Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Knowing this venture firms have come up with a canonical checklist of what they would like to see. Did the VC’s like your team ? I believe all this advice is wrong. The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I don’t have children yet but when I do, I know I’m going to want to make sure they’re intelligent, creative, compassionate, and self-confident—probably what every non-parent hopes for, right? Wishful thinking aside, I do still want to raise children who feel the world is their oyster. Rory’s Story Cubes: .

Stock 60

Stock Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60

Tim Keane

JUNE 19, 2012

  If I'm doing the referring it carries my implied endorsement of the person and venture being referred.  Because I value the relationship with people I know, I most probably will add some color to the "why" and explain what I think the benefit might be.  « | Main. It depends.

Milwaukee 79

Milwaukee Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 79

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

One of the things he mentioned was that when it came to decision-making he still tended to think and act like an engineer. And he recognized it was making his startup feel and act like a big ponderous company. It’s a perfect example of what I had in mind. The same is true in your company.

Silicon Valley 300

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 300

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Pattern Recognition One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that you are constantly running a pattern recognition algorithm against a continual collection of customer and market data. However, if the founder is still running the company, the last thing he wants is a company complacent with day-to-day execution.

Customer 195

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2009

Convergent Technologies When I was in my 20’s I worked at Convergent Technologies , a company that was proud to be known as the “Marine Corps of Silicon Valley.” I learned a lot at Convergent, going from product marketing manager in a small startup to VP of Marketing of the Unix Division as it became a public company.

Entrepreneur 276

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS 276

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Seeing as how it’s the end of another year, I thought I would take a shot at a 10 best list of my very own. But instead of focusing on just one category of thing, I am going to mix it up and make it about various resources any entrepreneur might benefit from. This is what I get when I read Paul Graham.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Redemption New York Cofounder 91

Software By Rob

JUNE 23, 2010

I was a judge at last night’s 59 days of code startup competition here in Fresno. The Categories There were two categories: zero-code and in progress. We judged based on a number of criteria, which can be seen at the bottom of this page , but they include things like usefulness, demo, UI, and differentiation.

Software Review 44

Software Review Fresno RSS Startup 44

Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

Fred Terman – the Cover Story I’d heard of Terman but I didn’t really know what he did – his biography said that he was one of the preeminent radio engineers in the 1930′s literally writing the textbooks. So I started to read all I could find on the development of microwaves.

Silicon Valley 180

Silicon Valley Technical Review Europe Germany 180

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. I was consulting for the two venture capital firms who between them put $12 million into my last failed startup. It was a long way from Ellis Island.)

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups, I had my ideas “stolen” twice. I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. See part one for the first time it happened. Are These Your Slides?

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Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

mashable.com

JULY 18, 2012

Like Tweet. Like Tweet. Like Tweet. Like Tweet +1 Share Pin It Share. One got added to the latter category Tuesday: design firm Cuban Council, which will be shipping off a portion of its team to help improve the look of Google+.). OUYA CEO: We’re Confident We Will Deliver. July 18, 2012 by Chris Taylor.

San Francisco 104

San Francisco Acquisition Social Media Mobile 104

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

During the first few weeks I asked each of my department heads what they did for marketing and the company. When I asked our trade show manager she looked at me like I was the house idiot and said, “Steve, don’t you know that my job is to set up our trade show booth?” Titles are not the same as what your job is.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

To do this they have to accomplish five things; 1) get deal flow – via networking and legwork, they identify likely industries, companies and teams with the potential for rapid growth (less than 10 years), 2) evaluate those companies and teams on the basis of technology, market opportunity, and team.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers?

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 8, 2009

At Ardent I learned many of them with a sharp smack on the side of the head from a brilliant but abusive boss. Not a process I recommend, but one in which the lessons stuck for a lifetime. I was pleased with myself that not only did I understand the issues, but I also had an opinion about what we should build.

Silicon Valley 271

Silicon Valley RSS Customer Development California 271

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

In 1978 when I joined my first company , information about how to start companies simply didn’t exist. Since I wasn’t an engineer, my contribution was around the team-building and fund raising. I was an idiot. I bet you weren’t confused about what hot meant after that. Berkeley and at Stanford. What did you do?

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Posted on June 11, 2009 by steveblank When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask them to take a walk around the block and ask themselves: Are you comfortable with: Chaos – startups are disorganized Uncertainty – startups never go per plan Are you: Resilient – at times you will fail – badly.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

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. With my offer letter in-hand I reported to ESL’s Human Resources (HR) department. I was stunned. I was stunned.

