Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

In the last five years “ Lean Startup ” methodologies have enabled entrepreneurs to efficiently build a startup by searching for product/market fit rather than blindly trying to execute. Here the company executes a known business model (known customers, product features, competitors, pricing, distribution channel, supply chain, etc.)

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Master of 500 Hats: Startup Metrics for Pirates (SeedCamp 2008, London) This presentation should be required reading for anyone creating a startup with an online service component. 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.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

In addition to presenting the IMVU case, we tried for the first time to do an overview of a software engineering methodology that integrates practices from agile software development with Steves method of Customer Development. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

Customer Development 131

Customer Development Engineer San Francisco Developer 131

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Customer Development suggests that founders have continual and timely customer, channel and market information. Web startups are at real disadvantage here as founders may confuse web metrics, A/B testing and on-line surveys as the entirety of first-hand knowledge – for most web business models they are not. Continual Data Flow.

Metrics 242

Metrics Customer Customer Development Lean 242

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

But what I wanted was an agile marketing team capable of operating independently without day-to-day direction. To do that we will create end-user demand and drive it into the sales channel, educate the channel and customers about why our products are superior, and help Engineering understand customer needs and desires.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 269

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

Mass blasts of information are ineffective, because the broadcast channels are suffering from information overload (even in social media). Test-marketing is now easier than ever before, thanks to leveraged distribution channels like AdWords and Facebook. There are too many products clamoring for attention. Is that a lot?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

In 2007, BusinessWeek named Ries one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech and in 2009 he was honored with a TechFellow award in the category of Engineering Leadership. Without those open and yet expert-filled channels, it might have taken me many years more to correct my naivety and fill out my understanding of core topics.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

They would make commercials about a new book series, and then run the commercials at times when the TV rates were low (late night, UHF channels, etc) If they got enough orders, they then decided to print the series. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

SuperMac sold our graphic boards for the Macintosh through multiple distribution channels: direct sales to major accounts, national chains, independent rep firms, etc. But the computer retail channel was a large part of our sales. Or blame my MarCom department who approved it. Worry about the sales results. What did we learn?

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

We have two great teaching assistants , plus we’ve rounded up a team of 25 mentors (VC’s and entrepreneurs) to help coach the teams. There are few courses which teach aspiring entrepreneurs the skills (business models, customer and agile development, design thinking, etc.) Why Teach This Class? to optimize this search.

Wiki 316

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 316

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 17, 2011

I had lunch with one of my favorite Internet entrepreneurs today, Mark Sawyier , the CEO of Off Campus Media. Understand your distribution channel, or how you reach your customers. Don't just rely on Facebook friends and other virtual methods in building your channel. Take risks, innovate constantly and learn from your mistakes.

Internet 142

Internet St. Louis New York City Entrepreneur 142

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

I have counseled innumerable entrepreneurs to change their focus to revenue, and many companies who refuse this advice get themselves into trouble by running out of iterations. Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. Because they have no presence in the market, they have to find distribution channels to bring in customers.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 18, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, January 18, 2010 Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases non-events The following is a case study of one entrepreneurs transition from a traditional development cycle to continuous deployment. Many people still find this idea challenging, even for companies that operate solely on the web.

Continuous Deployment 151

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Lean Wiki 151

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

She has a separate team, with its own culture and office, and a mandate straight from top management to innovate without regard to the company’s historic products, channels, or supply chain. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do. So far, so good.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Today, Id like to spend some time on two techniques: the problem presentation and learning what channels of information reach customers. In particular, Ive focused on the two channels of communication that were most commonly suggested in the first survey: conferences and books. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2010

Metrics That Matter (Business Model Metrics). Each case study was a real world example of an issue an entrepreneur might encounter as they were building a company. None of the students were domain experts in their areas, and each team had to figure out how to contact potential customers and channel partners.

Intellectual Property 257

Intellectual Property Business Model Customer Development Distribution 257

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

This is another sub-optimization caused by incentivizing the wrong metric. Given that most recruiting channels are pay-for-performance, its usually cheaper, too, because it has a lower conversion rate. Thanks for taking the time to pass all this wisdom on to entrepreneurs. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

Lean 140

Lean Hiring San Francisco Continuous Deployment 140

Up and Running

JUNE 23, 2015

The business model is innovative and unique, and the business itself serves as a fantastic “how to” example for entrepreneurs looking to start a social, mission-driven business. ” Maternova also reaches out directly to entrepreneurs who are developing these products. We will work until we get it right.”

