Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ) Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique. Recognizing the ability of these teams to produce real results, 38 members of the venture and private equity community dialed in to these presentations.

Oakland 313

Oakland Asia Lean Video 313

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Retool how your company works and operates today. Make sure your hiring practices include diversity, inclusion, and equity. Practice your agility. I recently saw that many companies were slow in adopting pandemic required virtual workplaces, plexiglass barriers, and restaurant tables outside.

Agile 321

Agile Differentiation Lead Generation Social Media 321

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 3, 2018

And to achieve that, you must be bold, agile, innovative, asset-light, and incredibly in sync with your customers. Set up flexible, focused teams to tackle those strategic priorities for which speed and agility are crucial, and empower these teams to take fast action. Admittedly, this is no small task. The transition has been painful.

Agile 113

Agile Malaysia Private Equity Non-Compete 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Building a business requires funding – for inventory, marketing, and operations. Maybe you are more comfortable going slow, with limited resources, or aiming high and giving up equity. Commitment, tenacity, and agility are key in this stage. The test – iterate and pivot, based on market feedback.

Entrepreneur 348

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Incubator Merger 348

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. You may know how much to pay in cash or equity for your new VP Engineering. The Agile Board. What Rob wrote in his post is right.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Steve Blank

MAY 3, 2022

The Pentagon’s relationship with startups and commercial companies, already an arms-length one, is hindered by a profound lack of understanding about how the commercial innovation ecosystem works and its failure of imagination about what venture and private equity funded innovation could offer. ” Acquire at Speed.

Ukraine 316

Ukraine China Private Equity Russia 316

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

In fact, it was only 7 years ago that Apple shipped its first iPhone and Google introduced its Android operating system. In spite of this, private equity funds have used the rallying cry of efficiency to hijack corporate strategy and loot the profits that historically would have been reinvested into research and development and new products.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 20, 2023

Key Takeaway: Digital transformation requires organizations to rewire their processes and operations, leveraging new technologies to achieve value. Every year inbound brings together leaders across business, sales, marketing, customer success, operations, and more. 07:01): And a real fundamental change in the operating model.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Silicon Valley Generative AI Arizona 63

The Equity Kicker

MAY 7, 2013

As much as I seek to empower our portfolio companies to do what they think is right and to avoid over-planning I sympathise with these ‘traditional managers’ in the sense that when you switch from operating with a detailed operating plan to operating without one it feels like you are flying blind.

Development Team Review 94

Development Team Review Business Plan Agile Operations 94

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators – disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost. KPI’s and processes are the root cause of corporations’ inability to be agile and responsive innovators.

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Board Effect

AUGUST 14, 2023

Cybersecurity risks, requirements for climate change and environmental mitigation, and diversity and equity policies and practices are all part of an increasingly complex oversight job. Smaller boards may be more agile.” More agile, yes. The digital transformation organizations are undergoing also poses risks and opportunities.

Agile 52

Agile Government Equity Leadership 52

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Yet many entrepreneurs rely on expensive outside services and outside money, rather than do the networking for a co-founder or two who have the right skills to work for equity. Creative and determined entrepreneurs always find ways to get people to work for equity, barter services or share later revenue rather than pay cash up front.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Cofounder Equity Agile 120

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Agile project management tool that enables real time collaboration. Agile project management. agile product management. agile product management and Scrum tool. Agile project management tool collaborative product life-cycle. Automates Agile / Scrum development. Agile eLearning. Founder Equity Issues.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2020

13:58) Advice for companies who think it's too late to start looking for new ways to operate, including some examples from Austin, Texas. (15:55) And then from there, I was running a fitness company on the west coast by the name of 24 Hour Fitness, which was private equity backed and quite a bit of debt. Let's go."

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Balance Sheet Texas Austin 148

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2015

military can work together – for access to advanced technology and to learn how to move with agility, speed and urgency. military and are now helping government agencies operate with the speed and urgency of Silicon Valley. Army special operations before retiring from active duty service in 2014.

Channel 120

Channel Japan Bosnia Silicon Valley 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 22, 2016

Once they make the decision to start their business, they must operate at full throttle almost immediately. Goldstein, author of “ Why Are There Snowblowers in Miami? “. Start-up companies obviously face many difficulties. Still, established companies need to take a page from start-ups.

