Steve Blank

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Ardent War Story 5: The Best Marketers Are Engineers

Steve Blank

Building an Advisory Board In my travels outside the building I kept my eyes out for articulate and visionary scientists and engineers who had expertise we lacked, and were willing to help in an advisory capacity. I chose to hire engineers from within each of our target markets and set up “Steve’s one month MBA course for engineers.”

Engineer 198
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The Secret History of Minnesota Part 1: Engineering Research Associates

Steve Blank

The story starts with a company you probably never heard of – Engineering Research Associates. In January 1946, they founded Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Norris became the VP of Engineering, Engstrom the VP of Research, and Meader VP of Manufacturing. Parker agreed to invest. The company hit the ground running.

Minnesota 281
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Playing With Fire – ChatGPT

Steve Blank

Nuclear weapons and genetic engineering had advocates for unlimited experimentation and unfettered controls. Here biologists came up with guidelines for lab safety containment levels depending on the type of experiments, as well as a list of prohibited experiments (cloning things that could be harmful to humans, plants and animals).

ChatGPT 416
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Leadership is More Than a Memo

Steve Blank

Ben Wegbreit, the VP of Engineering (one of my mentors and then co-founder of Epiphany), broke his foot skiing just as the company started. At first the company just consisted of the founders, but Ben soon started to hire his engineering team. And how long would the change in engineering dress take? Drop the suits all together?

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Why good people leave large tech companies

Steve Blank

The CFO asked me to stay as one of the engineering directors came in for a meeting. The director had complained to his boss, the VP of Engineering, who admitted his hands were tied, as this was a “facilities matter,” and the VP of facilities reported to the CFO. The company is still one of the hottest places to work in tech.

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Eureka! A New Era for Scientists and Engineers

Steve Blank

Silicon Valley was born in an era of applied experimentation driven by scientists and engineers. From the point of view of scientists and engineers in a university lab, too often entrepreneurship in all its VC-driven glory – income statements, balance sheets, business plans, revenue models, 5-year forecasts, etc. billion U.S.

Engineer 278
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How Scientists and Engineers Got It Right, and VC’s Got It Wrong

Steve Blank

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. It might be its most important. ———-. Cold War Spin Outs.

Engineer 305