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. These misses weren’t in some tangential markets – missing search, mobile and the cloud were directly where Microsoft users were heading. Yet a very smart CEO missed all of these.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

Startups are the search to find order in chaos. The Search for the Business Model. A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Steve Blank. At a board meeting last week I watched as the young startup CEO delivered bad news. Our current plan isn’t working.

Business Model 332

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 332

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

In contrast, the main job of a start-up is to search for a workable business model, to find the right match between customer needs and what the company can profitably offer. First, he says, the focus of an established firm is to execute an existing business model — to make sure it operates efficiently and satisfies customers.

Business Model 332

Business Model Technical Review Business Plan Search 332

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2014

their burn rate (the amount of money they’re spending monthly minus any revenue coming in) and. In large companies, the employees are no less smart, but the organization is optimized to deliver repeatable products, revenue and profits. the day they run out of money and have to shut the doors (or get a new round of funding.).

Customer Development 335

Customer Development Design Developer Customer 335

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

In contrast, the main job of a start-up is to search for a workable business model, to find the right match between customer needs and what the company can profitably offer. First, he says, the focus of an established firm is to execute an existing business model — to make sure it operates efficiently and satisfies customers.

Business Model 224

Business Model Business Plan Technical Review Search 224

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Startups focus on speed since they are burning cash every day as they search for product/market fit. I had lunch last week with Tom, the CEO of a startup that was quickly becoming a large company – last year’s revenue was $40M, this year likely to be $80M maybe even $100 million in ad revenue.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

For the first few years, your VCs want you to keep your head down, build the product, find product/market fit and ship to get to some inflection point (revenue, users, etc.). As a founder you are more than capable of adding value to the search for the liquidity event. If so, how is the revenue measured? FDA approvals?

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Is it a small business that hits $4 million in revenue in four years and $8 million in ten years? Founders don’t do startups because they’re searching for a huge financial windfall. And if not, are you Ok with something small? See 2:03 in the video below). Is it a lifestyle business while you’re keeping your other job?

Cofounder 325

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Liquidity Event Lean 325

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Use Ads, textlinks or Google AdWords , Facebook ads and natural search to drive people to your Minimally Viable web site. Emphasis should be on the discovery done for that weeks assigned canvas component (channel, customer, revenue model) but include other things you learned about the business model.

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

By then, I had become a venture capitalist at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and found myself talking to a lot of entrepreneurs who were proclaiming their great technology yet were struggling with little revenue, and claiming they were “crossing the chasm”. This was exactly what I was searching for. The first meeting with Steve.

Japan 292

Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 292

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers? And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” They’re putting money into web services/business – most without early revenue. End of theory.&#

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Your startup is an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. The next step in the Customer Development process is Customer Validation – making sure that there really is a repeatable and scalable revenue and business model before you turn up your cash burn rate. Customer Development In Context.

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 266

Steve Blank

AUGUST 23, 2010

The temptation is to transform the vision of a large market into a solid corporate revenue forecast – before Customer Development even begins. Rather, it is a organization searching for a business model (inside a company that’s executing an existing one.) Customer Development Without Agile Engineering Is A Plan For Failure.

Customer Development 235

Customer Development Developer Customer South America 235

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. A version of this article appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Elon Musk, Alfred Sloan, and entrepreneurship in the automobile industry.

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

revenue streams generated by the value proposition(s). revenue streams generated by the value proposition(s). And it brings us to the definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. customer segments, such as users and payers or moms or teens.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2019

Modern entrepreneurship began at the turn of this century with the observation that startups aren’t smaller versions of large companies – large companies at their core execute known business models, while startups search for scalable business models. However, they don’t help you figure out where to start the search for your new business.

Lean 333

Lean Marketing Agile Customer Development 333

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

The Enterprise: Business Model Execution We know that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Somewhere in the dim past of the company, it too was a startup searching for a business model. The question is – why? What Does this Mean?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) The Revenue Plan – The Third Fatal Assumption. Notice that the traditional product introduction model leads to a product launch and the execution of a revenue plan. Albert Einstein. Ritualized Crises.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

Startups are in fact only temporary organizations, organized to search –not execute–for a scalable and repeatable business model. Agora’s selling points are its ability to reduce users’ IT infrastructure cost and enhance revenue for service providers.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Steve Blank

MAY 14, 2012

Established companies execute business models where customers, problems, and necessary product features are all knowns; start-ups, on the other hand, need to operate in a “search” mode as they test and prove every one of their initial hypotheses. In fact, they’re out searching for them!

