Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase. And as more economies worldwide seek to shift their investment strategies offshore and seek out technology, hubs like Silicon Valley and Shanghai, among others, have reaped the benefits. 2/ The Scooter Phenomenon. However, many cities and its citizens did not disagree.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. how & when to raise capital.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was consulting for the two venture capital firms who between them put $12 million into my last failed startup. (My Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 126

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The Equity Kicker

MAY 9, 2016

I just read Nicolas Colin’s Brief History of the World (of Venture Capital). The bit I liked the most described the role of Stanford in getting Silicon Valley going in the late 1950s. The bit I liked the most described the role of Stanford in getting Silicon Valley going in the late 1950s.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Venture Capital eCommerce Startup 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

No newly hired sales and marketing exec is going to tell a founder, “Hey my prior experience and assumptions may not actually be relevant to this new startup.” The Outsourcing of Founders Responsibility The Product Development model separates founders from deeply understanding their customers and market.

Customer Development 241

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 241

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

The Founder’s New Insight Smart founders are never satisfied with simply executing their current business model, they are constantly observing, orienting and deciding whether their current business model can be made better. But the purpose of this post is what happens when a founder (or large company CEO) finds a better business model.

Customer 201

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 201

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Moreover, since the first CEO was likely to have been one of the founders, the trauma of CEO removal begins. Reply Nivi , on September 11, 2009 at 11:17 pm Said: One of the subtle lessons here for founder CEOs: you light a fuse on your own job as soon as you hire the first VP of Sales. innovation. Order Here. Now In Print!

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 228

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

The culture and work ethic of Convergent had earned it the title “the Marine Corps of Silicon Valley”. Some of the other founders had sold minicomputers to scientists and engineers, but no one knew or understood the unique class of applications and customers of supercomputers. A few days later Gordon became a founder.

North Carolina 126

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 126

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. Communism being a bad science experiment) ESL’s founder Bill Perry was moving the chess pieces. There were no venture investors.

Silicon Valley 176

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 176

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Customer Development Manifesto , Market Types « “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch Closure » 21 Responses Tweets that mention Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development « Steve Blank -- Topsy.com , on November 16, 2009 at 7:20 am Said: [.]

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Customer Development Web Developer Customer 223

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Finally, for those of you who need some additional infusion of courage, please study the story of Ryan Allis in North Carolina who bootstrapped his company iContact to $1 million in revenue and THEN raised venture capital to get to $40 million. In that case, the verticals of choice could be manufacturing, wholesale and retail.

North Carolina 116

North Carolina San Diego Entrepreneur Balance Sheet 116

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you’ve tried to slog your way through my book on Customer Development you know that I’m insistent that the founders need to be the ones getting outside the building (physically or virtually) to validate all the initial hypotheses of the business model and product. I’ve tried to read a lot of your History of Silicon Valley posts.

Technology 139

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 139

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 17, 2018

And we also look at companies that are creating the best product for a specific vertical – including bio/healthcare and other emerging tech. From Fund I and now to Fund III, we have been able to serve as an important bridge between Silicon Valley and other tech ecosystems. We invest across North America.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley North America San Francisco LP 127

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. would look in each of the verticals. For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Others you need to know when you execute the plan.

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Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 123

Austin Startup

JUNE 27, 2017

Austin-Based Venture Capital Firms There are a eleven venture capital firms based in Austin that are actively investing today, six of which are first funds. VC Firms Actively investing in Austin Companies Finally, there are a group of venture capital firms that are not based in Austin that are active investors here.

Venture Capital 54

Venture Capital Austin Texas Private Equity 54

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

A company called Aapps, founded by Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari), make a product called the MicroTV, Digivideo, and Digivideo Color in the 1990 – 1991 timeframe that displayed live video in a window on the Mac. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. steve MIchael W. , Order Here. Now In Print!

Video 168

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 168

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Luckily (or maybe because we were in Silicon Valley where there was a domain expert for everything) there was a very smart consultant in the retail computer space, Seymour Merrin, who preached about the importance of packaging. Hopefully you and your co-founders are experts in one or two parts (agile development, SEO/SEM, etc.)

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

Not so much on the sinking venture, but seeing you gents in action, developing and selling blind to navigational course corrections. On a more serious note, any tips on attracting founders? BTW, I personally would _never_ “find&# a founder over the web. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 120

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Ben's Blog

MARCH 1, 2011

In my career, I have never seen a position in any industry with more varying criteria than General Partner at a venture capital firm. When we started Andreessen Horowitz, our vision was to build the kind of venture capital firm that we would have wanted to take money from. One night on my knees, here it comes, the prayer.

