Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Angel investors, venture capital firms, accelerators, and (maybe) the newer equity crowdfunding will look to see if you have previous experience in startups. Go lean with your planning. A startup is about execution and speed, so you need to start lean. You could also find people with complementary skills you might lack.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity (coming soon). The positives are that you give up no equity, and these apply to the early startup stages, but they do take time and much effort to win. Use crowd funding.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. The positives are that you give up no equity, and these apply to the early startup stages, but they do take time and much effort to win. Use crowd funding. Get a loan or line-of-credit.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ) Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique. Hacking for Defense has its origins in the Lean LaunchPad class I first taught at Stanford in 2011. Our goal was to teach both theory and practice.

Oakland 306

Oakland Asia Lean Video 306

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity (coming soon). The positives are that you give up no equity, and these apply to the early startup stages, but they do take time and much effort to win. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. Exchanging your services for services is possible with legal counsel, accountants, engineers, and even sales people.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. Exchanging your services for services is possible with legal counsel, accountants, engineers, and even sales people.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Working for Equity Instead of Cash. has an article on service firms waiving their fees and instead taking equity in their clients. Interest in this waned when the Internet bust resulted in most tech start-up equity becoming worthless, but it seems to be coming back. Not all start-up stock is created equally.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, May 14, 2009 The Lean Startup Workshop - now an OReilly Master Class My rate of posting has been much lower lately, and this is mostly due to preparations for the upcoming Lean Startup Workshop on May 29. I have a lot of good news to report on this front. You can click here to learn more.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Shoulder – not to cry on, but to lean on. Three of my cofounders are engineering masterminds (with various skillsets.) It’s obvious that a company building an online backup service and its own cloud storage platform requires strong engineering talent. When things have to happen, your co-founders are the ones who will step up.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. (To see the video above, please click the image, and then click on the Play button.).

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. How would one set up such a startup to eventually raise capital from outside VCs, who will be wary of ‘dead equity’ (i.e., equity that belongs to departed cofounders)? The cliffs?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. So why would you treat your debt investors (somewhat) like equity investors?

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, October 5, 2010 The Lean Startup Bundle People often ask me if they can buy "Lean Startup in a box" from me. People want to get started with Lean Startup but arent exactly how. Its called the " The Lean Startup Bundle " and it is available this week only. Dont panic.

Lean 153

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 153

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 28, 2013

Empower Your Small Business – NEW edition: marketing, lean business, paid search, #1 mistake – [link]. Lean Business: Freelancers for ALL My Friends! Lean Business: Freelancers for ALL My Friends! Is Equity Crowdfunding A Threat To Venture Capitalists? – [link]. – [link].

Social Media 107

Social Media Small Business Design Media 107

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about gender equity in the high-tech and entrepreneurship worlds lately. Engineers are offenders in this category too, but so is any gender-segregated activity, like an all-female PR or marketing team. I already advocate cross-functional teams as part of the lean startup methodology.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2013

The program pays scientists $50,000 to attend the program and takes no equity. universities teaching the Lean LaunchPad curriculum organized as I-Corps “nodes” across the U.S. The nodes are now offering their own regional versions of the Lean LaunchPad class under I-Corps. Currently there are 11 U.S. Lessons Learned.

Lean 264

Lean Washington Incubator Agile 264

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. Dino and I kept in touch as he moved up to Bend, Oregon on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster.

Silicon Valley 314

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 314

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Your goal is to invest in engineering (to maintain your product lead), new offices / locations (to capture markets before others), marketing (to capture consumer attention before others do) … all of these activities consume cash often in advance of the revenue they generate. Think DropBox, Airbnb, Uber, Maker Studios.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

The Lean LaunchPad course online. I teach potential founders a hands-on, experiential class called the Lean LaunchPad at Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia and Caltech. agile engineering. Online Guide to How to Build a Startup: The Lean LaunchPad. The Lean LaunchPad Educators Course. customer development. Sign up here.

