Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). with only 19% saying they would decrease levels.

Technical Review 241

Technical Review IPO Southern California Venture Capital 241

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Don’t take my word for it – in the roundup of venture capital predictions for 2017 , I found it to be the top recurring theme. Chris Rust, Clear Ventures). Many large companies will be built (Michael Wolfe, Point Nine Capital). Venture Capital investments in AI, Europe 2016 (Source: Dealroom ).

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Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

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. Convergent Technologies was one of those OEM suppliers. Their engineers hated us.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Posted on September 14, 2009 by steveblank Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Austin Startup

AUGUST 7, 2017

Texas is the most promising technology investment opportunity in the United States and Capital Factory is going to turbocharge it. What will it take for Texas to produce startups of that kind of scale and impact in technology, food, retail, entertainment, energy, education, real estate, transportation and health?

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Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 97

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Other advisors provided marketing with industry-specific advice in our initial vertical markets (computational fluid dynamics, computational chemistry, finite element analysis, and petroleum engineering). They knew the technology trendsetters in their fields and got us in front of them.

Engineer 198

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

In times when venture capital is hard to get, investors extract high costs for failure (down-rounds, cram downs , new management teams, shut down the company.) Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

Now with a new infusion of $8 million dollars of venture capital, SuperMac had been resurrected from the dead and was attempting to restart. Yet two smart VC firms, Sigma and Matrix Partners, realized that somewhere in this mess there was value. Their guess was that they would find value in the high margin graphics business.

Silicon Valley 146

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VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Generative AI will really become magic when it moves from 'playful' to 'useful' – we will use multiple generative AI tools at work in the future, like we use grammarly and canned responses today… AI will become more vertical, and specific per role — Eze Vidra (@ediggs) November 5, 2022.

Generative AI 195

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence API Vertical 195

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

To an entrepreneur, being asked to join a venture firm with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence title means you have been tapped on the shoulder by the VC gods. I asked Peter what kind of company he had in mind and was surprised and dismayed by the answer, “I want to make video games.” I didn’t give his video game idea another thought.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

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 Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. My mother kept asking if they were going to make me pay the money back. Blog at WordPress.com.

Silicon Valley 125

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Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2009

The relevant part starts about 4:30 into the video (wait for it to download.) luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Customer Development 124

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 124

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

The company was founded to build games with embedded video to bring Hollywood stories, characters, and narratives to a market where “shoot and die” twitch games were in vogue. In the game business of the early 1990’s video was at best a brief narrative, a distraction you maybe watched once, not the core of the game.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

VC Cafe

JULY 7, 2023

To put things in context, global venture funding in Q2 2023 reached $65 billion, an 18% decline quarter over quarter, and a 49% drop compared to the second quarter of 2022, when startup investors spent $127 billion, according to Crunchbase. I tried to consolidate my thoughts as well as other perspectives from leading venture capital funds.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI ChatGPT Startup 88

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Consider what followed since November: New foundational models, more efficient ways of training models etc An explosion of open source models, the rise of HuggingFace Breakthrough research across voice, video, text, multi modality, etc Billions of dollars invested in thousands of startups at the application layer of generative AI.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI ChatGPT Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

By the late 1930′s when HP started, a small group (measured in hundreds) of engineers who made radio tubes were building the valleys’ ecosystem for electronics manufacturing, product engineering and technology management. And since there was no Venture Capital in the 1950′s/’60′s where was the money coming from?

Silicon Valley 270

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Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. would look in each of the verticals. Technology? For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Where do the ideas come from?

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

Simulation to Reduce Invention Risk If you’re in a vertical where “invention risk” is dominant, then you want to do everything you can to manage and reduce those risks. When I wrote the Four Steps to the Epiphany , the Customer Development text, I hadn’t yet thought about what vertical markets it might be appropriate for.)

Vertical 128

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 128

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Technology | Tagged: Customer Development , Early Stage Startup , Entrepreneurs , Startups , Steve Blank « SuperMac War Story 6: Building The Killer Team – Mission, Intent and Values Story Behind “The Secret History” Part IV: Library Hours at an Undisclosed Location » 17 Responses Michael F.

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VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

In last week’s The Economist, the gist of the lead story is that entertainment – an industry that has been associated with flailing newspaper subscriptions and, relatedly, a sector struggling given the rise of technology – is in fact, the “new oil” for the contemporary epoch. To no surprise digital video and audio are winners.