Agile 245

Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 245

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, October 4, 2008 About the author ( Update January, 2010: This post originally dates from October, 2008 back when I first started writing this blog. The most common feedback Ive heard from readers has been that I should provide details on my background. So much for timing.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Software By Rob

APRIL 16, 2010

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← I Need Your Help! Which Book Would You Be Most Likely to Buy? Either that or these podcasts have a lot fewer listeners than I thought. Nah, it’s the velocity thing.

Management 39

Management RSS Software Review Marketing 39

Software By Rob

JULY 20, 2010

While on paternity leave this week I read seven books. I haven’t had that much spare time, but I’ve been following my “if I’m not taking notes, toss it&# methodology, and wound up skimming through the better part of five of them. I recommend it. Check out my book Like this post?

Software Review 41

Software Review RSS Software Developers Software Development 41

eranki.tumblr.com

JULY 13, 2012

RSS Archive. I was in charge of scaling Dropbox for a while, from roughly 4,000 to 40,000,000 users. Here are some suggestions on scaling, particularly in a resource-constrained, fast-growing environment that can’t always afford to do things “the right way” (i.e., Rajivs blog. July 12, 2012. Rajiv Eranki.

Software Review 94

Software Review Database SQL Security 94

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

  I've seen that more than once, but I thought I was the only one talking about it.    It is very unusul and I wouldn't do it very often, but it's a possibility.   Like VCs, one of the advantages of seed firms is the advice they offer.  Starting Startups.   Yup. 

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. I knew everything about our operating system, hardware and applications – and I was going to prove it.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, September 18, 2008 How to get distribution advantage on the iPhone I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of iPhone-related companies lately. Even with only a few months of development, third parties have crammed every single category in the store full of apps. I cant really tell.

Distribution 74

Distribution San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 74

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Meanwhile our company was pouring an enormous amount of dollars into building tools and video compression technology, while also hiring a lot of high-priced Hollywood talent like art directors, and script and story editors. We Don’t Need Domain Experts When I looked around at our executive staff, there wasn’t a single founder who was a gamer.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Entrepreneur-in-Residence After SuperMac I had been approached by one of our venture investors to be an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), a Silicon Valley phrase which says one thing but means another. It really means that the VC’s would like to own a piece of you. It sounded like a great deal. Little did I know.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

femgineer.com

JULY 18, 2010

People constantly ask if I know people, where to find the so-called ’startup-engineers’, or even where the can find someone like me. Here are some things to think about for those on the recruiting side: 1. We like sitting at home or in coffee shops on our laptops coding away fun projects.

Engineer 41

Engineer Software Review Startup Technical Review 41

ctotodevelopers.blogspot.com

JULY 11, 2012

I cover several topics including agile software development, software startups, web 2.0, One of the issues I see with successful agile teams is the lack of strategic thinking on why and how they solve prioritized business needs. I call this the "happy place" because there is low business and technical risk, but it doesnt imply "easy".

Agile 40

Agile Architecture Offshore Software Developers 40

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

Reading this TechCrunch post made me remember the first time I saw someone confront a worldview they didn’t expect. Dinner in a Strange Land When I was in my mid 20′s working at ESL, I was sent overseas to a customer site where the customers were our three-letter intelligence agencies.

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

How should I finance my new venture? This seems like an easy topic – debt where there is appropriate cash flow, equity when there isn’t.    But details in each category vary dramatically.   Things don’t work that way in the real world, of course.  Startups and angels: Along the way to success.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2009

I was hired as a training instructor to teach microprocessor system design for the existing Z-80 family and to write a new course for Zilog’s soon to be launched 16-bit processor, the Z-8000. So our people in the field could correct any egregious design advice I gave to customers who mattered.

Silicon Valley 175

Silicon Valley Chad RSS San Francisco 175

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS How to pick a co-founder by Naval Ravikant on November 12th, 2009 Update : Also see our 40-minute interview on this topic. Guess which pair of famous co-founders is in this photo: Go through something difficult, like a Prisoner’s Dilemma or a Zero-Sum Game.

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

While I was waiting in the lobby to pick up my offer letter, the head of marketing communications (who was to be one of my direct reports) came up to me as I held my just signed employment agreement. I was impressed; this was something so important that she couldn’t wait for my first day. And I hadn’t even started work yet.

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 185

Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

First I need to make sure what we really learned was information we could base a company strategy on. As it happened there were quite a few industry analysts following software companies like Adobe, Aldus, and Quark, who happened to be the suppliers of the four key applications our customers said they used.

Silicon Valley 134

Silicon Valley Customer RSS Philippines 134

www.greenhornconnect.com

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Share with 1 click: All entrepreneurs face the question: “when should I form a company?” ” Transitioning from partners in an informal collaboration to co-owners of an actual business may seem like a big step, but it is a necessary one that every successful startup eventually must take. Blog Categories.

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IP Intellectual Property Limited Liability Company Boston 40