Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I started with some basic theory: that a startup is an institution designed to thrive in the soil of extreme uncertainty; that traditional management techniques rooted in forecasting and planning would not work well in the face of that uncertainty. These business model assumptions are then ripe for testing, measuring and iterating upon.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 21, 2014

In 1998, Yom Kippur fell on September 30th. But many years later, I began to appreciate that one of our core flaws was our business model. But the downside to our business model was that we did not have hardly any recurring revenue. . 3D printers, with their consumable resins, have a similar business model.

Revenue 54

Revenue Valuation Churn Rate Portfolio 54

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 3, 2012

Facebook and Google would be obvious choices for this, but so much has been written about each of them and they represent such special business models, I worried that it would be both hard for entrepreneurs to relate and hard for me to develop new insights. In 2012, analysts forecast the company will achieve nearly $1.5

Distribution 49

Distribution Lean Massachusetts Cofounder 49

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

But nine months after the first call was made in 1998, Iridium was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They made other assumptions about the type of sales channel, partnerships and revenue model they would need. But Iridium’s business model assumptions were fixed like it was still 1990. It was a technical tour de force.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

He should have invested in Lawson obviously… I could not track back their stock price in 1998 when NetSuite was launched, but since Jan. If that were the case, most of the Cable and Wireless companies who have been using a similar business model would have gone bankrupt a long time ago and Saleforce would not have 20% FCF margins today.

Software Review 48

Software Review Software Technical Review Cloud 48

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Bates: Josh, it reminds me of when I was doing web sites back in the day in 2000 and 1998 and instead of going and being able to buy a shopping cart you had to code the shopping cart from scratch. What I did is I learned the art of a pro forma and the value of a pro forma which basically is a forecast. Bates: You know Josh—.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95