Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2014

Kathryn has been the founding VP of Marketing of Oracle , a successful recruiter, a world class Venture Capitalist, a co-founder of a Venture Capital firm, a great board member, one of my mentors and most importantly a wonderful friend. So going to Silicon Valley wasn’t an obvious move at the time.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Chicago Cofounder 333

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. 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. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Perhaps it’s the weather.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

For decades large companies have gone shopping in Silicon Valley for startups. Silicon Valley – a Corporate Innovation Candy Store. Corporate business development and strategic partner executives are flocking to Silicon Valley to find these five types of innovation.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). So why did Larry need to return?

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

they’re furthest from the Silicon Valley corporate office and any oversight.). With that initial sales “success” they began to hire and staff the sales department per the ”plan.” Cash was flowing out of the company and the VP of Sales was still hiring. Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital.

Burn Rate 248

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. Venture Capital in Boulder and other smaller communities. “So So everybody goes through this phase of we want to be the next Silicon Valley.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 29, 2021

billion company and has built up this valuation outside the Silicon Valley scene. Since Sprout’s IPO, according to Midwest+startups , capital invested in the Midwest has doubled, from nearly $10 billion in the twelve trailing months ending June 2019 and Jube 2020 to $20 billion in the year ending June 2021. Chicago’s Story.

Silicon Valley 175

Silicon Valley Kansas City Chicago Denver 175

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of VC funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. cities (outside of Silicon Valley and the East Coast), to build your startup.

United States 113

United States Las Vegas San Francisco Denver 113

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

The previous post described the evolution of the Chinese Venture Capital system. But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. China Venture Capital. Entrepreneurship in Beijing. In the U.S.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 267

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. 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. Of course “copy” is too strong a word. Perhaps it’s the weather.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

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. I chose to hire engineers from within each of our target markets and set up “Steve’s one month MBA course for engineers.” These hires were definitely not your standard marketing types.

Engineer 198

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 198

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 30, 2017

Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. The Texas capital recently was named the #1 place in America to start a business by CNBC.

United States 82

United States Las Vegas San Francisco Denver 82

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

The previous post described the evolution of the Chinese Venture Capital system. But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. China Venture Capital. Entrepreneurship in Beijing. In the U.S.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 159

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Hire around you to fill those weak spots. …. Being in Ohio, which lacks the startup ecosystem of an entrepreneurial cluster like Silicon Valley, made it difficult for Will to get funding for his first startup, Huddlewoo : The type of business that we were building needed an investment of capital ahead of revenue.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

MARCH 18, 2014

Raising the minimum wage in Silicon Valley (beyond San Jose which has already done so) is a very important and rational thing to do for the economic health of the valley, California, and the USA economy as a whole. The issue is continuing the incredible innovation that happens in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 85

Silicon Valley San Jose Indiana Alabama 85

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

I don’t have an MBA and I don’t live in Silicon Valley. According to the Angel Capital Association: Angels (private money) invest in 55,000 startups each year versus 1,500 companies by VC (venture capital) funding. Companies have less than a 1% chance of getting funded by a venture fund and less than 3% by angels.

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? The legends of Silicon Valley?—?two Of course we can’t.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

One is the “denominator problem&# which says that if an LP invests X% (the denominator) into “alternative investments&# such as venture capital and if their total amount available to invest (the numerator) goes down by 30% then the amount they allocate to VC will by definition need to go down by 30% to stay the same percentage.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Blame it On Marketing In the next 3-6 months, a new VP of Sales is hired. 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. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you hire a VP of Sales with the idea that they can do customer discovery you violated the first principle of Customer Development – this isn’t a step the can be outsourced to a non-founder. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back. Find out Memorex’s position in Silicon Valley.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.) So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 17, 2019

It’s become fashionable among some entrepreneurs, and even some venture capitalists, to badmouth the venture capital industry. But to paraphrase Winston Churchill, venture capital is the worst method for financing scaling startups except for all the others. Credit: Westend61 / Getty.

