Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2018

Today, I want to introduce a new approach to business planning: Lean Planning. Lean Planning replaces lengthy business plans with a 20-minute planning process that focuses on increasing your chances of success in business. Lean Planning is simpler and faster than writing a traditional business plan. Step 1: Create a Lean Plan.

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VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2022

However, in reality the Metaverse is still in its early stages of development, and yet, we already can see positive examples of its impact. From the brands and platforms panel: Lorne Sugarman ( Metaverse Group ) shared how brands are actively experimenting now across platforms for PR, engagement and profit.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI Vertical Early Stage PR 88

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The presentation was on outsourcing generally, not just software engineering and the audience was very early stage companies (some yet to be founded). Now, for very early stage companies, you may be thinking, “I don’t have any cash, so outsourcing isn’t an option.&# PR/Marketing. Start a blog.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 12, 2011

crowdSPRING’s latest small biz newsletter: lean marketing, social media, crowdsourcing & more – [link]. VC’s apparently are increasingly nervous about early stage investments – [link]. Her fascinating story is in the Other section below. Crowdsourcing Examples in Business – [link].

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

As we enter year three, we are excited to announce that both accelerator programs in Austin and Houston will run simultaneously which gives us the ability to support up to 200 early-stage startups, and help connect them to Texas’ innovation communities. WHO SHOULD APPLY MassChallenge works with early stage startups.

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Texas Programming Houston Early Stage 62

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

The major change Josh and his team recognized was that startup costs were dropping dramatically in post-crash early 2000s, and by investing in a larger # of smaller seed rounds at $250K-$1M, rather than fewer / later Series A rounds at $2-5M, they could capture more winners & success earlier in the funding lifecycle.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, February 24, 2009 The lean startup at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Image by Jessica_Mah via Flickr Last week I had the opportunity to lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at Haas, which is always a great learning experience - for me at least! Eric takes a different approach.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

In a startup, these channels of communication are critical to understand for advertising, launch and PR purposes. This is important, especially if you are a very early stage company. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science?

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Are you in the “lean&# phase? I’m a very big believer in the “Lean Startup&# principles as espoused by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. million and you’re an early stage business this is probably a fair deal. They get the PR bump. So here’s my framework. They evolve the product faster.

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Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

Marketing may be physically “staging&# the booth, and may even it “man it,&# but don’t be confused, this is the VP of Sales party. While the industry average says only 20% of show leads are followed up, that only happens in other companies, not yours. Go to trade shows like it matters.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 17, 2010

Three premier early-stage venture investors have joined forces to sponsor the event: Baseline , Floodgate , and First Round Capital. Three premier early-stage venture investors have joined forces to sponsor the event: Baseline , Floodgate , and First Round Capital. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

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San Francisco Romania Cleveland South Africa 107

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? Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. If you are having trouble raising money, sometimes a little PR can help.

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San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

But Ive definitely had to lean on Dave. Last fall, Arizona Bay launched its own venture capital firm, Arizona Bay Technology Ventures , which will invest from $50,000 to $750,000 in early-stage start-ups. Learn how from the experts at PR Newswire. My official title is CEO," says Kyle. Will yours be next? To find answers.

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Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

The other most common focus areas for platform teams are to employ talent and PR/marketing experts who give advice to portfolio companies on strategy in these areas and have relationships and discounts with pre-vetted agencies who can deliver the work. Entrepreneurship is becoming more science and less art.

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Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Rob Go

OCTOBER 8, 2012

We were chatting a bit about marketing for early stage companies. For startups, this usually means referral from an existing user, PR, or ways that the product talks about itself (eg: “posted by Instagram” on Facebook). But, I think optimizing conversion can be a red herring for early stage companies early on.

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Marketing Startup Early Stage Channel 72

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

Convertible notes/SAFEs are usually executed around times of maximal uncertainty for a company; the very early stages. The PR story behind that trend — the way it gets sold — is that it’s about saving companies money. They have their downsides, which are discussed in some of the above links. Sounds legit.

