Silicon Valley Los Angeles San Francisco Seattle 154

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I have experienced many first-time entrepreneurs with too much hubris if fund-raising came easily and press was fawning and employees joined in droves and customer adoption has been rapid. Silicon Valley itself was built on the sciences with a foundation of trial-and-error and then improving the model and trying again.

South Korea 261

South Korea Silicon Valley Los Angeles Japan 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He tells the story of how he was out of cash, stressed out, nobody in LA or Silicon Valley would give him money, he had finally found an investor in Minneapolis but his venture bank was going to shut him down for breaking a “covenant&# in their agreement by not having enough cash in the bank. we both love Jason).

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). So why did Larry need to return?

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

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.&#

Engineer 198

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 198

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

You’re Hired, You’re Fired. My first job in Silicon Valley: I was hired as a lab technician at ESL to support the training department. It makes you appreciate that the Silicon Valley technology-centric culture-bubble has little to do with the majority of Americans.) Driving across the U.S.

Agile 245

Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 245

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs beyond Silicon Valley, including those working abroad, often have to retool Lean Startup methods to apply them in places with very different business cultures. Those conversations can often circle around the difficulties of entrepreneurship outside Silicon Valley. On September 24 in the U.S.

Silicon Valley 168

Silicon Valley Puerto Rico Lean Japan 168

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. The large players like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent historically would be more likely to simply copy a startup’s features than to hire their talent. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Perhaps it’s the weather.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

by Bill Lee, author of “ The Hidden Wealth of Customers: Realizing the Untapped Value of Your Most Important Asset “. No one can truly understand your customers or genuinely share their interests unless she is a customer herself. Your most powerful growth engine is your existing customer. Highly trained salespeople.

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

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

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

Examples are Hollywood for movies, Milan for fashion, New York for finance and today, Silicon Valley for technology entrepreneurship. It has become China’s Silicon Valley. They provide consulting, promotion, product testing, hiring, training and incubation services to startups.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Programming SBIR China 278

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital , customers, and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Customers?

Early Stage 54

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley San Antonio 54

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

is a venture capitalist investing in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Some examples include: Organize a local market research campaign (best for services that involve connecting businesses with customers). The most expensive developers are usually around the Silicon Valley or the East Coast. Eddy Lee, Ph.D,

Web 160

Web Silicon Valley Salary Demand 160

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. At least that’s the theory.

Burn Rate 248

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston 248

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2021

Eren Bali arrived in Silicon Valley from Turkey in 2010 hoping to relaunch Udemy , his online education company. Eren came to the US from Turkey to work at a Silicon Valley tech startup, which is actually where I first met him a few years ago. How did you first get into tech and come to Silicon valley?

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Turkey Los Angeles California 60

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 4, 2020

Our families — and the families of the employees we eventually hire—come first. Just as you’re solely responsible for the leadership of your busi­ness, a Necessity Entrepreneur also bears the responsibility of delivering products, services, and promises made to customers, employees, and family. Are you self-funded? Are you tech-savvy?

Entrepreneur 180

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Silicon Valley Bandwidth 180

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. And most startup code and features end up on the floor as customers never really wanted them.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

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. Our firm has a portfolio of companies across a broad range of markets and the way we look at it is pretty simple – the deals fall into two types: those with customer/market risk and those with invention risk.”

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You hire people who look good on paper. So one of the surest signs you’ve hired a leader is the willingness of his or her former team to re-assemble. When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Working hard together at a big company just isn’t the same. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. It’s much easier to just steal their ideas and hire their employees. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. In the U.S.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 267

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 4, 2018

The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover. That revenue is in on 75,000 customers, earned through the hard work of 500 employees across six offices on three continents.

Engineer 152

Engineer Revenue San Francisco Security 152

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. The large players like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent historically would be more likely to simply copy a startup’s features than to hire their talent. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Perhaps it’s the weather.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Non-Compete 215

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. These companies would take our computers and put their name on them and resell them to their customers.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

To turn your company’s stock into cash, you engaged a top-notch investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) and/or their Silicon Valley compatriots (Hambrecht & Quist, Montgomery Securities, Robertson Stephens). Hire a CEO to Go Public. People had to actually pay you for your product.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245