Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Exchanging your services for services is possible with legal counsel, accountants, engineers, and even sales people.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Many entrepreneurs never get past their first-stage focus on their innovative product, to scaling the business globally, organizing a structure to handle thousands of employees, and concentrating their focus “on the business” rather than working “in the business.” Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

YoungUpstarts

JULY 16, 2019

The most sought-after hires are computer programmers and interactive media developers. Tech companies need advertising, marketing, public relations, and technical sales professionals. Developing a popular mobile scheduling app, they raised $1.2 million in venture capital to move. Websites such as 604jobs.ca

Canada 167

Canada Hiring Artificial Inteligence Software Developers 167

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series. When people refer to a strategic investor they are usually talking about an investor that comes from the industry you serve as opposed to an independent venture capital investor. The reality is that their core business is not venture capital.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

This post describes how following the traditional product development can lead to a “startup death spiral.&# In the next posts that follow, I’ll describe how this model’s failures led to the Customer Development Model – offering a new way to approach startup sales and marketing activities.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Luckily in the last quarter of the 20 th century a new source of money called risk capital emerged. At its core Venture Capital is nothing more than a small portion of the Private Equity financial asset class. ——-.

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Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. I’ve Been in Venture Capital for Two Months. VCs sure do love writing. ” (Dave Beisel).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Traction can simply mean showing that you’re making progress with customers, product development, channel partners, initial revenue as a proof point, attracting well-known angel investors, winning industry awards / recognition. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

The only explanation that makes any sense is the conspiracy theory that Microsoft deliberately crippled Office for Mac in order to promote PC sales. I see 2 ways to build this: a) You can start your own company and build this product, and self-fund. b) ff Venture Capital might invest in a startup to do this.

Developer 144

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 144

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Do they have better sales, marketing, or product development groups? What the winners start with is the realization that in a world of continuous disruption, they have only a few years to develop new capabilities or be pushed over the brink. Is it that some CEOs are better than others? Are their people smarter?

Incubator 402

Incubator Lean Agile Business Model 402

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Social Proof in Action … Yesterday I wrote about the benefits of using social proof and authority in raising venture capital. So the early part of a technology company is about finding your hard core group of early adopters and making them passionate about your products. Sure, they need a little social proof.

Customer 294

Customer Marketing Technical Review Iowa 294

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

The book has been shepherded and edited by a great Japanese VC at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Takashi Tsutsumi, with help from Masato Iino. I asked Tsutsumi-san to write a guest post for my blog to describe his experience with Customer Development in Japan. ————-.

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Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 292

SiliconHills

JULY 23, 2015

The Austin-based startup plans to use the funds on product development, sales and marketing and community development. The company […] The post Continuum Analytics Gets $24 Million in Venture Capital appeared first on SiliconHills.

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Analytics Open Source Austin 48

SiliconHills

JUNE 23, 2015

The Austin-based startup plans to use the money for product development and to hire more sales and business development employees. Silverton Partners led the founding round which included participation from ATX Ventures and […] The post Alert Media Raises $4.16 million in a Series A funding round.

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Venture Capital Media Austin Product Development 48

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

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

The only explanation that makes any sense is the conspiracy theory that Microsoft deliberately crippled Office for Mac in order to promote PC sales. I see 2 ways to build this: a) You can start your own company and build this product, and self-fund. b) ff Venture Capital might invest in a startup to do this.

Developer 114

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 114

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 I began to gain an appreciation of how world-class venture capitalists develop pattern recognition for these common types of problems. My mother kept asking if they were going to make me pay the money back.

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

David Teten

MAY 1, 2013

However, they remain key to your email identity, and fundamental to your marketing and even capital-raising. The ff Venture Capital portfolio is evidence of how much we believe this, e.g., our companies Alerts.com , Gobbler.com , Identified.com , Patents.com , Phone.com , and Plated.com. I previously published this in Forbes.

Naming 114

Naming Semantic Venture Capital Startup 114

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

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2018

There, he would be showered in venture capital, build a team of similarly brilliant twenty-somethings, acquire millions of customers seemingly overnight, and steer his startup to an IPO and himself to the cover of Inc magazine well before his 30th birthday. Who’s more likely to successfully make that first sale or hire?

