Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

What makes an individual a great startup founder (versus an employee) has been something I had been thinking about since I retired. A Day in the Life of A Founder For those of you who’ve never started a company, let me assure you that it never happens like the pleasant articles you read in business magazines or in case studies.

Founder 297

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, contributing editor of Lean Startup Co. The Lean Startup team has been hard at work finalizing the details of this year’s Lean Startup Week. Welcome to Lean Startup Week 2016 TL;DR: Before you dive into the details, here’s a quick look at what you can expect during your week with us: On Oct.

Lean 60

Lean Programming San Francisco Startup 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups, the hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play. Early-stage startup.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

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. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? Your presentation doesn’t have a single word about Lean Startups or Customer Development. Just as a refresher.

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The best and most consistent funds in Silicon Valley (e.g. But my conversations in the private corridors on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley is that many fund sizes will be smaller going forward. There is also True Ventures that does early stage, seed investments. Staying “lean&# is not an option.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

It was amazing to see the two founders, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, build a $100 million company from coffee cups and T-shirts. But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and got an 8-digit term sheet that same afternoon. Now In Print!

Venture Capital 209

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 209

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

They might be ideas they hatch internally (via a Foundry) or a founder who just left SpaceX and raises money to search for an idea. The legends of Silicon Valley?—?two two founders in a garage?—?(HP The most connected and high-potential founders start with wads of cash. HP Style) are dead.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Another topic we debated early in the program was “lean startup” vs. “ fat startup ” where we both took the obvious hedge and said “it depends.” If I were a number 3-5 players I’d be looking to exit early while there’s still a lot of enthusiasm for this hot market. Time will tell.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

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. Moreover, since the first CEO was likely to have been one of the founders, the trauma of CEO removal begins. Now In Print!

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 16, 2014

The Kauffman Foundation probably thinks that it’s a great way to share entrepreneurship resources too, which is why they have the Kauffman Founders School , an online video education program targeted at entrepreneurs to help them learn the critical lessons anytime, anywhere that will help them and their business succeed.

Video 221

Video Founder Silicon Valley Lean 221

Steve Blank

JANUARY 20, 2014

When Customer Development and the Lean Startup were just a sketch on the napkin, Dino Vendetti, a VC at Bay Partners, was one of the first venture capitalists I shared my ideas with. Over the years we brainstormed about how Lean entrepreneurship would affect regional development. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds.

Silicon Valley 312

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 312

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

Many people have reached out sharing knowing and kind words about our journey and choice to wind down our venture, as well as their appreciation for my choice to pull back the curtain on what is statistically a common road for many founders. It details a landscape founders like me are excited to sink their teeth into? Of course not!

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

The culture and work ethic of Convergent had earned it the title “the Marine Corps of Silicon Valley”. Some of the other founders had sold minicomputers to scientists and engineers, but no one knew or understood the unique class of applications and customers of supercomputers. A few days later Gordon became a founder.

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. The first question to ask is: “Does your startup have market risk or is it dominated by technical risk?” Lean Startup /Customer Development is used to find answers to the unknowns about customers and markets.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

After I retired, I began teaching Customer Development , a theory of how to reduce early stage risk in entrepreneurial ventures. My blog also allowed me to indulge my interest in a few other subjects: The Secret History of Silicon Valley , thoughts on a career as an entrepreneur, observations about family and startups, etc.

Silicon Valley 202

Silicon Valley Customer Development IP Developer 202

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 26, 2021

You’ll hear from Staples on the five positive emotions that are the most effective in content to get people to lean forward and share: happiness, awe, curiosity, empathy, and surprise. Michael Margolis is the CEO and founder of Storied. Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of Hint Water, a flavored water brand founded in 2005.

Marketing 91

Marketing Silicon Valley Cofounder Framework 91

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 9, 2009 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo , which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. benjaminjoffe : early adopters of buggy product are visionary customers, sometimes smarter than founders!

