Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2015

Just before the holidays I had coffee with Anne, an ex MBA student running a fairly large product group at a search engine company, now out trying to raise money for her own startup. Michael Bloomberg has yet to get his due for engineering the New York entrepreneurial ecosystem. And what are the lessons for Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley New York City New York Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Also, investors from the super-hubs (Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston), won’t assume anyone outside their domain has the savvy and resources to make it happen.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Phoenix Montana 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2021

75 years ago, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) helped kickstart innovation in Silicon Valley with a series of grants to Fred Terman , Dean of Stanford’s Engineering school. The Center combines six unique strengths of Stanford and its location in Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley’s deep technology ecosystem.

Security 364

Security Silicon Valley Russia China 364

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Fear of Failure.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

PM’s are underrated in Silicon Valley these days. Engineering is critical but it is not everything. Equally – a great VP Finance can be leveraged well to take on finance, legal, HR and much of the operational tasks. For the wrong reasons. PMs are a vital part of a tech startup. Limit the number of VCs.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

billion 2013 figure) have been massive financings at Honest Company ($70mm), JustFab ($85mm), ZipRecruiter ($63mm) and lord only knows how much SnapChat has actually accumulated. Many people don’t realize that the majority of the monetization of the Internet originated in Los Angeles but was perfected in Silicon Valley.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Fear of Failure.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

Moreover, startups don’t necessarily face the same issues other business models do – although finances may plague more than less – with trouble-shooting having now entered unchartered territory. Right now, Silicon Valley has a highly creative pool of talent, but there is a blaringly obvious missing link between creativity and business.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

Sloan kept the corporate staff small and focused on policymaking, corporate finance, and planning. But in 1904, after his first time seeing a car in Flint, Michigan, he was one of the first to see that the future was going to be in a radically new form of transportation powered by internal combustion engines.

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

Version One Ventures

MAY 24, 2016

Just a few years ago, if you wanted to do something big, you needed to go to Silicon Valley. billion in financing in 2015 (with 395 deals). If we try to dissect the magic of Silicon Valley, I think there are five key factors at play: Great schools. Waterloo has another unicorn with Kik. Great senior talent.

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley San Francisco Startup DC 113

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

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. Why It’s “Silicon” Valley. ———-.

Engineer 305

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 305

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. That is a personality type.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

Engineering Serendipity Making real connections starts with having the right people in the room. Official SXSW Panels and Speakers SXSW Badge Required Watch Out Silicon Valley: Rising LATAM Tech Scene Watch Out Silicon Valley: Rising LATAM Tech Scene MAR 8, 2019 | 12:30PM?—?1:30PM Bring a bag for collecting swag!

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 9, 2010

Jacqueline asked an important question: how do you mitigate your working capital challenges in an e-commerce company at the very early stages without raising financing? First, there are two primary aspects that have to be managed: inventory financing and customer acquisition costs. Well, there are multiple nuances to the answer.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Malaysia India China 117

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.) Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

ReadWriteStart

MAY 5, 2011

Meanwhile, financing the company will be quite challenging, and I advised Satya to manufacture parts based only on signed contracts and advances against orders, to avoid getting into an inventory-rich, working capital-poor situation. These resellers buy devices from the U.S. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. Discuss.

Costa Rica 115

Costa Rica Incubator Silicon Valley India 115

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

First is that there are, perhaps, a thousand people in the world of entrepreneurship who know what they are doing when it comes to dealing with issues like financing, positioning, market sizing, customer validation, customer acquisition and other seemingly obvious topics that all entrepreneurs need to deal with. Please try to understand why.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

We were on an immersion trip to Silicon Valley, and we said, “Let’s find a way to leverage [a previous open source project],” and we decided to build something around that. Poort (Rescale): Since we were not able to raise money early on, we just started building a product that we ourselves as engineers would want to use.