Silicon Valley 157

Silicon Valley Forecast Venture Capital Business Plan 157

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 1, 2020

With COVID, we’re getting into a world with tighter budgets and likely longer sales cycles. How can a product-led sales motion help in the current environment, and how important is a freemium model to drive product-led growth? million developers using our product. Today, we have around 1.5

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Open Source Development Team Review Security 62

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

And a boost toward a faster timeline and better probability of a business sale at an exciting price. Company Scenario #2: A company with a solid revenue base - say more than $5 million in sales - but competes in an industry not one of great, current interest to buyers / investors. A boost toward better financial results. Relationships.

Harvest 48

Harvest IP Software Review Forecast 48

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Seth Rosenberg at Graylock published ‘ Product Led AI’ – pointing to opportunities for founders building AI-first companies. Undoubtedly, there will be detractors who believe many products are simply features on top of foundational models.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI ChatGPT Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 78

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. In contrast, sales and marketing activities before first customer ship are adhoc, fuzzy, and don’t have measurable, concrete objectives. Freemium models have their own scorekeeping.)

Customer Development 215

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 30, 2010

Sometimes, we even have good product feedback. Why not ask people who may have entrepreneurial, operational, sales, marketing, etc. Another indication that you're fundraising is when product development can no longer continue without capital. backgrounds at startups? That’s the same story all over again.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Later Stage 106

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 6, 2014

This is a quote from Leander Kahney’s recently published book on Apple design chief Jony Ive: “In the world according to Steve Jobs, the ANPP would rapidly evolve into a well-defined process for bringing new products to market by laying out in extreme detail every stage of product development.

Product 84

Product Venture Capital Lean Finance 84

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Larry had the DNA I’ve seen common with all the successful entrepreneurs I’ve backed in my 25 years of Venture Capital work—only he had a more exaggerated case than most. Which is why I had OEM sales as part of marketing—we had to earn our keep.). I think he came to appreciate the sales culture later on.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Venture Capital Software Review Database 333

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 15, 2022

If all else fails, your advisor may be able to salvage the sale by reengaging other interested parties. Whether they were critical to product development, marketing, or a successful exit, each of these individuals can have a significant impact on the amount of money the business is worth. Preparing for the sale.

Merger 130

Merger Acquisition Due Diligence Valuation 130

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

OnlyOnce

MAY 13, 2021

There are only increasing numbers of venture capital investors, seed funds, and accelerators supporting increasing numbers of entrepreneurial ventures.

Startup 62

Startup Cofounder Venture Capital Leadership 62

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

As the (very junior) product marketing manager I got a call from our local salesman that someone at Apple wanted more technical information than just the spec sheets about our new (not yet shipping) chip. I vividly remember the sales guy saying, “It’s only some kid in field service. What happened?

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 131

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 24, 2014

According to the National Venture Capital Association , the amount of money that VC’s invested rose 8% to nearly $30 billion in 2013. To help build new product development and venture teams, my colleague Rob Goldberg, of Stages of Innovation , created an assessment tool called Talent for Growth.

Startup 252

Startup Angel Investor Early Stage LLC 252

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Market Risk vs. Invention Risk - Click to Enlarge For companies building web-based products, product development may be difficult, but with enough time and iteration engineering will eventually converge on a solution and ship a functional product - i t’s engineering, not invention. Am I in a company with “invention risk?

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. This post describes such a model.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2013

Incorporate your startup after the business plan, but before you spend a dollar on product development. In addition, corporations have quarterly filing requirements, and even monthly ones, if you collect sales taxes and hire employees. Here are the key steps: Form the simplest legal entity early to cover your efforts.

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LLC Nevada Delaware Limited Liability Company 234

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

This tendency is a two edged sword: by iterating strategy a startup can dramatically improve the size and trajectory of the company, but at times this process can be the bane of venture investors (and why they have prematurely grey hair.)

Customer 195

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195