Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Who can I hire later? For medical devices it might be mechanical engineering, clinical trials, regulatory approval, freedom to operate (intellectual property) and figuring out a reimbursement strategy. Therefore the ideal medical device team might be a physician; engineer; operator; business development/financial analyst.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Most large companies manage three types of innovation: process innovation (making existing products incrementally better), continuous innovation (building on the strength of the company’s current business model but creating new elements) and disruptive innovation (creating products or services that did not exist before.).

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2017

We’d managed to secure another infusion of cash, but it wasn’t going to last long. When I asked our trade show manager, she looked surprised and said, “Steve, don’t you know that my job is to take our booth to trade shows and set it up?” What I was hearing was a failure of management. We hired union laborers to do that.

Startup 310

Startup PR Public Relations Channel 310

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO. Microsoft left the 20 th century owning over 95% of the operating systems that ran on computers (almost all on desktops). They are hard to do in a company that excels at products. The result?

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO. Microsoft left the 20 th century owning over 95% of the operating systems that ran on computers (almost all on desktops). They are hard to do in a company that excels at products. The result?

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2011

It’s not that the tools are wrong, I think the entrepreneurship management stack is correct and has made a major contribution to reducing startup failures. It is a very different skill than science, engineering, or management. Like jazz musicians or improv actors, they prefer to operate in a chaotic environment with multiple unknowns.

Agile 332

Agile Customer Development Early Stage Business Model 332

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

He just hired Meg Whitman. Startups wrote business plans, generated expansive 5-year forecasts and executed (hired, spent and built) to the plan. Massive liquidity awaited the first movers to the IPO’s, and that’s how they managed their portfolios. the ex-CEO of HP and eBay, as CEO of NewTV. The result?

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. So their management teams were insisting that they OEM (buy from someone else) these products.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

In fact, it was only 7 years ago that Apple shipped its first iPhone and Google introduced its Android operating system. But the world you lead will be much different from the one your professors knew or your predecessors managed. The question for all of you is … “ What will it take to inspire and manage this kind of innovation?”.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2011

He hired an operating exec as the CEO a few years ago. I reminded my friend that I’ve never been an engineering manager so any advice I could give him was just from someone who had seen the movie before. The old code is as good as dead the moment management introduces the word “rewrite.”

Part-Time VPE 318

Part-Time VPE Agile Engineer Startup 318

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. Yet in our case the product, the machine as delivered from engineering, was a blank, featureless computer with just an operating system and compilers.

Engineer 198

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 198

Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2020

They operated this way because their existing business models didn’t allow them to initially profit from those opportunities – so they ignored them – and continued to chase higher profitability in more-demanding segments. He had introduced the idea that customers don’t buy a product, rather than they hire it for a “job to be done.”

Lean 428

Lean Business Model Government Agile 428

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

… (They were operating like) there’s an opportunity and there’s a market need. (So) He got his start at Kozmo , a now-defunct startup that offered free one-hour delivery of DVDs, food and other goods, then went on to manage American Express’ $50 million Innovation Fund. You hire really smart people-.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Cofounder Channel 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Operating Numbers. This plan has three parts: Pivots to your new business model, changes to your operating plan, and what initiatives you save for the recovery. Days 3 and 4: Prepare new business model and operating plan. B2B – cloud services, online meetings, virtual workforce management, collaboration tools.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Steve Blank

MAY 14, 2012

Neither management nor investors tolerate “wrong turns” that result in delays. Even worse, a start-up’s investors are managing their financial expectations by this date as well. Even the most experienced executives are pressured to hire and staff per the plan regardless of progress. where they can “launch” the product.

Balance Sheet 335

Balance Sheet Business Model Customer Development Metrics 335

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Here are a few thoughts about operating in uncertainty in a pandemic. They have fewer cash reserves and less margin of error for managing sudden downturns. If it’s just three-months, (looking more unlikely by the day) then an immediate freeze on variable spending (hires, marketing, travel, etc.) And what’s in my lifeboat?”.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

The large players like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent historically would be more likely to simply copy a startup’s features than to hire their talent. And some of their best and brightest have ended up in the organizations like the 2nd Bureau, Unit 61398 tasked euphemistically for “Computer Network Operations.”. Management 101.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

When I asked our trade show manager she looked at me like I was the house idiot and said, “Steve, don’t you know that my job is to set up our trade show booth?” But my favorite was when the public relations manager said, “we’re here to write press releases and answer the phone in case the press calls.” This is a big idea.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

The large players like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent historically would be more likely to simply copy a startup’s features than to hire their talent. And some of their best and brightest have ended up in the organizations like the 2nd Bureau, Unit 61398 tasked euphemistically for “Computer Network Operations.”. Management 101.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Unfortunately as you hire more people, the casual, informal “do what it takes” culture, which worked so well at less than 40 people, becomes chaotic and less effective. Now the organization needs to put in place culture, training, product management, processes and procedures, (i.e. generate users at a rate that can be monetized….

