Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. We were positing that 20 years of teaching “how to write a business plan” might be obsolete. This post is part one.

Lean 307

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 307

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

We build web and mobile applications, and we've been doing so for a little over fifteen years. As software developers, we're technophiles, so we enjoy these cycles and quite often find humor listening to the energy spent arguing on either side of issues. It's a fun and funny business to be in. It's important to us.

Guinea 200

Guinea Application Development Ruby Web Development 200

Steve Blank

MARCH 2, 2011

Working with him, I’ve been impressed to watch his small team embrace Customer Development (and Business Model Generation ) and search the world for the right product/market fit. And they’ve continuously iterated and gone through a few pivots of their business model. Corporate elephants can dance.

Silicon Valley 239

Silicon Valley Agile Customer Development Early Stage 239

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2010

At best I think business plan competitions are a waste of time. Business Plan Versus Business Models. Where did the idea that startups write business plans come from? A simple way to think about it is that in a startup no business plan survives first contact with customers. What did you build/do?

Business Plan 320

Business Plan Business Model Customer Development Deal Flow 320

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 10, 2023

2- Yes, to build a customer-centric business model Photo Credit: David Brewer We based and built it around the idea that our industry could, and should do better and that was the model that we were going to implement that idea as our core objective. Thanks to David Walsh, SEO Web Logistics ! #12-

Business Plan 143

Business Plan Jordan Entrepreneur Florida 143

Steve Blank

APRIL 21, 2011

All the teams were showing us what agile looked like, but this week several would remind us what focused and relentless really meant. There are two major channels: physical channels and virtual (web/mobile) channels. Their week 6 business model now looked like this: . How does the web differ from other channels?

Channel 234

Channel Artificial Inteligence San Francisco Business Model 234

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Fifty years later another Harvard professor, Clayton Christensen, developed his theory of disruptive innovation, which actually described how creative destruction worked. Disruptive innovation leads to the creative destruction of businesses that once seemed pre-eminent and secure. We legalized robbing the corporate treasury.

Private Equity 330

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 330

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Mobile and web software apps may cost even less. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative. It’s the right way to get money without giving up too much equity or control of your business. The large investment amounts preferred by VCs are no longer needed to launch winners. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Portfolio 342

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2010

The key things I want students to take from the class are: Understand that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a profitable business model. Learn how to put together a business model , not a business plan. They set up and keep the class web site updated. Class Logistics.

Business Model 236

Business Model Silicon Valley California Engineer 236

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Tesla Tesla invented a successful business model for bringing compelling electric cars to the market. Tesla has always put a huge emphasis on product development and technological advancement. For me, it's a live example of agile and sustainable business. It is also one of my most admired companies.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review SEO 138

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

For the last 75 years products (both durable goods and software) were built via Waterfall development. This process forced companies to release and launch products by model years, and market new and “improved” versions. The Old Days – Waterfall Product Development. Consumers counted the days until the new models were “unveiled”.

Continuous Deployment 332

Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 332

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

But by taking advantage of open source, agile software, and iterative development, lean startups can operate with much less waste. I am heavily indebted to earlier theorists, and highly recommend the books Lean Thinking and Lean Software Development. Labels: customer development , lean startup 8comments: Amy said.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2010

I’ve been teaching Customer Development at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Business School since the fall of 2004 and in a joint MBA with Columbia since 2005. Back in 2004, Jerry Engel the head of the Entreprenuership program at Haas Business School at U.C. A lot has happened since I first authored and taught the class. Four Steps.

Customer Development 245

Customer Development Lean Developer Customer 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Mobile and web software apps may cost even less. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative. It’s the right way to get money without giving up too much equity or control of your business. The large investment amounts preferred by VCs are no longer needed to launch winners. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 314

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or to optimize this search. to optimize this search.

Wiki 318

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 318

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Agile – you may find the real opportunities for your company was somewhere else. 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.

Cofounder 230

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 230

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. Labels: product development 15comments: mukund said. What made them exceptional?

