Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, September 7, 2008 Customer Development Engineering Yesterday, I had the opportunity to guest lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at the Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA program. Its a nice complement on the product engineering side to his customer development methodology.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. Customer Development - The Missing Piece! Labels: customer development , product development 8comments: Sarah Milstein said.

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ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

I feel like “conversion rate optimization” is in 2013 what “social media marketing” was in 2009. This is a customer development problem. So What is Customer Development? The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Customer Development Notes I'm assuming founders are having customer development conversations. See also: 12 Tips for Early Customer Development Interviews , 12 tips for customer development , tips for customer development. Seeing the evolution of thinking is not a bad thing.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Customer Development ) to help you quickly recognize and reverse any incorrect decisions. Martin , on April 10, 2009 at 9:27 am Said: A post that would delight F.A. link] Reply craig sparer , on April 10, 2009 at 5:44 pm Said: So true. In a startup it doesn’t matter if you’re 100% right 100% of the time.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

While the last post was titled “ You Know You’re Getting Close to Your Customers When They Offer You a Job “, this post should probably be titled, “You Know You’re Getting Close to Your Customers When You Offer Them a Job.&# English oops: “You Know Your Getting Close to Your Customers When Your Offer Them a Job.”

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups, I had my ideas “stolen” twice. Customer Development We were starting Epiphany, my last company. Steve Blank -- Topsy.com , on December 7, 2009 at 6:06 am Said: [.] Reply Tim Inman , on December 7, 2009 at 7:04 am Said: Wow.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The Times Square Strategy discussion I had with Eric Ries , was still top of mind, so instead of my standard Customer Development lecture , I offered my thoughts on: the origin of Customer Development, where we are today, and where does Customer Development go, and how you can help get it there.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. Reply YA , on June 14, 2009 at 10:48 am Said: Interesting. The Adventure of a Lifetime.

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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. 2009 – Back to The Future The bad news is that since the bubble most VC firms haven’t made a profit. So what’s left?

Silicon Valley 217

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

New strategic direction in companies with loyal customers have different consequences then when you had no customers Acquiring new customers are a lot more expensive that converting existing ones. While this sounds inexplicable to an outside observer, sometimes it makes sense.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. Freemium models have their own scorekeeping.)

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, November 6, 2008 Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile I thought Id share an interesting post from someone with a decidedly anti-agile point of view. Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile : "Google is an exceptionally disciplined company, from a software-engineering perspective.

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

No internet, no blogs, no books on startups, no entrepreneurship departments in universities, etc. 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.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Steve Blank

MAY 1, 2009

The Customer Development talk can be seen here. Reply steveblank , on May 2, 2009 at 1:25 am Said: Your welcome. alancommike , on May 2, 2009 at 11:59 am Said: I’m glad the the presentation was recorded. Eric blogged about the talk on Wednesday, which was too late for me to get to Startup2Startup.

Customer Development 139

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Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

on April 10, 2009 at 6:58 am Said: Amazing blog. Greetings from Crete, Greece Reply Jerry Ji , on April 10, 2009 at 11:09 am Said: Simply _THE BEST_ war story I’ve read in months. Reply How to close a term sheet quickly - Venture Hacks , on April 28, 2009 at 10:43 am Said: [.]

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Your blog post has provided a lot of useful insights for me which I’ve been implementing. I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. Do you have thoughts on specifically how to restructure startups?

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. KC Reply steveblank , on September 10, 2009 at 11:20 am Said: Ken, 1. A couple of quick questions: 1.)

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

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. The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on?

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Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

And I got to experience a type of customer buying behavior I had never seen before – the Novelty Effect. Reply justingibbs , on May 11, 2009 at 11:29 am Said: Speaking of novelty, do you think Twitter could be the same? Reply steveblank , on May 11, 2009 at 4:07 pm Said: No. It was fun watching it happen.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System » 20 Responses brantcooper , on March 26, 2009 at 3:52 pm Said: Great story, Steve. Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System » 20 Responses brantcooper , on March 26, 2009 at 3:52 pm Said: Great story, Steve. Glad to see you blogging!

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Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. What is your perspective on ‘sustainable technical differentiation’ for customer/market risk companies? For example, complex new semiconductor architectures, (i.e.

Vertical 144

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

I liked the fact that you linked to the wikipedia page for a payphone — nice touch Reply Chris Ryland , on October 5, 2009 at 12:06 pm Said: Where did Ben Wegbreit fit in the Convergent picture? Reply steveblank , on October 5, 2009 at 2:08 pm Said: Chris, Ben was the founding VP of Engineering at Ardent.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

So no post today on entrepreneurship, Secret History of Silicon Valley, Customer Development, Lean Startups, etc. Reply gvb , on November 26, 2009 at 10:20 am Said: “Hopefully we won’t run into any wildlife bigger than us (other than our assortment of rattlesnakes, rabbits …).&#

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Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

Would love to read that whole thing at one go… Reply Alvin , on March 21, 2009 at 7:02 pm Said: Great stuff! Reply steveblank , on March 23, 2009 at 12:11 am Said: Alvin, you can buy the book online at [link] They ship to the Philippines. I read all your posts today and can’t wait for the next one.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

» 8 Responses Strategy versus Relentless Tactical Execution « Yet Another VC Blog , on April 2, 2009 at 6:19 am Said: [.] Reply Dave Goulden , on April 2, 2009 at 9:55 am Said: Thanks for the great stories! Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential?

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, October 4, 2008 About the author ( Update January, 2010: This post originally dates from October, 2008 back when I first started writing this blog. I hope you take something of value from this blog. Eric, love the blog. Thanks for your professional blog. So thats me, your author.

San Francisco 155

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. See Customer Development Engineering for my first stab at articulating the theory involved) Ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration, as exemplified by the Customer Development process.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

King James Bible, New Testament – Matthew 7:7 Filed under: Marketing , Technology , Zilog | Tagged: Entrepreneurs , Steve Blank « The Road Not Taken He’s Only in Field Service » 20 Responses Mike Paciello , on July 27, 2009 at 8:54 am Said: Thanks Steve. You’ve reinforced my own personal beliefs.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. The “Good” Student » 14 Responses Shane Rogers , on April 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm Said: The names of ‘secret’ customers is funny. If you think the Cold War turned out the right side up (i.e.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

If you cant find any , maybe that means you havent figured out who your customer is yet. And if you dont know who your customer is, perhaps some customer development is in order? Labels: customer development , search engine marketing 13comments: Jim Lindstrom said. May 6, 2009 3:03 PM Ivan Acosta-Rubio said.

Demand 167

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 17, 2009

Source: Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation (in constant 2009 $’s) We’ll Do Great in the Next War Early in 1950, just months before the outbreak of the Korean War the Office of Naval Research asked Fred Terman to build an Applied electronics program for electronic warfare. military to rearm and mobilize.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Reply Bill Allred , on May 1, 2009 at 10:46 am Said: This is a really common pitfall. If you look at the top 3 online retailers by conversion rate, none of these are award-winning designs : [link] [link] [link] However, they convert ~25% of visitors to customers. That’s 10x what many websites convert.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

Wall 85: Squint « 365 Wallpapers , on April 27, 2009 at 8:29 am Said: [.] Reply rohit sharma , on April 27, 2009 at 9:47 am Said: in addition to his WWII contributions, Terman also helped educate a generation of engineers or two with his excellent text. invention of electronic warfare, part I and [.]

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