Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. information chain”), but once you’ve done a first pass of the audience > message > media > messenger, a competent PR firm can add tremendous value. Hiring a PR agency too early is a sign that the CEO is treating this as someone else’s problem.

Marketing 310

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 310

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

For example, some startup sales execs believe hiring the core sales team is a key objective. Some think that hiring a PR agency, starting the buzz and getting coverage in hot blogs or on the cover of magazines at launch are objectives. What kind of objectives would a startup want or need for sales and marketing?

Customer Development 215

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. In the new bubble PR may be your new best friend, so invest in it. Carpe Diem. We’re now in the second Internet bubble. Breathtaking Scale.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

While one could argue that a trade show is just another demand creation activity akin to advertising or PR, trade shows are the closest eyeball-to-eyeball contact you’re company is going to have with customers, competitors and partners. You’ll never have to do it again.) Trade Show Post Mortem Evaluate the experience.

Silicon Valley 128

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Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Initially your job is to understand each of the parts of your business model before you hire someone to do it. Or by a VP of Marketing who talks “branding&# , SEO/SEM, PR agency, etc. 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

AUGUST 24, 2009

While I love TechCrunch, the post and the quote about the PR agency (“one PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy, throw ethics out the window&# ) left me wondering; how do PR agencies interact with TechCrunch and other blog and review sites? Is this behavior an outlier or is it the norm in the PR industry?

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Engineering focuses on building the product; it designs the product, specifies the first release and hires a staff to build the product. Marketing starts to build a sales demo, writes sales materials (presentations, data sheets), and hires a PR agency.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

The Message Sitting around a conference room table brainstorming messages that might resonate with customers, or worse having a PR agency doing that for you, is a firing offense in a small company. Have a loud product demo; give away pieces of candy; hire a masseuse and offer free back rubs.

Silicon Valley 178

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 178

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Economic paid acquisition: Contribution margins from customers are recycled into advertising, marketing, and other PR activities that successfully drive additional customers. Even if the first MVP isn’t a hit, you’ll be building the muscle needed for the company such as making key hires.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

It got bigger by inventing new test and measurement equipment and it hired people who knew how to execute that strategy. However, the CEO as the “Rock Star&# always reminded me of why I fired any PR agency that was getting more press than the company it represented. For the first 25 years HP’s business model was static.

Silicon Valley 164

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Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Successful pinball companies didn’t hire Hollywood talent. Meanwhile our company was pouring an enormous amount of dollars into building tools and video compression technology, while also hiring a lot of high-priced Hollywood talent like art directors, and script and story editors. I know what’s great and what’s not. Order Here.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

Every marketing communication hire couldn’t wait to produce the next great ad or PR program. While this may seem obvious to anyone not in sales and marketing, trust me, in a technology company this is a conceptual breakthrough. In my experience, every marketer with an MBA wants to “do strategy.”

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 126