2009 Customer Customer Development Fractional VPE 
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 5, 2009
I had last been in Chapel Hill on a winter’s day in 1986, traveling with the VP of Sales of our new supercomputer startup, Ardent. I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.” We were sitting in our cheap hotel room when the phone rang. We were going to be guessing.
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. These companies would take our computers and put their name on them and resell them to their customers.
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Startup Lessons Learned
SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
When Ive asked mentors of mine who have worked in big companies about the role of the CTO, they usually talk about the importance of being the external face of the companys technology platform; an evangelist to developers, customers, and employees. So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering.
Startup Lessons Learned
DECEMBER 7, 2008
As a last disclaimer, please consult the definition of the word hacker if youre not familiar with the controversies surrounding that term.) At the end of the day, the product development team of a startup (large or small) is a service organization. I would love to have an effective CTO or VP of Engineering to manage me.
www.women2.org
MARCH 8, 2012
After quitting my job and starting Sorced , I spent a few months validating my business concept by creating the product mockups and doing customer development. Prior to Sorced, Elizabeth worked in business development at SecondMarket. She has consulted for a number of startups in the mobile, Saas, and consumer health spaces.
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