Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Technology Cycles Measured in Years.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Evangelos Simoudis’ is the founder and managing director of Synapse Partners. If you can’t hear the clip, click here. If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

Here the company is essentially incubating a startup. Horizon 3 groups need to be physically separate from operating divisions (in a corporate incubator, or their own facility.) These innovators want to create new and potentially disruptive business models. Do it Again!? Typically this is a bad idea for all involved.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

The easy part is, “Let’s have an incubator.” Can you become a founder by watching videos? Perhaps, but founders are closer to artists than any other profession. A third is incubators and makers’ spaces. By contrast, an incubator and accelerator is a point activity. Can it be self-directed?

Incubator 331

Incubator Lean Programming Government 331

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Phil Randazzo , is the founder of American Dream U , a national entrepreneurship and coaching program that helps transitioning soldiers find work or start their own business. Derek Andersen , is the founder of Startup Grind , a 200,000-person entrepreneurial community with chapters in 75 countries run by more than 1,000 volunteers.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder Nevada 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

If they don’t, then the management team has simply become caretakers of the founders’ legacy. They can partner with suppliers, co-create with consumers, open-source key technologies, open their application programming interfaces, or run open incubators for customer ideas. This never ends well.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. data that investors, accelerators and incubators can use to inform selection. But the ‘ah-hah!’ Enables better mentoring.

Sacramento 306

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 306

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

Cases and plans are useful for teaching managers of process, not founders. Founders of startups (and new ventures inside existing companies) are searching for product/market fit and a repeatable and scalable business model. The reality is that most business plans don’t survive first contact with customers.

Lean 433

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 433

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Before this class this team had spent three months in an incubator building the product after talking to only one customer. Professor Kurt Keutzer and Errol Arkilic (former program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), now founder of M34 Capital) were the lead instructors.

Artificial Inteligence 318

Artificial Inteligence Lean Exit Strategy Startup 318

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2015

Takashi Tsutsumi and Masato Iino , founders of Learning Entrepreneur’s Lab in Japan. Takashi Tsutsumi has been a venture capitalist 15 years incubating and investing in startups in Japan. This seed accelerator uses my Lean LaunchPad class to help incubate startups as well as create new business for enterprises in Japan.

Channel 120

Channel Japan Bosnia Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

Incubators are designed for teams with an idea. The life sciences community is still warming-up to the value of customer development in the early stages of building new ventures”, says David Schonthal , MATTER Co-founder and Clinical Assistant Professor of entrepreneurship & innovation at the Kellogg School of Management.

San Diego 261

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 261

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

There’s something wrong when the cost of entry of Palantir , SpaceX and Anduril as new DOD contractors required billionaire founders.) All the services have incubators, Accelerator’s, and SBIR programs. New startups/companies rarely break into the system. Slides 35-37. Unlike incremental technology improvements.

Technology 436

Technology China Russia Silicon Valley 436

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 3, 2014

It’s now been over 3 years since the team has left my classroom and I thought I’d share with you what the two founders, Jorge Heraud and Lee Redden, learned then and what they’re doing now. When I teach in universities I’m not running an incubator. The Autonomous Lawnmower. They called their company Autonomow.

Lean 272

Lean Silicon Valley Customer Development Incubator 272

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders sharing their experiences of what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Joining me this week at the Stanford University studio were: Wayne Sutton , co-founder of BUILDUP VC. Dave Kashen.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley North Carolina Cofounder Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2013

Lean LaunchPad Colombia starts again today in Bogota with 25 more teams of tech entrepreneurs and at 25 mentors from the country’s universities, incubators, and chambers of commerce. . —– Back to Colombia: Vive La Revolución Emprendedora! This LeanLaunchPad simultaneously trains entrepreneurs and coaches to guide them.

Colombia 321

Colombia Lean Silicon Valley Coder 321

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2013

Lean LaunchPad Colombia starts again today in Bogota with 25 more teams of tech entrepreneurs and at 25 mentors from the country’s universities, incubators, and chambers of commerce. . —– Back to Colombia: Vive La Revolución Emprendedora! This LeanLaunchPad simultaneously trains entrepreneurs and coaches to guide them.

Colombia 271

Colombia Lean Silicon Valley Coder 271

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 26, 2012

Following two days with a dozen startups at a brand-new incubator in Kiev called “ Happy Farm ,” it was time to head to my next stop: Skolkovo , the private Moscow business school formed to bring Silicon Valley-quality training to young Russian entrepreneurs. I Spent A Year One Night in Kiev.

Ukraine 291

Ukraine Russia Silicon Valley Stealth 291

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

There’s something wrong when the cost of entry of Palantir , SpaceX and Anduril as new DOD contractors required billionaire founders.) All the services have incubators, Accelerator’s, and SBIR programs. New startups/companies rarely break into the system. Slides 35-37. Unlike incremental technology improvements.

Technology 228

Technology China Russia Silicon Valley 228

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Over breakfast he got me up to date on his life since school (two non-CEO roles in startups,) but he wanted to talk about his third startup – the one he and two co-founders had started. The belief then was that most founders couldn’t acquire the skills rapidly enough to steer the company through this phase.