Balance Sheet 335

Balance Sheet Business Model Customer Development Metrics 335

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Startups that are searching for a business model need to keep score differently than large companies that are executing a known business model. I had been confused for years why I had to update an income statement each board meeting that said zero for 18 months before we had any revenue. Here’s why. Managing the Business. Financials.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

In this post we’re going to offer a new definition of why startups exist : a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Your startup is essentially an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. When revenue, users, traffic, etc., Winston Churchill.

Agile 335

Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 20, 2013

Part 7: Revenue Streams in Life Sciences. Knox was relentless about understanding whether their device was a business or whether it was technology in search of a market. Knox was a great example of having a technology in search of a customer. Part 4: This Will Save us Years – Customer Discovery in Medical Devices.

Lean 241

Lean Customer Development IP Agile 241

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. So how does a company act like a startup in search of new business models while still continuing to successfully execute? Instead of measuring success in dollars of profit, …firms focus on measuring capital efficiency. Act Like a Startup.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2016

Intel under their last two CEOs delivered more revenue and profit than any ever before. And it also requires understanding the differences between executing the existing business model, extending the business model and searching for and disrupting the business model. They knew how to execute the current business model. Lessons Learned.

Architecture 227

Architecture IRR Balance Sheet Liquidity Event 227

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

Each side of a market has it’s own Value Proposition, Customer Segment and Revenue Model.) The web-based teams needed to have their site up and running and be driving demand to the site with real Search Engine Optimization and Marketing tests. Agora was in a classic two-sided market (having both buyers and sellers.

Customer 234

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 234

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or Or more accurately, startups are a temporary organization designed to search for a scalable and repeatable business model.) to optimize this search. Actually engage in “search engine marketing” (SEM)spend $20 as a team to test customer acquisition cost.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

It turns out that for commercialization, the business model (Customers, Channel, Revenue Model, etc.) Increasing the number of sales people much past 4-5 for a rollout does not proportionally increase revenue in most cases, because you are on the front end of early adopters and wrestling to overcome and reduce the sales learning curve.

Distribution 224

Distribution Channel Lean Intellectual Property 224

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

So I met the entrepreneur and asked him how his search for a business model was going. After a bit more discussion, I discovered the “problem in getting traction” meant revenue was zero. Here’s what I told him: A startup exists to search for a scalable and repeatable business model. You Can’t Outsource Personal Experience.

Founder 199

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 199

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue? Unlike an org chart, which describes how a company executes to deliver known products to known customers, the business model canvas illustrates the search for the unknowns that most new ventures face.

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

We’re at 70 people, and we’ll do $40 million in revenue this year and should get to cash flow breakeven this quarter. ” In this first step, the goal of a startup is to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Startups in Search mode have little process and lots of “do what it takes.” Most startups die here.

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

He and his co-founder were both PhD’s in applied math who believe they can make some serious inroads on next generation search. A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. This was the second of three “office hours” I was holding that morning for ex students. Now he had my attention.

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

And your revenue plan is something more than a hallucination. Tools to help them manage the search for a repeatable and scalable business model. And they needed tools that recognized that most startups go from failure to failure as they searched for, and discovered, product/market fit. XoomPark , BYU. Excelegrade , Harvard.

Business Model 263

Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 263

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. They’ve figured out the revenue model (subscription, license, direct sale, etc.) and how to price the product. Lessons Learned.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

VC’s worked with entrepreneurs to build profitable and scalable businesses, with increasing revenue and consistent profitability – quarter after quarter. With Netscape’s IPO , there was suddenly a public market for companies with limited revenue and no profit. 1970 – 1995: The Golden Age. Thus began the 5-year dot-com bubble.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

He should make sure that there aren’t other parts of the business model (revenue model, pricing, partners, channel, etc.) that couldn’t change before he declares “we’re building the wrong product.” Find a Brainstorm Buddy.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

The role of a founding CEO in a startup searching for a business model is radically different than a CEO building and growing a company. Certain VC’s like the new class of Super-Angels and small VC funds specialize in the early stage of a startup where you are searching for a business model. Some VC’s get it, others may not.

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231