Up and Running

AUGUST 8, 2018

It only takes an hour each month, keeps the management team up to speed on everything that’s going on in the company, and helps us plan and manage in a lean and effective way. We always spend time drilling into the numbers, beyond the top-line revenue and expenses to better understand what the drivers were behind our performance.

Software Review 65

Software Review Business Plan Product Forecast 65

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

.&# In the next posts that follow, I’ll describe how this model’s failures led to the Customer Development Model – offering a new way to approach startup sales and marketing activities. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned. The board raises a collective eyebrow.

Customer Development 233

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 233

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 31, 2010

It was the little precambrian warm-blooded agile (oh sorry, now we're saying "lean") rodents who adapted by getting "outside the nest" to discover how to eat cockroaches, because we all know that cockroaches are the one form of life that can survive anything. What are your experiences with meeting dinosaurs on the sales floor?

Software Review 243

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Software Developers 243

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Consumer Internet investing seems to have split off from traditional Venture Capital, and is creating a new category of VC’s: Lean VC’s. I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. The Rise of the “Lean VC’s” – Consumer Internet Gets Funded. Lean VC’s are Different.

Lean 265

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 265

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. Oh yes, and retail sales doubled with the new product packaging.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. If I get sales I will expand on the site. It slices, it dices. November 9, 2008 5:40 PM Chris said.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

In the last few years Agile and “Continuous Deployment” has replaced Waterfall and transformed how companies big and small build products. Agile is a tremendous advance in reducing time, money and wasted product development effort – and in having products better match customer needs. The Old Days – Waterfall Product Development.

Continuous Deployment 332

Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 332

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. It needs the tools and processes pioneered in Lean Startups. This is a big idea. What Does this Mean?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

But what I wanted was an agile marketing team capable of operating independently without day-to-day direction. And it was going to mention the two words that SuperMac marketing needed to live and breathe: revenue and profit. The first reaction from my CEO was, “that’s why you’re running the department.” Two paragraphs, Five bullets.

Silicon Valley 271

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 271

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

He says the “create” approach means working on your project until you’re certain it’s completely polished and looks like the top products in the market, and your strategies and sales tools are all top-notch before you ever think of launching. Two of my startups failed because I was so busy “creating” or perfecting the products.

Acquisition 93

Acquisition Startup Engineer Metrics 93

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Now its time to start to think seriously about how to find a repeatable and scalable sales process, how to position and market the product, and how to build a product development team that can turn an early product into a Whole Product. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May. for Harvard Business Revie.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

There are few courses which teach aspiring entrepreneurs the skills (business models, customer and agile development, design thinking, etc.) We’ll build the class around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. General Marketing, Sales Funnel, etc. to optimize this search.

Wiki 318

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 318

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

How Does Customer Development, Agile Development and Lean Startups Fit? Agile Development is the way startups quickly iterate their product as they learn. A Lean Startup is Eric Ries’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source.

Agile 335

Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. Over its lifetime a Lean Startup may spend less money than a traditional startup. Lets see why.

Lean 263

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 263

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

When I reviewed a recent product development book, it immediately shot up to Amazon sales rank 300. Just like in the world of startups, we can start to use micro-scale pilot programs, executed in lean fashion, to gather real facts for making ROI decisions about new project investment. What is the right revenue model?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

More agile competitors are starting to eat into our business. They’ve figured out the revenue model (subscription, license, direct sale, etc.) Therefore, in a large company, failure to meet a goal – revenue, product delivery, service, etc.– Now we’re known for “making the numbers,” living on our past successes.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Hershey just bought Krave Jerky, a team in our 2011 Berkeley Lean LaunchPad class, for >$200 million. These new entrants disrupted their food categories by offering high quality proprietary recipes, outsourcing their manufacturing, and using their cash and resources on sales and marketing to build distribution and a differentiated brand.

North America 120

North America Lean Customer Development Distribution 120

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, October 30, 2008 John Doerrs 10 lean startup tips I just saw video of John Doerrs talk yesterday at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn&# roundtable event. Not just about expenses, about increasing revenue. Everyone from the receptionist to engineers is selling.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

And your revenue plan is something more than a hallucination. Large companies had VP’s of Sales and Marketing, so VC’s made startups organize that way as well. Our Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford , Berkeley, Columbia and the National Science Foundation teach the combined Business Model Canvas + Customer Development tools.

Business Model 270

Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 270

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue? The Lean Startup is the way most innovators build startups and innovate inside of existing companies. From Revenue Streams to Mission Achievement. Revenue Streams changes to Mission Achievement.