Vertical 113

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crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 5, 2010

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! An Insider’s Guide to Venture Capital Financing – [link].

Social Media 88

Social Media Small Business Design Media 88

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. Since I wasn’t an engineer, my contribution was around the team-building and fund raising. I was an idiot.

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

You’re not joining a big company. Startups are the adventure of a lifetime. But make sure it fits who you are. a comment » Yet another brilliant post from Steve Blank, this time about what it takes to found, co-found, or work in a startup at various stages of [.] Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 23, 2020

Digital health, defined as the use of technologies to drive improvements in the design of medical products and the delivery of health care services, shows no sign of slowing. As the pandemic drags on and patients grow to telehealth services, let’s take a look at three industry verticals which are being driven by startup innovation.

Startup 93

Startup Venture Capital Canada Vertical 93

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Knowing this venture firms have come up with a canonical checklist of what they would like to see. The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Like any new and emerging technology, the Metaverse has faced its share of challenges and criticisms. Layoffs, technology difficulties and expensive hardware didn’t massively help build a positive story. This video is a short excerpt from my panel on the opportunities for brands and platforms in the Metaverse.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI Vertical Early Stage PR 88

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I finally understood how valuable these contests can be for students in cities or countries without a venture capital or entrepreneurial infrastructure. Over scrambled eggs and diet coke, I listened to this seasoned startup veteran describe the excitement of his students who came to the U.S. to compete. You’ll learn a lot.

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times Ardent would be my third technology company as a VP of Marketing (Convergent Technologies and MIPS Computers were the other two.) It was my ex boss from Convergent Technologies, “Steve we’ve all just resigned from Convergent and we’re starting a new company.

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

Here is the video link or click on the image above. Yes an online video startup in ‘99 that helped large media companies encode and distribute their videos through portals. He was introduced through mutual friends to Highland Capital. What’s your point of view on next generation video entertainment? (34:30

Vertical 265

Vertical Curation Boston Burn Rate 265

deal architect

JANUARY 25, 2024

Ton and I regularly participate in our respective podcasts and video series. For the 112th episode of Burning Platform we have Ton Dobbe of Value Inspiration. He is in constant touch with entrepreneurs in the EU discussing go-to-market, operational metrics.

Entrepreneur 170

Entrepreneur Metrics Video Operations 170

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Martin , on November 9, 2009 at 6:41 am Said: Hmm… Not to get too meta here… But if the point of this post is to teach us how to distinguish motion from action (even partly), I didn’t get much help. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 324

Silicon Valley Software Review RSS Technical Review 324

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Customer Development Manifesto , Market Types « “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch Closure » 21 Responses Tweets that mention Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development « Steve Blank -- Topsy.com , on November 16, 2009 at 7:20 am Said: [.]

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

VC Cafe

JANUARY 17, 2023

or Midjourney 4, have taken this technology mainstream and for the first time even risked Google’s dominance in search. It will be tough for new startups to compete on AI core technology. Like with any new technology, there are risks associated with the use of Generative AI and there will be bad actors who will abuse it.

Generative AI 97

Generative AI API ChatGPT IP 97

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

In fact, in the discussion on JuJu brands is yet another validation of the verticalization and niche-ization of the Internet. This week, I published an article called The Top 10 Vertical and Social Web Trends where I have discussed this at length. Photo by yirsh. Discuss.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2009

Zilog produced one of the first 8-bit microprocessors , the Z-80 (competing at the time with Intel’s 8080 , Motorola 6800, and MOS Technology 6502.) Burnout can turn productive employees into emotional zombies and destroy careers. Zilog Zilog was my first Silicon Valley company where you could utter the customer’s name in public.

Silicon Valley 175

Silicon Valley Chad RSS San Francisco 175

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The greatest risk in startups —and hence the greatest cause of failure—is not the technology risk of developing a product but in the risk of developing customers and markets. Likewise, business program must educate marketers to deliver more actionable results (read: less fluffy) that can really drive all the technology work.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

It makes you appreciate that the Silicon Valley technology-centric culture-bubble has little to do with the majority of Americans.) I was living the dream – working 80 hour weeks and all the technology I could drink with a fire hose.) I packed up my life in Michigan and spent five days driving to California to start work.

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Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 245