Steve Blank

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Even the Smartest VCs Sometimes Get it Wrong – Bill Gurley and Regulated Markets

Steve Blank

He illustrated his talk with regulatory horror stories in the telecom market , electronic health records , and Covid antigen tests. Unfortunately, for startups entering a regulated market following this advice this might not be the optimum path. But regulated markets are different. Regulation What’s regulatory capture?

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Apple Vision Pro – Tech in the Search of a Market

Steve Blank

But the product/market fit of this first iteration is a swing and a miss. Marketing and capital expenses (new factory, high R&D expense) were predicated on consumer-scale sales. I got a preview of PhotoCD when I was the head of marketing at SuperMac , a supplier of hardware and software for graphics professionals.

Search 256
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It Must Be A Marketing Problem

Steve Blank

The Customer Development process is the way startups quickly iterate and test each element of their business model , reducing customer and market risk. In Discovery startups take all their hypotheses about the business model: product, market, customers, channel, etc. It’s A Marketing Problem. We Have a Marketing Problem. “So

Burn Rate 248
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Why Defense Could Now Be a Market for Startups

Steve Blank

At a time when young companies struggle to find technology sectors not dominated by Silicon Valley’s giants , most startups remain oblivious to one of the largest markets in the world, the U.S. There’s a willing market here, too. A startup could land a contract worth up to $3 million within months of entering the defense market.

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Ardent War Story 5: The Best Marketers Are Engineers

Steve Blank

I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. Context here.)

Engineer 198
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Rising out of the Crisis: Where to Find New Markets and Customers

Steve Blank

While there’s agreement that companies need to adapt to changing markets, rapidly find new markets, new customers and new revenue models, the question is how ? In these examples CEOs instinctually figured out, 1) their core , and 2) market needs where their competencies/abilities could be used.

Customer 436
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Vertical Markets 2: Customer/Market Risk versus Invention Risk.

Steve Blank

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. Steve,&# he said, “you’re missing the most interesting part of vertical markets. Markets with Customer/Market Risk are those where the unknown is whether customers will adopt the product.

Vertical 144