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Additionally, he is the co-founder of ConnectYard , a social analytics platform for e-learning platforms. And download any of the past shows here.).

Cofounder 120

Cofounder DC Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 9, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Joining me in SiriusXM’s studio in New York were: Drew Silverstein , co-founder and CEO of the music technology venture Amper Music. Drew Silverstein.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Cofounder Entrepreneur IPO 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

I remind my students that I’m teaching them a methodology they can use the rest of their careers, not running an incubator. The only criteria is a willingness to accept that you may have to pivot – from the founders and investors. Lessons Learned. The Lean LaunchPad class works for existing businesses as well as new startups.

North America 120

North America Lean Customer Development Distribution 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2013

Digital Health covers a broad spectrum of products, unless the founders have domain experience startups in this area usually discover the FDA and the 510(k) process later than they should. . Some startups in this field are actually beginning with Customer Development while others struggle with the classic execution versus search problem.

Startup 294

Startup Venture Capital Lean IPO 294

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Before this class this team had spent three months in an incubator building the product after talking to only one customer. Professor Kurt Keutzer and Errol Arkilic (former program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), now founder of M34 Capital) were the lead instructors.

Artificial Inteligence 120

Artificial Inteligence Lean Exit Strategy Startup 120

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

From day one, the founders believe that their vision can change the world. This insight has begun to change how we teach entrepreneurship, incubate startups and fund them. Social entrepreneurs are no less ambitious, passionate, or driven to make an impact than any other type of founder. Buyable Startup s: Born to Flip.

Government 335

Government Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Richard Witten , special advisor on entrepreneurship to the President of Columbia University ; and Kathryn Minshew , co-founder of the popular online career platform TheMuse.com both joined me in Sirius’ New York studio and shared their version of being knocked down and coming back stronger. It has been phenomenally successful.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur New York Cofounder Equity 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. We now have the tools, technology and data to take incubators and accelerators to the next level. We think we can do better.

Oakland 326

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 326

Steve Blank

AUGUST 25, 2015

Most of the time our attempts at innovation result in “innovation theater” – lots of motion (memos from our CEO, posters in the cafeteria, corporate incubators) but no real change. In a (well-run) startup, the founder has a vision (at first a series of untested hypotheses) and rallies employees and investors around that singular idea.

Lean 120

Lean Entrepreneur Business Model Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 8, 2012

There’s probably no one more qualified to write this book then Brad Field (startup founder, co founder of two VC firms – Mobius and Foundry, and founder of TechStars.). Incubators and Accelerators. An incubator provides year-round physical space, infrastructure and advice in exchange for a fee (often in equity.)

Community 333

Community Silicon Valley San Francisco Venture Capital 333

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 28, 2020

Continually push more for diversity in students/founders; older people, Hispanics, women, brown and black – people of all of all flavors. Reach out to older/retired entrepreneurs, find them and put them into the mix as mentors, sometimes as founders and coaches and so forth. Students/Teams. Main Street. University Experiments.

Lean 399

Lean Community San Jose Africa 399

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

There’s been a lot written about the individual characteristics of what makes a great founder , but a lot less about what makes a great founding team and how that’s different from a great founding CEO. In doing so we’ve failed to help founders understand what it takes to build a great founding team. Founders – the idea.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Stories/myths – stories are about how founders/employees get over obstacles, win new orders… Heroes – what gets rewarded and celebrated, how do you become a hero in the organization? Or if a CEO proudly boast about their corporate incubator, but the incubator’s parking lot is empty at 5:15 pm.

Startup 120

Startup Silicon Valley Incubator Matching 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Almost every large organization has some kind of incubator or accelerator program. We also learned that creating the same kinds of conditions that enable co-founders to thrive on the “outside” is very important to maintain on the “inside.” There are co-working spaces in basically every city in the world—from Nepal to New York.

Lean 326

Lean Nepal Cofounder Customer Development 326

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He’s the Founder of Vision Creations & Founders Films. Steve replied, “You have to decide if you’re running an incubator whose goal is revenue or teaching students a methodology that will last them the rest of their lives. I am a founder first and an adjunct professor second. Take the Money First?

Delaware 297

Delaware Lean Entrepreneur Advisory Board 297

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He’s the Founder of Vision Creations & Founders Films. Steve replied, “You have to decide if you’re running an incubator whose goal is revenue or teaching students a methodology that will last them the rest of their lives. I am a founder first and an adjunct professor second. Take the Money First?

Delaware 189

Delaware Lean Entrepreneur Advisory Board 189

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. It turns out the term “visionary founder” was usually a synonym for someone who was hallucinating. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer. So, almost like clockwork 20 th century startups fired the innovators/founders when they scaled.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. In addition to super angels, incubators like Y Combinator , TechStars and the 100+ plus others worldwide like them have begun to formalize seed-investing. The emergence of incubators and super angels have dramatically expanded the sources of seed capital.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital Software Review 335