Partner 78

Partner Technical Review Venture Capital Cofounder 78

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2011

Marcos Polanco, founder of Clearshore and himself a serial entrepreneur, “never found time to read the blog, no matter how much I loved it. For 2011, I’m glad to announce that you can now hear my blog posts via a podcast that you can subscribe to, download or have emailed to you a few days after each blog post goes live.

Silicon Valley 201

Silicon Valley California Vertical Customer Development 201

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

It was amazing to see the two founders, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, build a $100 million company from coffee cups and T-shirts. But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and got an 8-digit term sheet that same afternoon.

Venture Capital 216

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 216

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

In fact, in the discussion on JuJu brands is yet another validation of the verticalization and niche-ization of the Internet. This week, I published an article called The Top 10 Vertical and Social Web Trends where I have discussed this at length. You can register for the next roundtable here.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2010

The Churchill Club , Silicon Valley’s largest public affairs organization, invited Carl Schramm , president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation and I to talk about entrepreneurship. Rich Karlgaard , publisher of Forbes and co-founder of the Churchill Club refereed the event. Reply Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.

Silicon Valley 143

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Extra credit if you know the back-story of slide 1 and why it’s appropriate for founders and their team. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. The video below was my presentation to the group. sgblank Lean Startup Cirle 111909 This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback. Order Here. Now In Print!

Customer Development 217

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 217

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

Reply An Interview with Mark Fletcher, Founder of Bloglines and ONEList — TechDrawl , on July 10, 2009 at 3:56 pm Said: [.] Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Reply Process for the Enterprise » Blog Archive » Faith-based versus Fact-based , on June 21, 2009 at 3:55 pm Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 219

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 219

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

What makes an individual a great startup founder (versus an employee) has been something I had been thinking about since I retired. A Day in the Life of A Founder For those of you who’ve never started a company, let me assure you that it never happens like the pleasant articles you read in business magazines or in case studies.

Founder 302

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 302

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2009

As a founder you need to prepare yourself to think creatively and independently, because more often than not, conditions on the ground will change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant. Every potential startup founder should think about their level of comfort operating in chaos and uncertainty.

Silicon Valley 173

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Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2020

the Connectors, Angels, Venture Capitalists, Founders, Professors, Hackers, Press… and the Legends. Normally, you can literally just show up at Capital Factory and hang out in the kitchen. He was also born here and went to UT Austin before heading out to Silicon Valley for a stint. How do you meet them?

Austin 110

Austin Texas Cofounder Los Angeles 110

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. Where as most start-up founders start with the conviction that they know success looks like and [.] Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. familiar with Customer Development you should be. Order Here. Now In Print!

Product Development 146

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 146

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

In hindsight it appeared clear that startups that survive the first few tough years do not follow the traditional product-centric launch model espoused by product managers or the venture capital community. Reply founders, beware « Adisababa’s Weblog , on January 20, 2010 at 10:05 am Said: [.] Order Here.

Silicon Valley 128

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Concept and Seed Stage In the Concept and Seed Stage, founders capture their passion and vision for the new company and turn them into a set of key ideas, which quickly becomes a business plan, sometimes on the back of the proverbial napkin. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

Steve Blank

APRIL 22, 2009

Even with information from all three views, founders need to remember there will never be enough information to make a perfect decision. [.] Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Reply Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 182

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 182

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

And venture capital and entrepreneurship has made life even tougher for the modern corporation. Over the last 35 years venture capital has funded nimble new entrants (on a scale never imagined by Schumpeter ) who exist to exploit discontinuities in technology or customer behavior.

Silicon Valley 169

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant. This time in what would become Silicon Valley. Billy Durant - Founder General Motors More in the next posts. Pitting founders and managers against each other is a convenient way for investors to increase control. What happened to him? Who was he?

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 161

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2009

I was positioning the company as the second coming of the video games businesses at the intersection of “ Hollywood Meets Silicon Valley.” My co-founder, head of business development and I were in Japan raising money. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Are those my initials on the slide?

Silicon Valley 152

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

I would be very curious to hear the (hypothetical) suggestions you would have given to twitter’s founders, for example. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. weeks ago, positioning it as a tool designed to help small businesses effectively manage their social media efforts. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 188

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 188