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Why Startups are Agile and Opportunistic – Pivoting the Business Model

Steve Blank

The Search for the Business Model. A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Investors bet on a startup CEO to find the repeatable and scalable business model. They may draw their business model formally or they may keep the pieces in their head.

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The 47th (-46) International Business Model Competition

Steve Blank

The most visible step was the first International Business Model Competition , hosted by the BYU Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. We’ve been teaching that the difference between a startup and an existing company is that existing companies execute business models, while startups search for a business model.

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8 Tips For Success In Turning A Dream Into A Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Choose a business model that will win in the market. You need a business model that provides a good return for you and your team, long-term growth, value to your customer, and differentiates you from competitors. Selling below cost doesn’t do it, nor does giving it away free, and hoping to make it up in volume.

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When Hell Froze Over – in the Harvard Business Review

Steve Blank

For decades this revered business magazine described management techniques that were developed in and were for large corporations – offering more efficient and creative ways to execute existing business models. The Four Steps drew the distinction that “startups are not smaller versions of large companies.” Then go do it.

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The Business Model Canvas Gets Even Better – Value Proposition Design

Steve Blank

It has three parts: a business model canvas to frame hypotheses, customer development to get out of the building to test those hypotheses and agile engineering to build minimum viable products. These two components of the business model are so important we give them their own name, “Product/Market Fit.”.

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The Lean LaunchPad Class: It’s the same, but different

Steve Blank

The class was unique in that it was 1) team-based, 2) experiential, 3) lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering). When we started this class, the concept of Lean (business models, customer development, agile, pivots, mvp’s) was new to everyone.

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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

These bubble startups were actually guessing at their business model and did premature and aggressive hype and early company launches and had extremely high burn rates – all predicated on an IPO to raise more cash. Lean started from the observation that you cannot ask a question that you have no words for.

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