Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). (BTW,

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 13, 2010

In the end the revenue simply wasn’t enough to make a sustainable business and so we had to switch gears once more (in today’s parlance that would be a “Pivot”). Over the course of that relationship that lasted several years, we did over $1M in revenue just from HP. How should you price your product/service?

Revenue 72

Revenue Developer Java Customer Development 72

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV. Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step. The criteria change after a company reaches the growth stage when it is deemed to have attained product market fit. After that, the money is used to maintain the company’s expansion.

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 125

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. Wallflower – yours truly.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 17, 2018

by Felix Winstone, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Talkative. As a startup co-founder with a growing team, here are the recruiting tips I’ve learnt over the last couple of years. Robert Metcalfe, co-founder and CEO of 3Com, says you need to think about it as “recruiting, not hiring”. Hiring = Sales. Be Specific.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Elevator Pitch Hiring Dividend 164

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. If you’re following Tesla, you might be interested to know that Sloan wasn’t the founder of GM. The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant.

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

YoungUpstarts

MAY 23, 2018

Most startups do not fail because they had a bad idea that could not find a market, but rather because the founders and startup teams got overwhelmed or were missing key ingredients to success. Many founders or startup teams gravitate toward sales or design. Often, founders have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Due Diligence 133

Due Diligence Startup Finance Leadership 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. Competition from other startups and established incumbents, constraints on time and capital, and limited access to talent and technology resources are just a few of the hurdles nearly every first-time founder faces while trying to build a business. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 19, 2017

by Steve Owens, Founder and CTO of Finish Line Product Development Services. In this article we explore the unique challenges of a lean start-up and how Outsourced Product Development (OPD) can be used to overcome them. Reducing product turn time. Extending the runway. The Lean Start-Up Environment.

Product Development 153

Product Development Lean Developer Product 153

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Two conditions that do matter to your startup’s out-year viability are the cost and length of its product development cycle. Longer, costlier cycles drain cash on hand while delaying the onset of crucial revenue streams. A minimum viable product is market-ready, not a prototype. Work Off a User Manual Template.

Cost 100

Cost Developer Small Business Administration Marketing 100

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

There is a myth among first time tech founders that product is everything. Many lack intuitive financial sense that can help them build a great company once they achieve product-market fit. Here are five financial concepts that every startup founder should know to build an everlasting company. Asset valuation.

Founder 117

Founder Valuation Dividend Startup 117

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Between January 2015 and January 2016, we grew our platform Slidebean from $1K to $20K in monthly recurring revenue. Getting the first tracks of revenue is one of the toughest processes of building a startup. 1x hacker in charge of product/development. 1x hipster working with both product and growth.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

The good news is that everyone expects entrepreneurs to make mistakes, since founders explore uncharted territory. In fact, investors recognize that founders usually learn more from mistakes than from success, so a well-explained startup failure can improve their odds of funding the next time around.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 3, 2017

by Bob La Loggia, founder and CEO of AppointmentPlus. From product development to market research, many startups are one-person operations in their early days. Bob La Loggia is the founder and CEO of AppointmentPlus , a fast-growing SaaS business based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The result?

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Management Arizona Software Review 113

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

What I saw reminded me of some of the best and worst things I did as a founder. We’re building the wrong product!” Some of the engineers figuring if the founder was declaring they were toast in 90 days were updating their resumes. But like all great founders some of these insights are simply hallucinations.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Since SayAhh is in the pre-launch development stage, the company doesn’t have any revenue yet. They also haven’t launched a product, so there is no corresponding “cost of goods sold” – the direct cost of delivering their product. The default Quickbooks setup uses “Income” to refer to “Revenue”.

Balance Sheet 125

Balance Sheet Fractional CTO Burn Rate Salary 125

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Without the revenue to match its expenses, the company is in now danger of running out of money.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. By definition, second-stage ventures generally have 10 to 99 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in revenue, and see that as just the beginning. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a new book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. Outside investors are most interested in scaling a proven business model, not research and development. Most founders bootstrap product development. Fabulous solutions require great technology.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Both brand marketing and product marketing are important to a well-built marketing strategy. Product marketing informs strategic positioning and ensures alignment across the company. Product marketers own a variety of marketing responsibilities, which can be roughly divided into two broad categories: pre-launch and post-launch.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal. More on that in a moment.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 1, 2020

Earlier this year, I was on a panel with Guy Podjarny, Snyk’s founder, at SaaStock Remote to discuss how the team’s community-driven freemium approach led to the company’s stellar growth. million developers using our product. Developers have no barrier to getting started with Snyk. Today, we have around 1.5

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Open Source Development Team Review Security 62

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

While it sounds simple , the Build Measure Learn approach to product development is a radical improvement over the traditional Waterfall model used throughout the 20 th century to build and ship products. They are: value proposition, product/service the company offers (along with its benefits to customers).

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2014

When I was going through the co-founder “dating” process, I’d found a potential partner through my network who seemed to be perfect. I knew that there were issues with my potential partner, but I also knew that the company would grow at a slower pace if I had to start the co-founder search from back at square one.

Partner 113

Partner Cofounder Equity Metrics 113

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

That means they normally only invest in startups with a working product that has already been sold to at least one customer for full price (beta tests, giveaways and best friends don’t count). They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development. Make your focus and priorities clear.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. There is an art to efficient management of a process, whether that is the process of bringing a product to market from R&D to production or developing a new product’s launch program.

Silicon Valley 97

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 97

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

Others wait until the new business starts to generate revenue and profit before making the move. In my experience as a startup advisor, I find the minimum time to revenue is at least a year. Even the most successful startups can’t sustain founder salaries for the first couple of years. Which is right?

Salary 383

Salary Cofounder Lean Revenue 383

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

In a seed or friends and family round, tough questions, in the eyes of many founders, signal an investor that will either a) never get to the writing a check part or b) be such a pain in the ass afterwards that it might not be worth taking their money. Something isn''t going to go your way--product development, hiring, revenues.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor Venture Capital 118

The Next Web

MARCH 6, 2014

Here’s a problem I bet every non-technical founder has experienced: the communication gap between what the biz dev team wants and what the tech team thinks they want, and vice versa. It’s disruptive, and for founders, very frustrating to watch. So why is it so hard to get these departments on the same page, collaborating in peace?

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Development Team Review Developer Agile 129

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

On the other side of the equation, there are a growing number of design, development, and digital media shops who are hungry to expand, or swap focus, to building a company that’s more than just a service shop. The founders’ psychology is probably one of the most important contributors to success of the company.”.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 60

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

We couldn’t cut product development (we had 23 people!) because we had made product commitments to a large customer who was about to agree to a nationwide rollout. On Street Smarts / Working with customers: I had coffee with another startup founder yesterday. Really nice guy and clearly smart.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Cofounder Sales 306