Open Source 335

Open Source Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development 335

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

per engineer.” Especially in the early days of mobile/iOS engineering, if you hired strong technical talent into your early stage company, you basically created an acquisition outcome floor. “Worst case scenario we’ll sell to a larger startup or public company for about ~$1.5m

Early Stage 118

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 118

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2022

Innovation incorporates lean methodologies (customer discovery, problem understanding, MVPs, Pivots), coupled with speed and urgency, and a culture where failure equals rapid learning. The technology insights and expertise of Stanford Engineering. Integrate and incent the Venture Capital/Private Equity ecosystem to invest at scale.

Security 219

Security Silicon Valley China Private Equity 219

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

But this mania to not miss out on the next big thing is driving some investors to pay growth-equity prices for traditional market risk (as in, they’re paying up before it is clear there is product / market fit). If you are interested the Vimeo is here. And well they should be. And so on down then line. That’s not true.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2016

It’s also by far the greatest determinant of equity value, because it maximizes both revenue and the revenue multiple. Larger companies like WP Engine can have maybe three or four, but still not many. Fast growth proves every other piece of the company is healthy, or at least healthy enough not to be fatal.

Metrics 270

Metrics Retention Revenue Equity 270

The Next Web

JANUARY 27, 2013

Four books helped me out a lot over the last few years: Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank, Running Lean by Ash Maurya, The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris and Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. I believe that picking up programming should be to acquaint yourself with the particular challenges of engineering.

Netherlands 159

Netherlands Technical Review Software Review Cofounder 159

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Lean Methodology Sources. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Part 3- Lean Cust. Firebase : Are all your developers front-end engineers? Google Custom Search Engine. Google App Engine. Steve Blank’s Lean Startup Resources. Lean Startup Circle â?? Search Engine Optimization Tools.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

The more brand equity you have , the easier it will be to get prospects to pay attention. Use the median numbers as a guide for which program to lean towards. A lot of research can be done for free using current data and online sources like search engines, social media, websites, and industry publications. Company perception.

Lead Generation 94

Lead Generation Marketing Sales Cycle Campaign 94

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

So, if you’re anything like me, your first startup will need to be self-funded and operated with a very lean budget. After all, sweat equity can make up for a trim marketing budget, but it would be hard to make up for cuts in product development and customer service without sacrificing customer experience.

Sweat Equity 60

Sweat Equity Equity Sales PR 60

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). For example, you can barter for a service or you can negotiate payment terms or even equity for service. Engineering/QA. To that I say baloney. Bookmark the permalink.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, October 30, 2008 John Doerrs 10 lean startup tips I just saw video of John Doerrs talk yesterday at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn&# roundtable event. Everyone from the receptionist to engineers is selling. Offer equity instead of cash. Expo SF (May.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Engineer, arranger, communicator, amateur photographer. For example: Don’t accept equity compensation (stock shares) without knowing the percentage of the company you’ll own. From there, I began googling things like “first employee startup equity” and “startup offer negotiation.” Paul Graham’s Equity Equation.

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

I recruited a top-flight engineer and serial entrepreneur to build our MVP, on equity?—?and As we self-funded on a tiny amount of cash, sweat equity and vision, we also worked in a methodical manner, moving the ball down the field week by week. Lean into it. and every other team member the same way. Step on the scale.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

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

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

And thanks to Ann Miura-Ko of Floodgate (my first Lean LaunchPad co-instructor) for her suggestions. Pre-Seed Round Paperwork: Smart investors will typically give you minimal paperwork – either a convertible note or a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) or a KISS (Keep It Simple Securities). Seed Round of Funding.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

The problem with a Lean Startup: the Minimum Viable Product | Paul Kortman – [link]. Convertible Debt: really Bridge Loans and Equity Replacement Debt – [link]. Must-read for marketers … Reverse Engineering Facebook EdgeRank – [link]. A turkey is a turkey – [link]. Brilliant analysis.

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

blog.launchbit.com

MARCH 8, 2012

While the reponses for both leaned toward more important, both had a significant number of people saying it wasnt such a big deal. The question itself didnt attempt to ask whether equity or salary was preferred. Another respondent told me personally he would only consider joining up if he got equity. Be realistic. Be realistic.

Technical Cofounder 47

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Differentiation 47