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

But did you know that founder Markus Frind has just 3 employees for his $10MM+ revenue business? The servers are in the cloud, his advertising sales is with Google, etc. The reason is that putting a sales force in the field with limited inventory is very, very expensive. He basically outsources everything. PR/Marketing. .]…

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. In the next few posts that follow, I’ll describe how thinking of a solution to this model’s failures led to the Customer Development Model – that offers a new way to approach startup sales and marketing activities.

Customer Development 229

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 229

YoungUpstarts

MAY 14, 2019

According to the Workplace 2025 study released in 2017 by Randstad US, by 2025 a majority of the workforce will be employed in an agile capacity, as a consultant, contractor, temporary, or freelance employee. In fact, the report predicted that as early as this year, as much as 50 percent of the workforce will be comprised of agile workers.

Agile 100

Agile Artificial Inteligence Salary Reputation 100

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Here’s what they discovered: They found firms that quickly institute formal mechanisms such as operation budgets, cash budgets, and financial monitoring systems (tools that measure profitability, customer acquisition costs, variance from actual budget, and so forth) had higher growth rates in terms of revenues and headcount. Be compliant.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Software Review Balance Sheet Partner 60

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Gathering real-world feedback from customers is a core concept of Customer Development as well as the Lean Startup. You assemble this view by gathering information from a variety of sources: web sites, social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, et al) sales data, win/loss information, market research data (i.e. Only 57 Questions.

Metrics 243

Metrics Customer Customer Development Lean 243

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 20, 2021

Specifically, here is what we’re planning to work on: Quadruple our gross revenue and total cases/consultations. Delegate work and train other lawyers on my team to do consultations (sales) not as I do but BETTER than I do! Add an income stream (new area of practice) that will be diversifying our business’ revenue.

Entrepreneur 118

Entrepreneur Mobile Valuation Global 118

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. Lean Planning is born. At the time, we used Business Plan Pro and Basecamp for this.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

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. After twelve months Handspring’s revenue was $170 million. End result?

Customer Development 222

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 222

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 16, 2010

First, SlideShare is a fantastic product (that I use on a regular basis) and an impressive company example of Lean Startup practices in action. Second, their story illustrates a key Lean Startup idea: proving the business in micro-scale. Second, their story illustrates a key Lean Startup idea: proving the business in micro-scale.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Analytics Continuous Deployment 167

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Depending on its complexity, new product development can last for years, accruing research, prototyping, and production costs without bringing in revenue. And we charge money for it.” – Eric Ries, The Lean Startup. But in many cases, the introduction stage is marked by slow-to-moderate sales and little profit.

Product 142

Product Marketing Software Review Social Media 142

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. Step 1: Start with a lean plan. In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products. The business model.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2013

It’s been fun watching a 20th Century entrepreneur learn new tricks as he builds his next startup, FindTheBest using Lean Methodology. Lean Start-up Connection: Business Model Canvas. By leaning on our technology, we knew we could build cheaply, we just didn’t know how cheaply. Here’s Kevin’s story to date.

Lean 302

Lean Agile Customer Development SEO 302

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2020

Carl was also worldwide head of stores at Home Depot when Hurricane Katrina hit, running sales out of the backs of trucks and accepting IOUs for payment. And the truth is that's yesterday and you don't really have the ability to change what you did yesterday, but what you do have the ability today, is to lean into this.

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Balance Sheet Texas Austin 148

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 13, 2021

Specifically, here is what we’re planning to work on: Quadruple our gross revenue and total cases/consultations. Delegate work and train other lawyers on my team to do consultations (sales) not as I do but BETTER than I do! Add an income stream (new area of practice) that will be diversifying our business’ revenue.

Entrepreneur 62

Entrepreneur Mobile Valuation Global 62

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Execution by Vertical Market As the class progressed, students asked how the activities/functions of a startup; (Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Development, etc.) For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Sales – What Channel to reach the customer? Waterfall, Agile, Lean?

Vertical 126

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 126

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2017

Marketing isn’t scheduling a launch and recruiting isn’t timing the start-dates of the next 50 hires in customer service and sales. We didn’t line up that press and have those sales materials and ensure code-quality high enough to scale on day one, without predictability. This means you can — and should!

Government 223

Government Startup Cofounder Technical Support 223

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. How can established companies benefit from implementing Lean Startup? Of course, you can also continue the conversation by attending The Lean Startup Conference. What can Lean Startup do about this? They’ll jump in to answer in the coming days. (Of

Lean 167

Lean Silicon Valley Agile Cofounder 167