Valuation 48

Valuation Dilution Silicon Valley Seed Stage 48

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. Coming next Part 2: What’s Wrong with Product Development as a Model?

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Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

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. Introducing Lean Planning: How to Plan Less and Grow Faster. How to Write a Traditional Business Plan.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

The Message Sitting around a conference room table brainstorming messages that might resonate with customers, or worse having a PR agency doing that for you, is a firing offense in a small company. So when you know what you’ll be paying for space rental, multiply it by four, for a rough idea of your expenses.

Silicon Valley 178

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 178

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

We were focused on revenue, but we didnt understand that revenue is not important for its own sake in an early stage company. We go to mixers, buy fancy offices, focus on PR, and try to one-up each other. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. I think its wasteful. In time, success will come. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

trada.com

APRIL 7, 2010

He noted that Chris Dixon ( @cdixon ) of Hunch tweeted, “New early-stage start up trend: get big quietly, so you don’t tip off potential competitors.&# and we've been leaning towards remaining in stealth mode a bit longer. Great to hear a well thought out argument for that approach.

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Stealth PPC Advertising Conversion 40

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

And Jennifer is now my co-instructor in the Stanford Lean LaunchPad class.). Over the last two decades Shawn has seen hundreds of startups use the Lean Methodology. It bears repeating: an early-stage startup must focus on making one customer group excited by a mission-aligned product. The MVP Tree.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

However, the CEO as the “Rock Star&# always reminded me of why I fired any PR agency that was getting more press than the company it represented. KC Reply steveblank , on June 24, 2009 at 1:20 pm Said: Ken, HP was a pretty complex story. I don’t know enough about the company other than what I read in the press.

Silicon Valley 164

Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 164

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

With new micro VC entrants into to early-stage investing plus increased competition from angels, incubators and the like – traditional VCs have taken notice. So VCs spent a couple of years experimenting with earlier-stage investing, which is OK. The Explosion in Early-Stage Innovation. There are also others.

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Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

Up and Running

APRIL 1, 2015

We didn’t think of it […] for PR reasons,” says David, who adds that while they did have some initial funds, using the resource seemed like a no-brainer to the founders. Though the trio was hopeful that this move would help propel them to success, BloomNation was still very much in its early stages. “[We]

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Startup Cofounder Chicago 60

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Instead the huge mismatch between expectations and reality of our first games diminished the brand and demoralized the company – we never recovered.

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Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Through SEO and mommy blog PR, Lee can tap into this market. In 1M/1M, I teach the EJ Methodology which is based on my Entrepreneur Journeys research, and emphasize bootstrapping, idea validation, and crisp positioning as some of the core principles of building strong fundamentals in early stage ventures.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Through SEO and mommy blog PR, Lee can tap into this market. In 1M/1M, I teach the EJ Methodology which is based on my Entrepreneur Journeys research, and emphasize bootstrapping, idea validation, and crisp positioning as some of the core principles of building strong fundamentals in early stage ventures.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Rocket Science Games | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , Early Stage Startup « Rocket Science 4: The Press is Our Best Product Burnout » 7 Responses Steve , on July 16, 2009 at 9:10 am Said: Steve, This is an excellent post. Make sure they are. Order Here.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2012

Others have partners with expertise in PR. One of my potential investors called me the "lean VC". Call me old fashioned, but what happened to the days where the criteria for being a full time investor at a venture firm meant having an expertise in the functional areas of a company--some product, maybe some tech, PR, marketing, etc.?

PR 109

PR Incubator Early Stage Lean 109

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

Every marketing communication hire couldn’t wait to produce the next great ad or PR program. In an early stage startup, instead of sales being up front, the point departments are likely to be product development and customer development. In my experience, every marketer with an MBA wants to “do strategy.” Who’s on the Sharp End?

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 126

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. So frequently embarrassing failures are masked by spinning PR or fudging numbers to give the illusion of success. link] The Best Programming Language for a Lean Startup [.]

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84