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. The Columbia Startup Lab is a visible symbol of how the university is making entrepreneurship an integral part of all colleges at the university.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley New York City New York Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. 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.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Phoenix Montana 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Final startup grind from msuster. And the folks at Startup Grind have been kind enough to invite me to present this morning in Mountain View on the topic. PM’s are underrated in Silicon Valley these days. PMs are a vital part of a tech startup. And what your views / tips for early-stage startup teams are.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

For aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s hard to resist the allure of Silicon Valley. You’d be forgiven for thinking that any budding entrepreneur should only look at setting up in Silicon Valley to be successful. Photo credit: Canada flag from Shutterstock. By Raj Narayanaswamy, cofounder and Co-CEO, Replicon. While the U.S.

Canada 100

Canada Silicon Valley San Francisco Technical Cofounder 100

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 29, 2010

The Internet might be truly global then, but the world of startups still revolves much around Silicon Valley. Together with 40 Nordic entrepreneurs , we decided to take a trip to the startup mecca, looking for opportunities and lessons to learn. Startups are keen on business development and will seek partnerships.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley Finland Sweat Equity Entrepreneur 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. If you’re a super experienced Silicon Valley CEO with a billion-dollar exit?—?probably.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

by Rizwan Virk, author of “ Startup Myths and Models: What You Won’t Learn in Business School “. If you are building a startup, you’ll find no shortage of people who are willing to give you advice, particularly when it comes to raising financing. My first institutional financing came from people who were in the “MIT” network.

Finance 180

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 180

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. This question gets to the heart of what bank financing is and isn't supposed to accomplish. Management with a strong track record.

Silicon Valley 406

Silicon Valley Equity Startup Finance 406

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. This left an open playing field for Chinese software startups as they “copy to China” existing U.S. If you’re a software startup competing in China, the words that come to mind are “ruthless and relentless.”

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. This question gets to the heart of what bank financing is and isn't supposed to accomplish. Management with a strong track record.

Equity 303

Equity Silicon Valley Finance Early Stage 303

Feld Thoughts

JULY 22, 2011

Their suggestion was to write a series of posts that follows the development of an imaginary startup as the company navigates various events, focusing on how each event will impact not only the P&L, but also the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement. The more the merrier.&#. Our first substantive post will be up next Friday.

Finance 135

Finance Congo Cambodia Chicago 135

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Their finances are also heavily regulated – insurers have to keep a set amount of cash liquid (to write the big checks) and diversify their assets according to specific rules (so they can have enough cash available for even bigger checks). They require the most money to operate and have to fill out the most complicated forms to get licensed.

Technical Review 178

Technical Review Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence San Francisco 178

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

With countless roadblocks along the way, it’s not uncommon for a startup to falter to the point of folding before it has ever reached even the simplest of business goals. The rub is that a startup likely has the ideas to take it straight to the top, but it’s also likely that the company lacks the business skills to make it truly successful.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 2, 2016

There is no doubt about it, the appeal of startup culture is inarguable. Everyone knows that Silicon Valley has been, historically speaking, the source of much innovation. Today, institutions like the Launch Pad University and Americas Venture Capital Conference mean that a city is a hot place for startups to get financed.

America 100

America Miami Portland Seattle 100

Start Up Blog

MARCH 30, 2023

This just happened with Silicon Valley Bank. World’s First Viral Bank Failure Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a very important bank to the startup and tech eco system in the USA. As you can imagine, this blog post, raised many eyebrows in Silicon Valley. The idea becomes the truth.

Viral 62

Viral Finance Silicon Valley Australia 62

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. This left an open playing field for Chinese software startups as they “copy to China” existing U.S. If you’re a software startup competing in China, the words that come to mind are “ruthless and relentless.”

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. The beauty of Silicon Valley and the ethos it has driven in all of us is acceptance of failure and a profound respect for those who at least try. Startup Lessons'

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2016

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, launching your startup will be everything you have ever dreamed of. You may look to Silicon Valley for inspiration, where hyped tech startups have investors vying to get their money in the stocks. Read on to find out how you can fund a non-tech startup: 1. Crowdsource Online.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Silicon Valley Startup Business Plan 100

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups, I had my ideas “stolen” twice. I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. See part one for the first time it happened.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 29, 2023

When it comes to launching a startup, most founders think they should reside in the United States, Silicon Valley, in particular, to have a successful business. But there are other regions in the world that might not be as fancy as Silicon Valley but have a remarkable potential for growth. billion in 2018.

Asia 171

Asia Indonesia Silicon Valley Malaysia 171

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2022

Every new entrepreneur who has not spent years in corporate life has the advantage of an unbiased look at business opportunities, but at the same time has the disadvantage of missing critical business experiences that can cost them dearly in their first startup venture. Startups don’t come with formal training courses.

Silicon Valley 292

Silicon Valley Viral Finance Leadership 292

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The best and most consistent funds in Silicon Valley (e.g. But my conversations in the private corridors on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley is that many fund sizes will be smaller going forward. Importantly, what does this all mean for startups? Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel) can and will easily raise money.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

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). Yet, having a vibrant ecosystem to seed early stage startups is one thing. If we try to dissect the magic of Silicon Valley, I think there are five key factors at play: Great schools.

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley San Francisco Startup DC 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2021

At the front-end of these innovations are startups – organizations the Department of Defense hasn’t previously dealt with at scale. Mrinal and Jeff’s article below explains how startups can adapt and thrive while working with the Defense Department. And how the Department of Defense is learning to work with startups.

Artificial Inteligence 326

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Startup China 326

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

In September 2017, I spent 2 weeks in Austin, Texas to understand what makes this vibrant startup ecosystem tick. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Capital?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Texas 48

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 4, 2018

The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover. This week we closed $250M in financing from Silver Lake , the premier technology private equity firm.

Engineer 152

Engineer Revenue San Francisco Security 152

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. All the usual caveats apply.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 267

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

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

The SXSW Startup Crawl! Grab a group of friends and tour the latest and greatest of Austin’s startup community. Grab a group of friends and tour the latest and greatest of Austin’s startup community. Wednesday, March 13 Every day 10:00am-5:00pm.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa Clara (“Silicon Valley”).

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. But to answer the actual question “Is there something going on in LA?”

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

But it was early 2009 and not many companies were getting new financings at all so I thought they should take the deal. But my other VC partner had a smaller fund and raising price would have a big impact on his ability to finance the company. So it reminds me of a recent deal in Silicon Valley from 18 months ago or so.

Term Sheet 356

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Reputation Partner 356

The Equity Kicker

MAY 9, 2016

It’s a great romp through the history of entrepreneurial ventures and how they were financed – starting with loan deals brokered in coffee shops and ending with the PC boom which established venture capital as an asset class in 1970s and 1980s. The UK government’s support has been important for our startup ecosystem.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Venture Capital eCommerce Startup 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2020

Every new entrepreneur who has not spent years in corporate life has the advantage of an unbiased look at business opportunities, but at the same time has the disadvantage of missing critical business experiences that can cost them dearly in their first startup venture. Startups don’t come with formal training courses.

Silicon Valley 361

Silicon Valley Viral Finance Leadership 361

Up and Running

JULY 5, 2016

While we may think of a major hub like Silicon Valley as a prime example of an entrepreneurial city, the reality is that these epicenters of growth may not always offer the most supportive climate for new businesses. Louis is a growing hub for startup activity. See Also: What My Startup Accelerator Taught Me About Pitching.

St. Louis 105

St. Louis Oklahoma City Oklahoma Tulsa 105

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. Tags: StartUp 101.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114