article thumbnail

Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

Most entrepreneurs today don’t remember the Dot-Com bubble of 1995 or the Dot-Com crash that followed in 2000. First Movers” didn’t understand customer problems or the product features that solved those problems (what we now call product-market fit). The idea of the Lean Startup was built on top of the rubble of the 2000 Dot-Com crash.

Lean 335
article thumbnail

Why Build, Measure, Learn – isn’t just throwing things against the wall to see if they work

Steve Blank

Version 1 was built without customer feedback, and before version 1 was complete work had already started on version 2 so it took till version 3 before the customer was really heard (e.g. Best practices in software development started to move to agile development in the early 2000’s. Microsoft Windows 3.0).

Lean 120
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

The Search For the Fountain of Youth – Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Enterprise

Steve Blank

They start with an innovation, search for a repeatable business model, build the infrastructure for a company, then grow by efficiently executing the model. outpace an existing company’s business model. You want to start executing the business model. Companies have a fairly predictable life cycle.

Search 242
article thumbnail

Pricing determines your business

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. Your product is designed with natural tripwires to trigger other pricing ( Freemium model ), or not (business model left as an exercise to your future self). ZenDesk, Box) or performance-based (e.g.

article thumbnail

Can You Trust Any vc's Under 40?

Steve Blank

The IPO Bubble – August 1995 – March 2000 In August 1995 Netscape went public, and the world of start ups turned upside down. Yahoo would hit $104/share in March 2000 with a market cap of $104 billion.) The boom in Internet startups would last 4½ years until it came crashing down to earth in March 2000.

article thumbnail

New Rules for the New Internet Bubble

Steve Blank

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.

Internet 334
article thumbnail

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s)

Steve Blank

The two decades from 1979 when pension funds fueled the expansion of venture capital to 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst were the Golden Age for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. During the decade between 1991 and 2000, nearly 2000 venture backed companies went public. Here’s why. Startup lifecycle in an IPO Market.