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

Startups built every possible feature the founding team envisioned (using “Waterfall development,”) into a monolithic “release” of the product taking months or years to build a first product release. The Business Plan (Concept- Alpha-Beta - FCS ) became the playbook for startups. Rules For the New Bubble: 2011 -2014.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Like a financial debt, the technical debt incurs interest payments, which come in the form of the extra effort that we have to do in future development because of the quick and dirty design choice. Startups especially can benefit by using technical debt to experiment, invest in process, and increase their product development leverage.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model.

Silicon Valley 300

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 300

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.

Customer Development 255

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 255

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model.

Silicon Valley 273

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 273

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

They used Customer and Agile development to search for a scalable and repeatable business model to become a large company. A “ scalable startup” takes an innovative idea and searches for a scalable and repeatable business model that will turn it into a high growth, profitable company. The Web and Startups.

Hockey Stick 303

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 303

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

What matters is proving the viability of the company’s business model, what investors call “traction.&# Of course this is not at all true of many profitable small businesses, but they are not what I mean by startups.) And what of the product development team? Go on an agile diet quickly.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

A business plan has a set of assumptions (who’s the customer, what’s the price, what’s the channel, what are the product features that matter, etc.) that make up a business model. Yet by first customer ship most of the business model hasn’t been validated or tested. Pivots Versus Crises.

Burn Rate 252

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 252

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2013

It’s a model for a government program that’s gotten the balance between public/private partnerships just right. While a few of the I-Corps teams are in web/mobile/cloud, most are working on advanced technology projects that don’t make TechCrunch. in Science or Nature.

Lean 270

Lean Washington Incubator Agile 270

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Operating across varied industries, Fractional CMOs offer a fresh, tailored approach, helping businesses to be more agile, adaptive, and strategic in their planning Questions I ask Nicole Bernard [00:46] What exactly is a fractional CMO? 05:20] Could you shed some light on your business model? Yeah, it's funny.

Social Media 89

Social Media Software Review Hiring Framework 89

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

Intellectual Property 175

Intellectual Property Aggregator Startup Angel Investor 175

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

Lean LaunchPad class developed for Stanford. Steve Blank: When I first starting teaching, the capstone entrepreneurship class was how to write a business plan. Other classes were on how to prep for VC pitches or develop the five year income statements, balance sheets and cash flows or read case studies. Worth a read.

Incubator 333

Incubator Lean Programming Government 333

Software By Rob

AUGUST 24, 2011

Karl is a software engineer with more than 10 years of experience who specializes in agile web development and web services integrations. He authors a software development blog at [link]. There comes a time in a software developer’s career where they reach a crossroads and ask themselves, “What next?

Software Review 65

Software Review Software Startup Finance 65

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Mobile and web software apps may cost even less. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative. It’s the right way to get money without giving up too much equity or control of your business. The large investment amounts preferred by VCs are no longer needed to launch winners.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. Fairchild Semiconductor became the progenitor of a flood of Silicon Valley chip companies and at the same time the adoption of the limited partnership as the model for Venture Firms gave VC’s their own profitable business model.

Lean 265

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 265

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

It uses principles of agile software development, open source and web 2.0, and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation. This presentation will empower entrepreneurs and managers to: -Identify a profitable business model faster and cheaper than your competitors.

Lean 60

Lean Austin San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

This Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model allows companies to focus their energy on the areas where they are making money, instead of worrying about the minute configuration details of every new server. Speed and agility have never before been so available and so crucial in business. Cost Savings.

Cloud 212

Cloud New York City Agile New York 212

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

One way to conceive of our goal in an early-stage venture is to incrementally “fill in the blanks&# for the business model that we think will one day power our startup. For example, say that your business model calls for a 4% conversion rate – as ours did initially at IMVU. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Steve Blank

JULY 28, 2011

The class will be a version of the Lean LaunchPad class we developed in the Stanford Technology Ventures Program , (the entrepreneurship center at Stanford’s School of Engineering). And they’ll do this using the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack.

Engineer 287

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Intellectual Property 287