Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2017

I was having a second coffee with an ex student, now the head of a marketing inside a rapidly growing startup. But he was getting uneasy that as his headcount was growing the productivity of his marketing department seemed to be rapidly declining. Titles in a startup are not the same as what your job is. All good news.

Startup 310

Startup PR Public Relations Channel 310

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2012

So, here goes: Dr. Tony Karrer Over the past 15 years, Tony has been a part-time CTO for more than 30 startups. Select Startup CTO Speaking Topics Ten Lessons from Working on 30+ Startups Over the Past 15 Years Tony looks back over his experience working with startups and extracts elements that have led to success or failure.

Fractional CTO 175

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Social Network 175

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. Process Versus Product.

Government 315

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 315

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. Jim Murphy is a long-time agile practitioner in startups. But startups sometimes have trouble applying agile successfully. Thats pretty clear.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 21, 2013

Creators of new products in environments of extreme uncertainty, startups face enormous risks. As a startup owner, what can you do to improve your chances? Through rapid experimentation, short product development cycles, and rigorous measurements of the right metrics, they can ascertain what customers really want.

Lean 193

Lean Technical Review North America Startup 193

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

I'm going to be looking at aspects like: Things to consider before building your MVP Features often overlooked when documenting an MVP for developers Understanding important metrics you want to measure Risks and challenges in developing an MVP. What's Going to Go Wrong A lot of founders don't really understand Lean Startup principles.

Technical Cofounder 219

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Developers Software Development 219

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why vanity metrics are dangerous In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In this post, Id like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics. My personal favorite vanity metrics is "hits."

Metrics 167

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 7, 2022

The problem is even more exacerbated for certain industries and niches; for example, startup SEO is becoming more difficult at a faster rate than marketing for more established companies. Focusing on vanity metrics can be damaging to your long-term potential. But why is this the case? What are the root causes? Which tools are best?

Marketing 198

Marketing Advertising Metrics Technical Review 198

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 4, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, April 4, 2010 Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Kent Beck will give the opening keynote at the Startup Lessons Learned conference on April 23. His keynote will kick off the day as well as our module on the build phase of the fundamental feedback loop that powers all startups.

Agile 99

Agile Software Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

As a consultant, I hate to see you lose that startup focus on innovation, change, and customers. As companies grow, they tend to become more structured, to the point of discouraging risk by team members, and using metrics to identify mistakes and allocate bonuses. Use external sources for growth and change versus internal.

Artificial Inteligence 385

Artificial Inteligence Startup Metrics Agile 385

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 6, 2013

Once again, along with my partners at 500 Startups, we are proud to present the most substantive track at SXSW: [link] There was a running joke last year that "the Lean Startup track was the only place at SXSW you couldn't get out of the building." 1,000 startup founders, investors, and press! We're back!

Lean 165

Lean Cofounder Startup Software Engineering 165

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, November 6, 2008 Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile I thought Id share an interesting post from someone with a decidedly anti-agile point of view. Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile : "Google is an exceptionally disciplined company, from a software-engineering perspective.

Agile 76

Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 3, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, August 3, 2009 Minimum Viable Product: a guide One of the most important lean startup techniques is called the minimum viable product. I was delighted to be asked to give a brief talk about the MVP at the inaugural meetup of the lean startup circle here in San Francisco.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Since the startup environment is usually more volatile, the challenge there in balancing advantage, risk, and performance, is more critical than in big companies. This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time.

Agile 290

Agile Startup Metrics Leadership 290

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2023

Bezos believes that if you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your agility, and thus grow the business more rapidly. Use metrics and data to quantify progress and return. Unfortunately, continuing to perform without collecting business data or measuring customer metrics is a recipe for failure.

Metrics 279

Metrics Startup Agile Salary 279

ctotodevelopers.blogspot.com

JULY 11, 2012

Social, Agile, and Transformation. I cover several topics including agile software development, software startups, web 2.0, Strategic Agile Thinking: Balancing Value, Innovation and Research. 2) The agile "happy place". Agile teams sprint when value is known, implementation is low risk.

Agile 40

Agile Architecture Offshore Software Developers 40

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 16, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. As Lean Startup methods have been used now for a number of years, we’ve become increasingly interested in how companies use them to sustain growth. One good example is the way in which we''ve adjusted the length of different phases of our agile sprints.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Software Engineering Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, July 13, 2009 The Principles of Product Development Flow If youve ever wondered why agile or lean development techniques work, The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development by Donald G. Reinertsen is the book for you.

