Steve Blank

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Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition – Class 4- Semiconductors

Steve Blank

In class 1 , we learned that national power is the combination of a country’s diplomacy (soft power and alliances), information/intelligence, military power, economic strength, finance, intelligence, and law enforcement. This “whole of government approach” is known by the acronym DIME -FIL.

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Cram Down – A Test of Character for VCs and Founders

Steve Blank

At the turn of the century after the dotcom crash, startup valuations plummeted, burn rates were unsustainable, and startups were quickly running out of cash. For existing investors, sometimes it was a “pay-to-play” i.e. if you don’t participate in the new financing you lose. This article previously appeared in TechCrunch.

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Why good people leave large tech companies

Steve Blank

Before the rapid rise of Unicorns, (startups with a valuation over a billion dollars), when boards were still in control, they “encouraged” the hiring of “adult supervision” of the founders after they found product/market fit. Adult Supervision.

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ESADE Business School Commencement Speech

Steve Blank

Cheered on by finance professors, Wall Street analysts, investors and hedge funds, companies have learned how to make metrics like Internal Rate of Return look great by one; outsourcing everything, two, getting assets off their balance sheet, and three only investing in things that pay off fast.

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

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Can You Trust Any vc's Under 40?

Steve Blank

Underwriters realized that as long as the public was happy snapping up shares, they could make huge profits on the inflated valuations (regardless of whether or not the company should have ever been public.) The valuations for acquisitions were nothing like the Internet bubble, but there was a path to liquidity, difficult as it was.