Venture Capital 36

Venture Capital Cofounder Silicon Valley Government 36

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 30, 2017

Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. The Texas capital recently was named the #1 place in America to start a business by CNBC.

United States 48

United States Las Vegas San Francisco Denver 48

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

The culture and work ethic of Convergent had earned it the title “the Marine Corps of Silicon Valley”. Supercomputers get Personal Back in Sunnyvale my friend had not only been hired but had convinced the team that we should be building hardware – making a new class of computers not a software application. Order Here.

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 29, 2013

If we look back ten years, the venture world was quite different. And given the fact that the majority of top investors were congregated around Silicon Valley, many entrepreneurs felt compelled to move to the valley to start their business. And what is true for start-ups is also true for venture capital firms.

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley Global Finance New York City 161

Hunter Walker

JUNE 26, 2023

Chris Neumann (of Canada’s Panache Ventures ) checks these boxes so I asked him to come on my blog (currently less consistent, hopefully still the other two) for Five Questions. Hunter Walk: So why venture capital, why early stage, and why Canada? CN: Thanks so much – that means a lot coming from you.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Canada Founder Early Stage 114

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

We hired union laborers to do that. I hired a Director of Product Marketing who in his last company had ran its marketing and then went out into the field and became its national sales director. What’s your advice about hiring sales/marketing folks? (I Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

This made my friend Dorrian Porter ‘s KickStarter initiative to create a statue of Tesla in Silicon Valley even more poignant. The first time I met Andy Dunn he was working for the venture capital firm Maveron. Raising Venture Capital Tech Market Analysis' The moral compass in all of us.

Silicon Valley 315

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Video 315

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Next → How to Hire for Sweat Equity…. We have a myriad of connections to local Venture Capital firms, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and many other important individuals. Build a team – we have plans to hire at a minimum 2 more engineers once funded with many more to follow and you will be hand selecting your team.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

You need to hire the right type of sales people for the type of [.] You need to hire the right type of sales people for the type of [.] You need to hire the right type of sales people for the type of [.] Reply Steve Jobs does customer development - Venture Hacks , on September 10, 2009 at 10:44 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 141

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 141

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I always had been curious about how Silicon Valley, a place I had lived and worked in, came to be. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I always had been curious about how Silicon Valley, a place I had lived and worked in, came to be. How did Silicon Valley start?

Silicon Valley 270

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review 270

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

The implications for entrepreneurs is that each of these (market risk versus invention risk,) require radically different financing models, a different type of venture investor, different timing for hiring sales and marketing, etc. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. Now In Print!

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

The Startup Magazine

MAY 15, 2018

According to the 2018 Global Startup Ecosystem Report , in 2017, global venture capital investments reached the record of $140 billion, while the total value creation of the world’s startup economy hit astonishing $2.3 North America is not just about Silicon Valley. The world’s startup landscape keeps evolving.

North America 69

North America America Silicon Valley Los Angeles 69

Growthink Blog

APRIL 25, 2011

On Friday Silicon Valley Bank released a survey of 375 executives at startup technology companies in the 4 core venture capital investment sectors – Software/Internet, Hardware, Life Science, and Cleantech. And listen up Washington - 83 percent of them plan to hire in the coming year. Here is what they found: Tech.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Ratchet Private Equity Startup 69

VC Cafe

JULY 31, 2020

Last year I published on VC Cafe a post titled the 7 habits of highly effective people… in startups , and this time will I apply the book’s principles to the world of Venture Capital. Let’s dive into the 7 habits of highly effective people and how they can be reflected in the world of venture capital.

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Deal Flow Silicon Valley Portfolio 183

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Theoretically, that’s why I hired them. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Now as VP of Marketing, I could have sat back and let my PR agency handle the press. But these meetings were life and death in our struggle for market share. You don’t delegate life and death. Thanks for sharing! Order Here.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 124