Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

View from Seed

APRIL 6, 2021

You have a point of view on emerging technology and business models, and you are not afraid to voice your conviction. You have a deep desire to learn the venture capital business and are ready to hustle to meet the next great founder. You have an authentic passion for startups and a deep respect for entrepreneurship.

Technical Review 317

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage Cofounder 317

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Choose a business model that will win in the market. You need a business model that provides a good return for you and your team, long-term growth, value to your customer, and differentiates you from competitors. Many startups I know fail by simply giving up too soon.

Technical Review 201

Technical Review Government Agile Differentiation 201

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

These three factors are, of course, critical to a healthy, growing startup, and yet individually they’re impossible to measure as precisely and easily as cancellation rate. (I’ve Of course you should do this too and get your own data.). I’ve never seen a graph of “usefulness of the product.”)

Business Model 245

Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2022

High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his classic book “ What’s the Future of Business? ”. Startups earn relationships and resulting stature the same way. Scarcity – less is more.

Customer 306

Customer Technical Review Social Media Social Network 306

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 23, 2018

Startups often have a hard time finding their footing in the global marketplace. With so many established brands and enterprises all around us, covering a vast network of niche industries, how can a small startup compete? Benefits startups have against industry giants. Ways for Startups to Compete. Less Bureaucracy.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Agile Startup Software Review 110

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Your fascination with cleanliness and hygiene may have led you to contemplate starting a carpet cleaning business. Not just any carpet cleaning business, but specifically an endeavor in dry carpet cleaning services. The post How To Start a Dry Carpet Cleaning Service appeared first on The Startup Magazine.

Balance Sheet 120

Balance Sheet Technical Review Business Model Business Plan 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Most of you prefer to ignore the feedback from analysts that your chances of creating the next unicorn startup may be as low as one in five million. Customer feedback, including blog comments, usability reviews, and early user testimonials, build relationships and provide credible marketing to the broader customer community.

Merger 386

Merger Software Review Acquisition Social Media 386

YoungUpstarts

JULY 19, 2017

Joining a startup is no mystery. Also the fact that you can brag to your friends who are in corporate that you are working in a fast growing startup that is about to change the world. I was reading law and I managed to get a role as a content marketer at a local ecommerce startup called iPrice. Find a lot of startups you like.

Hiring 100

Hiring Startup Salary Technical Review 100

Start Up Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

But more importantly, it was filled with many customer centric fixes, and startups in the process of doing so. While some premium memberships and other firms and startups in the space offer a better, digital check in process, it seems a poor experience is most common. – – – The story doesn’t end there.

Business Model 48

Business Model Technical Review Hiring Technology 48

View from Seed

JULY 6, 2020

You have a point of view on emerging technology and business models, and you are not afraid to voice your conviction. You have a deep desire to learn the venture capital business and are ready to hustle to meet the next great founder. . You have an authentic passion for startups and a deep respect for entrepreneurship.

Technical Review 258

Technical Review Software Review Hiring Seed Stage 258

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Customer Development is a technique startups use to quickly iterate and test each part of their business model. How you execute Customer Development varies, depending on your type of business. In my book, “ The Four Steps to the Epiphany ” I use enterprise software as the business model example.

Customer Development 271

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 271

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

My friend Ron Ashkenas interviewed me for his blog on the Harvard Business Review. Ron is a managing partner of Schaffer Consulting , and is currently serving as an Executive-in-Residence at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Here’s Ron’s blog post. His latest book is Simply Effective.

Business Model 334

Business Model Technical Review Business Plan Search 334

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Fortunately, many of the top VCs share their thoughts on their blogs and are full of advice for startups, both big and small. Here’s a list of our favorite VC blogs, in alphabetical order. I like to follow these blogs through Feedly, but you can often sign up to get email alerts for new posts from most of these blogs.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

Another full-stack short-term rentals startup ? It seems as though in many categories, especially in consumer internet space, a handful of startups pursuing quite similar or even apparently identical ideas launch within months of each other. Another d2c gourmet pet food company ? Another affinity-based co-working space?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Cofounder Stealth 120

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

” – Marc Andreessen In the book “ Super Founders “, author Ali Tamaseb, studied 200 Unicorns, aka startups valued at over $1 billion, started between 2005 to 2018. Israeli startup Mobileye , which was acquired by Intel for $15 billion, is a great example of a company that exhibited extreme resilience.

Founder 88

Founder Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation 88

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

This is the one blog post that I hope I’m completely wrong about. With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? But next the question is, ‘What happens to my business?”. What does your new business model look like?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

There is also more going on in every location, so this personal need and super sensitivity to the local community has spawned a new breed of Internet startups, called “hyperlocal.” The term first appeared at least ten years ago, but the model is now very common. What’s more difficult than building one successful startup?