Product Development 153

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 153

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

In contrast, it left several e-trends: augmented reality, zero coding, the marketplace boom, and product subscriptions are just a few of them. With the help of voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, you can purchase the product just by saying it while running errands. We will deliver product x every three months with free shipping.”

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, March 25, 2009 The Lean Startup at Agile Vancouver April 21st A surprising number of respondents in the latest Lessons Learned survey hail from one of the flourishing startup hubs in Canada. This workshop brings together leading thinkers from Lean Production and Lean software.

Agile 60

Agile Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 4, 2015

It’s no secret that setting goals is critical to achieving any kind of success, and making sure they’re realistic and measurable is vital to maintaining momentum and motivation, especially in the startup game. The challenge for most startups is that they don’t just have a few goals — they have every goal. How OKRs Can Help.

Agile 100

Agile Startup Cofounder Metrics 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. Importantly we also discussed: should startups raise small amounts of money or large? how should you organize teams in a startup? functional workgroups vs. product workgroups).

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Make sure that metrics and goals are set up front, and not modified as the project progresses. The result is a loss of trust by your team, increased volatility, and lower productivity by all members of the team. Provide assessments based wholly on facts. Delegate control commensurate with accountability.

Metrics 331

Metrics Retention Agile Startup 331

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 5, 2021

Similarly, many new businesses emerging in the modern world begin with a remote work model; it makes financial sense for young, cash-strapped businesses to save money and remain agile. If you and your team are used to working remotely, working in an office will be a major challenge for both productivity and morale. Hybrid Models.

Startup 120

Startup Security Operations Agile 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 17, 2017

Army’s Rapid Equipping Force on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan finding and deploying technology solutions against agile insurgents. This process also helps identify who the customers for possible solutions would be, who the internal stakeholders would be, and even what initial minimum viable products might look like.

Community 212

Community Silicon Valley Technical Review Incubator 212

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, October 5, 2008 The product managers lament Life is not easy when youre working in an old-fashioned waterfall development process, no matter what role you play. I met one recently that is working on a really innovative product, and the stories I heard from their development team made me want to cringe.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, contributing editor of Lean Startup Co. It’s been exciting to watch the Lean Startup movement grow from a practice utilized in the tech world to one implemented in a wide variety of sectors ranging from enterprise to education, religious organizations, nonprofits, and government groups.

Government 165

Government Lean Startup San Francisco 165

Steve Blank

MARCH 26, 2019

The class was unique in that it was 1) team-based, 2) experiential, 3) lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering). When we started this class, the concept of Lean (business models, customer development, agile, pivots, mvp’s) was new to everyone. Class Velocity/Depth.

Lean 248

Lean Business Model Balance Sheet Video 248

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Just look at the disruptive challenges that businesses face today– globalization, China as a manufacturer, China as a consumer, the Internet, and a steady stream of new startups. Perhaps that’s because where established companies might see risks or threats, startups see opportunity. We legalized robbing the corporate treasury.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

They outline and give some positive recommendations to counter the key organizational impediments to fast transformation that I see all too often, even in businesses with top management committed to first-mover speed and agility: Passive resistance to change from within the organization. Transformation fatigue from continual challenges.

Agile 307

Agile Advisory Board Metrics Asia 307

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 8, 2008 The lean startup Ive been thinking for some time about a term that could encapsulate trends that are changing the startup landscape. After some trial and error, Ive settled on the Lean Startup. Of course, many startups are capital efficient and generally frugal.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, June 2, 2010 The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business Review) I continue my series for Harvard Business Review with the Lean Startup technique called Five Whys. Five Whys has its origins in the Toyota Production System. Five Whys has its origins in the Toyota Production System.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Strategic proficiency.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 16, 2009 What is Lean about the Lean Startup? That foundational idea, so clearly articulated in books like Lean Thinking, is what originally led me to start using the term lean startup. The following is a guest post for Startup Lessons Learned by the legendary Kent Beck.

Lean 140

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

No business or startup wants to be the next Myspace, or even the next RIM (BlackBerry), where changes in the marketplace were subtle. For example, if it’s getting harder to charge a price premium for the product you’re marketing, or others are offering your subscription service for free, it may be time to start thinking in a new box.

Metrics 277

Metrics Agile Community Government 277

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

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 31, 2018

One of the speakers at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , which kicks off on November 14th in Las Vegas, is Giff Constable. Giff is a repeat entrepreneur whose companies include Neo, a product innovation consulting firm where he worked with organizations like the Mayo Clinic and Time, Inc. before it was acquired by Pivotal.

Lean 335

Lean Las Vegas Startup Dividend 335