Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Most entrepreneurs today don’t remember the Dot-Com bubble of 1995 or the Dot-Com crash that followed in 2000. As a reminder, the Dot Com bubble was a five-year period from August 1995 (the Netscape IPO ) when there was a massive wave of experiments on the then-new internet, in commerce, entertainment, nascent social media, and search.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. They taught you about customers, markets and profits.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time. Dot.com Bubble ( 1995-2000): “ Anything goes” as public markets clamor for ideas, vague promises of future growth, and IPOs happen absent regard for history or profitability. (If

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Netscape’s 1995 IPO changed the rules. Suddenly there was a public market for companies with limited revenue and no profit. In either case Customer Development provides entrepreneurs with a methodology for being capital efficient.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

One could argue that there’s nothing new here, as Internet distibution models started in 1995. It’s because the startups are doing something very new that make them “Lean&# : These startups embrace customer and agile development that Eric Ries has been evangelizing. They build a minimum feature set.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

” Here’s the summary of his track record (excerpted from the Fast Company article): Forefront — IPO’ed in 1995 by CBT — CBT stock fell 85% in 1998 and prompted class-action lawsuits. GroupOn’s engine that turned capital into revenue growth was a form of force-feeding rather than building a product).

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

I thing I’ve learned over the years is that technology purists hate advertising even when it is that revenue stream that truthfully drives much of our industry. In 1995 Netscape IPO’d and browsers started to become more prevalent. He created GoTo.com (later renamed Overture) out of a frustration with search.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350