Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I’m a very big proponent of the “lean startup movement&# as espoused by Steve Blank & Eric Ries. Over funding often produces bad behavior in early-stage companies. Some of the best new companies of the past several years seem to stay lean until they figure out their product / market fit.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Bulgaria Lean 374

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. Sure - as you know, probably 40-50% of what we invest in at the early stage never makes it to a successful outcome.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Eric Friedman

MAY 1, 2023

Then about two years ago, I reunited with one of the smartest CTOs I know and we began connecting our old engineer network with early stage companies that needed to ship faster. I realized recently that I have been putting people into business my entire career. The post Putting people into business appeared first on Eric Friedman.

Technical Review 117

Technical Review Engineer Early Stage Operations 117

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2015

He’s now run several Lean LaunchPad classes and has seen a ton of healthcare startups. It is in need of innovation on many fronts and is also trying to embrace the amazing amount of innovation happening with early-stage companies. Use the Lean Startup tools! Here’s his advice for startups in this space.

Startup 120

Startup Early Stage Azure Lean 120

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

Hire the wrong people. Bad hiring decisions are often a symptom of premature scaling. Why hire a sales team when you have nothing to sell yet? That sounds absurd, but founders convince themselves that they’ve hired the right people at the right moment. Be trigger shy about hiring. Honestly, we don’t know.”?

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

We’re teaching a Lean LaunchPad class for Life Sciences and Health Care (therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health) at UCSF with a team of veteran venture capitalists. Medical Device Distribution Channels in general are a sales team hired directly by the company. The class has talked to 1,780 customers to date.

Distribution 224

Distribution Channel Lean Intellectual Property 224

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

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

No matter in which growth stage the company is, eventually there comes the critical moment to hire a CTO from outside, namely leverage CTO-as-a-Service. Early-stage startups. The optimal solution is to hire a CTO in your area. A trade-off between a local CTO and a freelancer is hiring the CTO remotely.

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

You don’t have to hire as many sales people because much can be sold online. There is also True Ventures that does early stage, seed investments. This is producing a “boomlet&# or a bubble in early-stage investing. Staying “lean&# is not an option. That’s OK.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Up and Running

AUGUST 20, 2018

Most of us need just a Lean Business Plan, for internal use, with just bullet point lists and important projections. Good businesses always keep their Lean Plan up to date. The lean business plan is great news because it makes the planning process much less daunting. More on that in the section on the Lean Plan.

Business Plan 119

Business Plan Technical Review Lean Forecast 119

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. christinelu : if youre building a disruptive innovation.the only people who you want to talk to are early adopters.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We back very early stage companies and work alongside executive teams as their build their teams, launch their products, announce their companies and raise their first downstream capital rounds. The biggest change for us in early-stage investing is that we now need to commit earlier. Seksom Suriyapa ?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Background reading: Founder Compensation: Cash, Equity, Liquidity Fatal Errors in Early Startup Hiring Early Hires: Options or Stock Given how deeply involved we are with early-stage startups hiring their first key employees, I figured it would be helpful to outline a few key principles to help entrepreneurs navigate the topic.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48

Up and Running

AUGUST 8, 2018

It only takes an hour each month, keeps the management team up to speed on everything that’s going on in the company, and helps us plan and manage in a lean and effective way. For those early-stage startups, this step of the meeting may be the most important step and take the longest. Instead, they are about adjusting the plan.

Software Review 65

Software Review Business Plan Product Forecast 65

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Last May, I shared the news that long-time Lean Startup advocates Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits were working on a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur featuring illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. LitMotors approach to using Lean Startup to create a new vehicle category. That new book is about to hit bookstores everywhere.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. So, I’ll explain my reasoning through the story of ASC, a fictitious company that has a combination of characteristics I’ve seen across a number of early stage companies. Soundbites from potential customers are encouraging.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2019

A startup that begins to generate cash in the early stages of operation will often make the mistake of confusing income with available cash. Early profits should be directed back into your tech startup to boost growth and business stability. Don’t mix profits and cash. Establish Financial Goals.

Technical Review 81

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Finance 81

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As you have a history of building early stage companies, what is the most important thing you tell startup founders? I suggest companies put systems and procedures in place as early as possible. The ever-changing reality is that companies operate internationally even if they do not think they do. Quality control?