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

We Don’t Need Domain Experts When I looked around at our executive staff, there wasn’t a single founder who was a gamer. Only in Silicon Valley could we have got funded with this idea, and not surprisingly, it was our technology that had the VC’s confused. Nor was there anyone with game experience on our board. Vision and $1.65

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Being an outsider, I also wanted to lean heavily on the actual research available on the subject, as well as the voices of women both in the tech space and who have successfully received venture funding. According to Fortune , in 2006, female founders were involved in only 2.95 percent of venture capital deals, and received.33

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

But, getting in the doors of a Sand Hill Road VC in Silicon Valley can be an incredibly difficult undertaking. Eric Ries of The Lean Startup has called Andrew Chen’s blog “one of the best entrepreneurship blogs of all time.” This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

The same issues arose time and again: big company management styles versus entrepreneurs wanting to shoot from the hip, founders versus professional managers, engineering versus marketing, marketing versus sales, missed schedule issues, sales missing the plan, running out of money, raising new money. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

are much softer and much, much harder to measure (or believe) in a very early stage startup. be prepared to be the most lean business in the sector (which is only possible where economy of scale does not create huge entry barriers). We’ll talk about how to reduce risk in each type of market in the next post.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Which at this stage of the company was marketing and financing. Our “Hollywood meets Silicon Valley” story played great in Silicon Valley, they ate it up in Hollywood, and the business press tripped over themselves to talk to us. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you’ve tried to slog your way through my book on Customer Development you know that I’m insistent that the founders need to be the ones getting outside the building (physically or virtually) to validate all the initial hypotheses of the business model and product. I’ve tried to read a lot of your History of Silicon Valley posts.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

Dan is the co-founder of Standard Treasury, a Y Combinator backed company. He is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, an early stage investment fund. How do you get to that point if you have that kind of a view of the world, of founders, and of this space? On Sushi and VC. Everything we do.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2015

My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Errol Arkilic , former program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), now founder of M34 Capital. Venk Shukla , president TiE Silicon Valley and general partner, Monta Vista Capital.

Channel 120

Channel India Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

At a university business plan competition, for the first time they can swim in the sea of expertise that we/I take for granted in the middle of Silicon Valley. I love business plan competitions (and with my valley-centric bias, I think Berkeley and Stanford have two of the best.)

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

Venture Chronicles

MAY 26, 2010

Back in March, Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz wrote a post called The Case For The Fat Startup, where he outlined some of the reasons why a fledging company might want to consider taking a large amount of funding — a strategy that contrasts with the ‘lean startup’ model that has become common in Silicon Valley.

Lean 40

Lean Early Stage Valuation Startup 40

View from Seed

JULY 24, 2015

The invite-only event was attended by 300 of the area’s best tech leaders, founders, product managers, designers, developers, investors, engineers, salesmen and women, and more, all of whom are hard at work in consumer tech. We have companies in Chicago, San Francisco (and elsewhere in Silicon Valley), Omaha, and New York.

Boston 120

Boston Cofounder B2C PR 120

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 3, 2014

David vs. Goliath: Lean Startup Advantages | OpenView Blog – crowdspring.co/1x2JFtG. 10 Top Financial Tips for Early-Stage Startups | StartupCollective – crowdspring.co/1qWvaC4. Why startups fail, according to their founders – crowdspring.co/1roF9DZ. Before the Startup – crowdspring.co/1rGYDDQ.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

female founders. founder friday. Lessons learned from female founders and women entrepreneurs. Startup Quote: Wendy Tan White on Building a Successful Startup » FounderDating: How I Found My Co-Founder. Tweet By Elizabeth Knopf (Co-Founder & CEO, Sorced). Scoring Founder “Dates” On My Own.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

A seed fund this size (and with increasing numbers of venture funds being raised by LA-based VC’s) has overcome a decade-long resistance and belief that you could only build great tech companies in Silicon Valley. The founders – Brian Garrett and Rick Smith – were both VCs long before I arrived in this town.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder Early Stage 150

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

note: apologies in advance for the west coast bias; i’m in silicon valley). First Round became a very active investor in consumer internet and e-commerce, on a rather lean investment budget, with several notable exits (including Mint.com to Intuit in 2009 for $170M). and no, we didn’t.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

Our Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences is one of them. The Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences (the I-Corps @ NIH ) uses the Lean Startup Model to discover and validate the business model. The Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences (the I-Corps @ NIH ) uses the Lean Startup Model to discover and validate the business model.

San Diego 261

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 261