Private Equity 100

Private Equity Miami Equity Early Stage 100

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

2010 Operating Income: $16 million. Obviously most of these employees are working hard primarily for equity upside compensation, but Kayak’s personnel costs are roughly $200K/head so the company is highly productive on a per employee basis. Gross Margin: 94% –> i.e. for every $1 of revenue Kayak only spends $0.06

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about gender equity in the high-tech and entrepreneurship worlds lately. I’ve seen many times what happens when a single department get’s holed-up in its own space, like the terrifying “ operations cave.&# This is a good thing. (I We have a lot of introspection to do.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. Founders operate in a chaotic regime. The result – an instant technology cluster – with equity at a fraction of Silicon Valley prices. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

Silicon Valley 289

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 289

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2021

It’s a strategy used by software providers like SAP and IBM i2 , whose systems are vital to companies’ operations. . Strategy expert, Gary Fox , defines growth marketing as: “An agile and adaptive marketing methodology that focuses on how to get, grow and keep customers.”. If not, brand equity is your strongest asset.

Product 142

Product Marketing Software Review Social Media 142

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

You get to call all the shots, including how you want to operate the business and who you want to be involved. You might also be giving investors too much equity early on, as the risk is extremely high for them in the beginning stages of growing a SaaS company.”. Noah says, “Agile is what most software companies use.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

So BigCos and scaling startups, with increasingly valuable equity, are enjoying a perfect storm for acqhires. In the world of web startups, you can hire individuals and try to make the team hum, or you can buy an agile group that you know can perform. And it’s only going to get louder.

Burn Rate 90

Burn Rate Agile Equity Hiring 90

Agile VC

OCTOBER 29, 2014

The income these investments generate then help fund the operations of those organizations or capital investment (e.g. There’s a wide range of intermediaries for venture capital and private equity investment, each with its own structure and business model. new buildings, etc). What Are These Intermediaries?

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital LP Private Equity Institutional Investors 279

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

There’s different flavors or derivations of these… e-tailers and marketplaces are both e-commerce businesses but differ in operational model, growth patterns, and profit margins. To be fair the broad equity markets are up strongly over this time period, but clearly growth has been strongly favored.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Late stage rounds help keep companies private longer and eventually Facebook proves to be a blockbuster company… public equity investors hope to find the next Facebook pre-IPO. Two of the three have gross margins <50% (AMZN is 40%, AAPL 38%, MSFT 67%) and one has operating profit margins <5% (AMZN 4%, AAPL 22%, MSFT 34%).

IPO 100

IPO Early Stage Cofounder B2C 100

Agile VC

DECEMBER 6, 2012

This person is an experienced CEO and a veteran of several startups, yet appreciating this nuance of how VC’s operate their business was relatively unfamiliar to him. I was talking with an entrepreneur recently about this phenomenon.

LP 178

LP Balance Sheet Differentiation Limited Partner 178

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

I’ll focus for now on the business itself, there’s plenty of other info on the web if you care to understand the equity ownership or financing history of Facebook and frankly this has been fairly well known for awhile. ==. who derive a meaningful chunk of their revenue from operating ad networks. Facebook, Inc.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Occam's Razor

APRIL 23, 2012

We are trying to… This is the operative word: Trying. But if you want to be an agile, nimble competitor, it is a discussion you have to have. We are trying to figure out if our latest redesign was a success ("Look, time on site moved from 3 mins to 900, awesome!"). The reality is that there is a vacuum there.

Metrics 152

Metrics Analytics Search Channel 152

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Lots of us woke up this morning to an email from Reed Hastings about Netflix splitting it’s streaming and DVD-by-mail businesses into two separate operations (each w/ it’s own brand). A slow-growth, but cash rich business like this could be a better fit for a retailer, private equity fund, or other type of owner in the longer run.

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Private Equity Seed Stage Syndicate 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

In the modern age public market investors, whether they be focused on equities (stocks), fixed income (bonds), currencies, commodities, or derivatives of these, all have access to essentially the same investment choices and the same body of information. How do you win?

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Framework Silicon Valley Early Stage 100

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

My way of explaining our support and service role to the marketing department was that: Sales is the sharp end of the stick, and marketing at best, is the stick. But while the sales team works for commission, the rest of the employees have equity (stock) in the company. Don’t let this happen to your company.

Silicon Valley 132

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 132

Rob Go

JULY 22, 2014

How should you operate in frothy times? Besides, there is a lot more to happiness and self-worth than the dollars in your bank account or the value of whatever equity you own. Maintain agility. This includes both new funds being started with unusual backers , as well as later rounds being led by non-traditional entities.

Valuation 52

Valuation Agile Equity Acquisition 52

Agile VC

MARCH 5, 2019

Lyft essentially operates it’s own internal insurance entity, so they deposit funds into an insurance trust periodically and then recognize expenses when claims are paid out. It appears they will beat Uber to IPO, so helpfully they can frame this new category of “transportation as a service” in the minds of public equity investors.

Aggregator 100

Aggregator .Net Revenue IPO 100

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

Most of our management tools, like planning and forecasting, require a long and stable operating history. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Anyone who is trying to innovate without knowing what's going to happen is an entrepreneur, their venture is a startup.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167