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Invention Risk - Click to Enlarge For companies building web-based products, product development may be difficult, but with enough time and iteration engineering will eventually converge on a solution and ship a functional product - i t’s engineering, not invention. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. So if you’re casually reading and don’t really care about angel financing – abort now! It creeps people out.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And somebody who isn’t thinking necessarily thinking about how to maximize their ownership in your next round of financing. when to build out our offices in Silicon Valley, New York & Los Angeles. Experience. Relationships. Founder’s perspective. In the Growth Years. how to build an initial sales organization.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

That is debt financing that converts into equity at the Series A valuation once the price for that is set. (I Our discussion today was largely around her financing strategy, and one of the key milestones that I probed her on was: What does it take to get a validated customer? Sub-$2 million pre-money, it is better to bootstrap.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2018

This stark reminder about startup failure serves to encourage you to be smarter about your startup, particularly your finances. Basing your startup in Silicon Valley gives you some advantages. You aren’t the only entrepreneur inspired by Silicon Valley. Think about relocating out of the typical startup zones.

Cost 109

Cost Silicon Valley San Francisco Illinois 109

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 18, 2019

Forward Financing. Forward Financing is the way to go before you start a business. They offer world-class engineering and ease of access wherever you are. Coming out of Silicon Valley, the app promises safety and security, and easily usable world-class technology at the lowest prices.

Artificial Inteligence 119

Artificial Inteligence Costa Rica Silicon Valley United States 119

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

I call it drip-financing. Most entrepreneurs have no choice but to avail of this sort of financing along with the mentoring and the contacts that could come with it (doesn't always come along, though). In 1M/1M, our preferred financing strategy is customers. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

And I understood engineering since I interacted with them almost daily. And finally, I had a great working relationship with our engineers who designed the chips. I found that having a senior marketer responsible for business strategy surrounded by ex-engineers and domain experts makes one heck of a powerful marketing department.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review California 120

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 2, 2010

This is a segment that is well beyond traditional micro-finance, but also somewhat below the scope of the regular financial institutions. Hardika intends to build a financial institution focused on this segment with financing from social entrepreneurship oriented venture funds like Unitus. million financing round for.

India 116

India Green Silicon Valley Massachusetts 116

Start Up Blog

JULY 2, 2015

This also means that cars will move from being powered by fossil fuel engines to electric motors. The Tesla model 3 is so cheap that an electric car is no longer a plaything for Silicon Valley types, but a viable new car option for everyone. Avg Cost new car finance = 6-7% unsecured interest rate. Cost to buy = $35,000.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Silicon Valley Cost Business Model 48

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Sequoia has financed them. Bolpur is home to the Viswabharati university, as well as several other small engineering and professional colleges. But when I found out that Rajeev is a computer engineer, I suggested to him to build a cost-effective SEO services firm, which would be more interesting.

Cloud 117

Cloud Fractional CTO Entrepreneur Bandwidth 117

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 16, 2011

Zendesk is heavily financed by Benchmark and Charles River and has 10,000 customers. Bizosys Technologies, a Bangalore, India based software engineering company was founded in 2009. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo by Alexander Mooij.

India 123

India Bootstrapping Non-Compete Entrepreneur 123

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

Jeremy Johnson , founder of Andela , which embeds talented software engineers on the African continent into top engineering organizations worldwide. Prior to founding Carely , Michael Eidsaune earned his MBA in finance and spent several years in investment management, eventually earning his level 1 CFA certification.

Cofounder 142

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 142

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

The discussion today was around Social Media financing and go-to-market strategy. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy , and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

ReadWriteStart

MAY 3, 2012

Reverse Engineering. Most standout Silicon Valley careers track the other direction, from successful entrepreneur to venture capitalist (see: Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, etc.). He wasn’t completely starting over; General Catalyst provided a large piece of the new company’s seed financing. Why did Gupta go the other way?

Engineer 115

Engineer Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Venture Capital 115

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Parallel6 is already clocking over $1 million in revenue and is looking to enhance its customer acquisition and also raise some financing. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

North Carolina 116

North Carolina San Diego Entrepreneur Balance Sheet 116

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

I will work with him on his inventory financing strategy. Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. JCLABoutique.com.

India 114

India Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 114

Austin Startup

MARCH 1, 2018

Engineering Serendipity Making real connections starts with having the right people in the room. Attracting VC Funding Outside Silicon Valley Panel We do a lot of things differently in Texas, including fundraising. Sure, there will be celebrities and TV cameras but the real action will be the serendipity of the people you meet.

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Austin Texas Cofounder 89

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

Jeremy Johnson , founder of Andela , which embeds talented software engineers on the African continent into top engineering organizations worldwide. Prior to founding Carely , Michael Eidsaune earned his MBA in finance and spent several years in investment management, eventually earning his level 1 CFA certification.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120