Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

One of the confusing things to entrepreneurs, investors and educators is the relationship between customer development and business model design and business planning and execution. When does a new venture focus on customer development and business models ? Here’s an attempt to put this all in context.

Search 320

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 320

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Last May, I shared the news that long-time Lean Startup advocates Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits were working on a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur featuring illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. LitMotors approach to using Lean Startup to create a new vehicle category. That new book is about to hit bookstores everywhere.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

If youre trying to design an architecture to maximize agility, how can that work if some people are working in TDD and others not? Platform selection and technical design - if your business strategy is to create a low-burn, highly iterative lean startup, youd better be using foundational tools that make that easy rather than hard.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

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 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Steve Blank

JULY 28, 2011

From the point of view of scientists and engineers in a university lab, too often entrepreneurship in all its VC-driven glory – income statements, balance sheets, business plans, revenue models, 5-year forecasts, etc. And they’ll do this using the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack.

Engineer 278

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Intellectual Property 278

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Certainly venture-backed startups don’t have this luxury – every business plan has a model in it. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do. Companies that reliably fail to make their forecasted numbers are exceptionally prone to “management retooling.&#

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Today, I want to introduce you to a new concept for starting and growing successful companies: Lean Planning™. Before I dive too deeply into the Lean Planning methodology, it makes sense to talk about its history and where it comes from. It starts with “Plan-As-You-Go” instead of detailed, formal business plans.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Far too many companies are failing for reasons I think are strictly preventable,” said Eric Ries in a recent interview, entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup. The problem is that scientific management puts a heavy focus on forecasting, which is great as long as you have the stability to make accurate forecasts.

Forecast 136

Forecast Startup Metrics Agile 136

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

No business model, either. All my products and ideas focus on early cash and a business model that works from the first day. Talking about trends is more about trying to forecast the future, like a guru, sometimes it works, sometimes not. So, the idea of starting without a business model is good ?

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Up and Running

DECEMBER 5, 2016

Lean Planning is a concept that we introduced back in 2012 as an evolution in business planning. The traditional business plan just wasn’t fitting the needs of modern, fast-moving companies and it was time to bring more of a scientific approach to business planning. But, where did Lean Planning come from?

Lean 60

Lean Silicon Valley Business Model Forecast 60

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

Managing your cash position when forecasted sales aren’t being achieved is tough, and if you are spending more than you are generating and cash piles are dwindling, now is the time to address your financial position. One of the great benefits of a startup is their ability to be agile and adapt quickly to a changing environment.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Architecture Revenue Channel 157

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

You may have read my previous posts about the Lean LaunchPad class taught at Stanford , Berkeley, Columbia , Caltech and for the National Science Foundation. I wondered if business plans and 5-year forecasts were the right way to plan a startup. So what would a search process for a business model look like?

Lean 317

Lean Georgia Michigan Business Model 317