Finder 361

Finder Startup Curation Seattle 361

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. For a micro-ISV, selling to big businesses can be more lucrative than selling to consumers.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

But for startups with limited resources and experience, I always recommend a soft launch or toe-in-the-water approach in a local market -- and scale up later. In fact, for startups, it usually makes sense to announce your solution on social media and blogs even before you have built the first one. Proceed with caution.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2013

High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his new book “ What’s the Future of Business? Startups earn relationships and resulting stature the same way. Scarcity – less is more.

Customer 251

Customer Technical Review Startup Social Media 251

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. If your startup is an evening hobby for you and some friends, and they all have a full-time day job elsewhere, don’t expect investors to get excited.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. Union Square Ventures The next morning I got to spend time with Brad Burnham , partner at Union Square Ventures talking about their investment strategy and insights about web-based businesses.

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

My friend Ron Ashkenas interviewed me for his blog on the Harvard Business Review. Ron is a managing partner of Schaffer Consulting , and is currently serving as an Executive-in-Residence at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Here’s Ron’s blog post. His latest book is Simply Effective.

Business Model 226

Business Model Business Plan Technical Review Search 226

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

What is the definition of traction for a business startup today? This can happen through early marketing, independent of whether you have yet delivered a single product, proven your business model, or have any real customers. Show validation data for business model key elements.

Advisory Board 199

Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

I’m fully convinced that both inspiration and perspiration are always required in a startup. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person. A business model that works. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. Success is the right balance of both for fun and profit.

Sweat Equity 400

Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup Viral 400

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

In the year 2022, would blogs still be useful? In this day and age of social media, is it worthwhile to devote time and resources to your corporate blog or to start one. Blogging became a popular business internet strategy a few years ago. Blogging is still a powerful marketing tool. Nothing has changed since then.

Audience 157

Audience Reputation Channel Social Media 157

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

These groups will often list local members on their sites or blog. Understanding The Business Model of a B2B Marketplace. A business model describes how your company makes money and is essential to developing an effective business plan. Why is it Important to Get your Business Model Right?

B2B 131

B2B Developer Technical Review Business Model 131

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). It’s worth reading the blog post that became the manifesto of the class here as well as what we learned when we first taught it- here.). Class Velocity/Depth.

Lean 254

Lean Business Model Balance Sheet Video 254

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

And he recognized it was making his startup feel and act like a big ponderous company. Most decisions in a startup must be made in the face of uncertainty. One of the things he mentioned was that when it came to decision-making he still tended to think and act like an engineer. The same is true in your company.

Silicon Valley 307

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 307

VC Cafe

JUNE 26, 2023

Google Blog Generative AI in search, first image released by Google Shopping is another area where Google started implementing generative AI powered search ([link] The race to intimacy in search, an AI powered experience There are a number of factors driving the adoption of generative AI in search.

Generative AI 174

Generative AI Search ChatGPT Technical Review 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. If your startup is an evening hobby for you and some friends, and they all have a full-time day job elsewhere, don’t expect investors to get excited.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

We tried to provide a framework for startups to think about what activities should be outsourced and why. What kind of startup outsources everything? Well, you’re right, most don’t, but one example of a startup that does is PlentyOfFish. Also, most startup attorneys will do deferred payment plans. Advertising.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

ReadWriteStart

MAY 19, 2011

During today's roundtable, we opened the session with a discussion of the existential crisis in media and how talented bloggers and journalists are facing a tough time sustaining themselves due to lack of business models. One of them is the 1M/1M Affiliate Program we announced today at the roundtable.

India 115

India Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Affiliate 115

Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

Hila Qu joined Mucker’s Tony Yang for an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) conversation about Product-Led Growth (PLG) for Startups to kickoff the 2023 Mucker Growth Series. Hila Qu has been the Head of Growth or VP of Growth at a number of different companies and startups, most notably Acorns and GitLab. Hila is a mentor with Mucker Capital.

Product 78

Product CTO Hire Startup Fractional CTO 78

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

If you’re running a startup, working for one, or just considering turning an idea into a company, calling your work life “busy” is a severe understatement. Here are five essential, efficient ways to eliminate guesswork and make your startup a success on social media. Startup Example: Zappos. Startup Example: Cloudera.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

I just spent a few weeks in Japan and China on a book tour for the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Startup Owners Manual. This left an open playing field for Chinese software startups as they “copy to China” existing U.S. business models. Small startups act the same way, simply cloning each other’s products.

China 327

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 327