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 84

JANUARY 9, 2014

I recently developed a more human framework for early-stage startups to define their startup DNA and lay some foundations for a sustainable business. Too much talking, not enough listening Perhaps it’s because funding is so important to early-stage startups that they soon get good at perfecting their sales pitch.

Early Stage 102

Early Stage Startup Cofounder Design 102

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 21, 2013

Lean Analytics is the latest addition to the Lean Series. Matrix Partners' David Skok agrees with the 5% churn threshold, but only for early stage companies, and says that you have to see a clear path to getting churn below 2% if you want to scale significantly. “In

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. And do your customer development.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As you have a history of building early stage companies, what is the most important thing you tell startup founders? I suggest companies put systems and procedures in place as early as possible. The ever-changing reality is that companies operate internationally even if they do not think they do. Quality control?

Technical Review 67

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 67

View from Seed

JULY 21, 2022

Beyond offering disruptive and fair pricing, we’re becoming the go-to, trusted one-stop shop to discover and hire the talent clients always wanted, but didn’t know how to find and didn’t think they could afford. RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? And your least?

Early Stage 156

Early Stage San Francisco Michigan Portfolio 156

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

Who should you hire? When you’ve got two people on the team and you’re going super lean in the early stages, usually your best bet is to have a customer experience person and a builder. Many startups outsource visual design work, and instead of hiring that designer, hire a second developer.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? For more on how this plays into the process of scaling up, see the Customer Creation stage of the customer development model.)

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

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. Blame it On Marketing In the next 3-6 months, a new VP of Sales is hired. innovation.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

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? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Another advantage of the early stages is that most dont have to juggle too many competing priorities. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Eric Friedman

JANUARY 23, 2022

I finalized my notes for the ODX Accelerator program, the early stage accelerator I am building at On Deck , and I wanted to summarize here. I love the start of programs, when teams are excited – all at the earliest stages of company creation. What equity you give early stage advisors matters. Fundraising.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Equity .Net Vesting 78

Hunter Walker

MAY 7, 2014

Whether it’s adding capacity to an existing function (#MawrEngineers) or bringing new talents onboard (“we intend to make our first marketing hire”), glossing over these bullet points towards the back of the pitch deck would be a mistake. I’m interested in not just what these people will be doing but how and when they’ll be hired.

Hiring 108

Hiring Option Pool Early Stage Term Sheet 108

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

An early stage startup will want to access funds to help further validate its business proposition. You hire more staff than you need, become inefficient with operations, or move to bigger offices. Operating lean should be the mantra of all businesses. See Also 4 Ways to Secure Funding For Your Startup. Assessing need.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Valuation Due Diligence Finder 60

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

These categories came from Yonder conference , a conference held to discuss just such challenges and solutions: hiring and onboarding. These categories came from Yonder conference , a conference held to discuss just such challenges and solutions: hiring and onboarding. Hire those you trust. Biggest future challenge: hiring.

Management 152

Management SCRUM CTO Hire Distribution 152

Occam's Razor

APRIL 8, 2013

This thought was in my mind as I was reading Lean Analytics a new book by my friend Alistair Croll and his collaborator Benjamin Yoskovitz. In this post, we’ll look at each of the four steps in the Lean Analytics Cycle in more detail. In the Lean Startup world, this is called customer development. But it is not routine.

Metrics 156

Metrics Analytics Lean Churn Rate 156

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods. If you don’t yet have a team yet, list the roles you need to hire for. The business model.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

simply arent crucial to success or failure, and for an early stage startup that means they were wastes of time — you could have done 10x more with that same amount of time and resources." — Jonathan Wegener , Founder, Timehop and ExitStrategy. Hiring Poorly. Most features/options/buttons/settings/etc.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

The implications for entrepreneurs is that each of these (market risk versus invention risk,) require radically different financing models, a different type of venture investor, different timing for hiring sales and marketing, etc. are much softer and much, much harder to measure (or believe) in a very early stage startup.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. Lean Case provides standard business models & metrics, so you can apply a standard approach to business planning, modeling, and profitability tracking. Results from a Survey of Early-Stage VC Funds.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78