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

It’s at this point the business needs an operating plan, financial forecasts and other well-understood management tools. The product execution process – managing the lifecycle of existing products and the launch of follow-on products – is the job of the product management and engineering organizations.

Search 320

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 320

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Hire a CEO to Go Public. A founder’s lack of credibility/experience in growing and managing a large company hindered a company that wanted to go public. The VCs would hire a CEO with a track record who looked and acted like the type of CEO Wall Street bankers expected to see in large companies. The founders. The founders.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

— I just watched a very smart company try to manage innovation by hiring a global consulting firm to offload engineering from “distractions.” So, in response the company had hired a global consulting firm to help solve the problem. Use Cases/ Concept of Operations. There’s a much better way. Legal issues.

Incubator 312

Incubator Curation Engineer Government 312

Steve Blank

MAY 10, 2010

It was six years since he had left school and three and a half years ago he had joined an 8-person startup as a product manager. I didn’t say anything as he continued, “I’m now director of product management, but I think I’m missing stuff I ought to know; finance, marketing, and operations management. Just do it?

Engineer 289

Engineer Business Model Programming Finance 289

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2011

They had hired operating executives and were starting to scale. My career was a slow 20-year progression from training instructor to product marketing manager to VP of Marketing. I managed to work for, with, and around people who were truly skilled at what they did. “Oh, I’ve learned a ton,&# he replied.

Silicon Valley 250

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Business Model Startup 250

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2011

They were an improvement over the dumb terminals hanging off of mainframes and minicomputers, but ran proprietary operating systems and software. And once we went public, we hired a veteran VP of Sales from Honeywell. I managed to stammer out, “Yes, of course.” Again, I managed to answer, “A lot.” The OEM Business.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley Channel Cofounder Demand 267

Steve Blank

JANUARY 10, 2011

The VP of an operating division had run into trouble in product development; the product was late and getting later. The revenue plan had the new product baked into the numbers and it was clear that this division General Manager was going to crater his forecast (happens all the time, nothing new here.) Cover-up Or Look Like an Idiot.

Forecast 264

Forecast Agile Revenue Founder 264

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

We had been busy assembling our team and had just hired the last member of our exec staff. One of the new hires was Bob, my VP of Business Development. One of the new hires was Bob, my VP of Business Development. We had also just closed our Series B financing with a major overseas partner. My Wife Thinks I Deserve a Bonus.

Japan 225

Japan Asia Silicon Valley Salary 225

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2014

I loved what he was working on (thanks to perspective in data management from my large company experience here—that prepared mind thing). Don’t be afraid to take a step down (Oracle was a $1 Million business, I had been marketing manager for a $100 Million business). Gravitate to what’s new. Build Your Skills Not Your Resume.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Chicago Cofounder 333

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Steven Cohn , founder and CEO of Validately , which helps user researchers, product managers and others validate demand or usability for prototypes and live sites. Prior, he was a senior manager at Genentech in operations and project management. Steven Cohn. That’s how your brain’s oriented.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Steven Cohn , founder and CEO of Validately , which helps user researchers, product managers and others validate demand or usability for prototypes and live sites. Prior, he was a senior manager at Genentech in operations and project management. Steven Cohn. That’s how your brain’s oriented.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

Or people inside companies with a specific title, like product or program managers, CIOs, etc? In crafting your messages, remember that all messages operate in a context that may have an expiration date. Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. influencers”) and how they manage them (e.g.

Marketing 310

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 310

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Yet we used the product development model not only to manage product development, but as a road map for finding customers and to time our marketing launch and sales revenue plan. Engineering focuses on building the product; it designs the product, specifies the first release and hires a staff to build the product. None of mine did.)

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

You’re Hired, You’re Fired. My first job in Silicon Valley: I was hired as a lab technician at ESL to support the training department. I was met by a very apologetic manager who said, “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for the last week. Could I work here if he wanted to hire me?&#

Agile 245

Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 245

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

By law , the Department of Defense has to provide Congress and the public with an assessment of where it spends its money and to provide transparency of its operations. challenges in finance, auditing and data management. If you only get what you ask for you haven’t hired people with imagination. The Road Not Taken.

Advisory Board 328

Advisory Board Artificial Inteligence SBIR Government 328

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 17, 2017

In the 21st century you need a scorecard to keep track of the threats: Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, ISIS in Yemen/Libya/Philippines, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, hackers for hire, etc. Some are strategic peers, some are near peers in specific areas, some are threats as non-state disrupters operating with no rules.

Community 212

Community Silicon Valley Technical Review Incubator 212

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

I had hired the VP of marketing from a potential software partner who was responsible to get all this 3 rd party software on our computer. In reality we hadn’t gotten any closer to our goal than the day we hired him. In fact, we would have been better off if we hadn’t hired him as we wouldn’t have confused a warm body with progress.

Silicon Valley 324

Silicon Valley Software Review RSS Technical Review 324