article thumbnail

Why The Government is Isn’t a Bigger Version of a Startup

Steve Blank

Indeed, Silicon Valley was born as a center for weapon systems development and its software and silicon helped end the Cold War. Within a decade, the rise of venture capital in Silicon Valley enabled startups to find commercial customers rather than military ones. So, the question is: What’s next?

article thumbnail

One Hand Clapping – Entrepreneurship In Ann Arbor, Michigan

Steve Blank

I spent a few days in March in Ann Arbor Michigan as a guest of Professor Thomas Zurbuchen , Associate Dean for Entrepreneurial Programs, and Doug Neal , Director of Center for Entrepreneurship in the Engineering School at the University of Michigan. Visiting Silicon Valley you can’t mistake that its primary business is innovation.

Michigan 307
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Reinventing the Board Meeting – Part 2 of 2 – Virtual Valley Ventures

Steve Blank

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. Silicon Valley, New York). The result – an instant technology cluster – with equity at a fraction of Silicon Valley prices. It might be possible to create Virtual Valley Ventures.

article thumbnail

Agile Opportunism – Entrepreneurial DNA « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

My first job in Silicon Valley: I was hired as a lab technician at ESL to support the training department. I packed up my life in Michigan and spent five days driving to California to start work. I packed up my life in Michigan and spent five days driving to California to start work. Driving across the U.S.

Agile 245
article thumbnail

The Story Behind the Secret History Part II. Getting B-52s through.

Steve Blank

Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System Posted on March 29, 2009 by steveblank This is post II of how I came to write “ The Secret History of Silicon Valley “ 1974. hoping to miss the incoming Soviet ICBMs and SLBMs intended to destroy the bombers, the base and a good chunk of Michigan. Reply Ben C. ,

article thumbnail

Founders and dysfunctional families « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

We agreed that all her founding CEOs seemed to have the same set of personality traits – tenacious, passionate, relentless, resilient, agile, and comfortable operating in chaos. I coach agile teams for a living, and I do most of my work with start-ups. I said, “well for me you’d have to add coming from a dysfunctional family.”

Founder 297
article thumbnail

Innovation, Change and the Rest of Your Life

Steve Blank

I lived through the time when working in my first job in Ann Arbor Michigan we had to get out a map to find out that San Jose was not only in Puerto Rico but there was a city with that same name in California. I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco.

Restful 222