Cofounder 60

Cofounder Sweat Equity Social Media Business Model 60

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

We combined three tactics: extensive use of free software, an open platform for user-generated content, and leveraged distribution channels. Leveraged distribution channels. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 16, 2010

Because the stakes were high, they had to successfully use a technique I call Innovation inside the box which is important for entrepreneurs inside established companies of all sizes. Early this year, SlideShare launched custom channels. The idea seemed to SlideShare to be a natural direction. But that’s just part of the story.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Analytics Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 24, 2009 The metrics and levers of engagement, presentation on Engagement Loops for Facebook Developer Garage SF Ill be presenting a talk at the Facebook Developer Garage SF Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, its easy to lose track of positioning effects when optimizing for a single metric.

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

What are those metrics? Andrew : If you are a travel company right now, I think you’re seeing very specific metrics dropping. As a result of that, all of those metrics go up. I think that will cause new entrepreneurs to maybe second guess on where they want to be.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

To give you a better idea of what entrepreneurs in this industry are thinking about during each phase of the startup process, I interviewed SaaS entrepreneurs from all over the world, including our own COO Noah Parsons. In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2017

The beauty of social media surveys (for all of the founders who either have their own following, or are somehow able to garner enough support to hijack other channels or groups for a serious social gauging) is that they’re quick and easy to execute. I invite you to be that entrepreneur: Validate like your life depended on it.

Business Plan 94

Business Plan PPC Lean Campaign 94

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 30, 2019

You’ve got to diversify your marketing channels and tactics. Test marketing campaigns across multiple channels to gain a wide range of information quickly. This diversified strategy will ensure that you can find the right channels to market in before spending too much time on the campaigns themselves. Don’t go it alone.

Lean 91

Lean Small Business Software Review Marketing 91

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

In a previous post , I asked readers for suggested topics that the US government needs to know about startups and entrepreneurs, and got some really interesting responses. Unfortunately, this program applies to the investor who holds the capital, and not the entrepreneur who discovers how to put that capital to use.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Founder DC Washington 150

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 31, 2009

My overwhelming takeaway from the most recent Lessons Learned survey is that there is tremendous hunger out there for in-depth opportunities for entrepreneurs of all stripes to develop their lean startup skills. As you can tell from recent posts, Ive been experimenting with different formats and channels to try and find the best way to help.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

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. While that’s not true, it is a fact that entrepreneurs only have one word for “startup.” End result?

Customer Development 220

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 220

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

Ive never seen such a mixed crowd of entrepreneurs, vendors, and policy makers all in one place. g2s The very abbreviated version of Customer Development (channeling Steve Blank ). Do course correction called a "pivot". - @ericries "Most exciting time in history be an entrepreneur." #g2s Summit in Washington DC last week.

San Francisco 92

San Francisco DC Washington Lean 92

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The App Store is a channel for customer acquisition. As the channel gets more and more crowded, just launching an app in the store is getting worse and worse as a strategy for each new entrant. On the web, we have many of these channels: SEM, SEO, world of mouth, PR and viral. October 14, 2008 1:05 PM Th.Khangs said.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 11, 2009

Those who have tried to build apps that exist just as glorified landing pages or marketing channels have generally failed. And, most importantly, you have several reliable communciation channels to talk to them including including email, profile notifications, feed items and status messages. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Social Network Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Again, its critical to focus your marketing launch on those publications, venues, and channels that your potential partners are paying attention to. Figuring this out takes time, and few entrepreneurs have the patience to wait it out, because the business plan does such a good job of explaining what customers are going to think.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

Ramon Ray , a successful entrepreneur, speaker, best selling author, and one of the country’s top small business experts, meets with thousands of small business owners every year. You’re going to need some brand health metrics to track. Brand identity is important for companies of all sizes, not just larger companies.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. And we can offer investors metrics to play Moneyball – with the Investment Readiness Level. We think we can do better. Here’s how.

Oakland 329

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 329

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 31, 2009

Maybe location-specific "channels"? The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

There are other models, in other distribution channels. As the AppStore becomes increasingly saturated one of the goals of the socialDeck platform is to create an alternative distribution channel -- a way to drive installs of casual games outside of the AppStore oligopoly. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

Distribution 74

Distribution San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 74

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

A business that strives for something like this should absolutely be charging money from day one, in order to establish baselines for their two key metrics: CPA (the cost to acquire a new customer) and LTV (the lifetime value of each acquired customer). The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156