Burn Rate, Customer Development, Hiring and Startup

Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. He just hired Meg Whitman.

Lean

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO

The Customer Development Manifesto: The Startup Death Spiral (part.

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about 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. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

Customer Development

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley

Why Founders Should Know How to Code

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

A startup is not just about the idea, it’s about testing and then implementing the idea. I was driving home from the BIO conference in San Diego last month and had lots of time for a phone call with Dave, an ex student and now a founder who wanted to update me on his Customer Discovery progress. In fact, it wasn’t even a startup.

Cofounder

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Coder

It Must Be A Marketing Problem

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

The Customer Development process is the way startups quickly iterate and test each element of their business model , reducing customer and market risk. The first step of Customer Development is called Customer Discovery. outside the building and test them in front of customers.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston

Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Don’t know the running rate for engineers?

Business Plan

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review

Create Structure out of the Gate and You’ll Thank Yourself Later

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

One of them used to be a lead developer at [insert hot consumer tech company here]. They need to raise money before building anything substantial after determining that they needed a little dough to follow the Lean Startup methodology. They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage

Crisis Management by Firing Executives – There’s A Better Way

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) Luckily most startups now realize there is a better way. Startups Are Not Small Versions of Large Companies. The revenue numbers and revenue model came from a startups original Business Plan.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development

Is the Lean Startup concept of MVP dead?

VC Cafe

JULY 26, 2020

VC’s were no longer insisting that startups spend faster, and “swing for the fences”. In fact, they were screaming at them to dramatically reduce their burn rates. It was a nuclear winter for startup capital.” ” Steve Blank, “Is the lean startup dead?” Maximum Viable Product.

Lean

Lean Seed Capital Startup Burn Rate

Death By Revenue Plan

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

You would think that would be enough to get wrong, but entrepreneurs and investors compound this problem by assuming that all startups grow and scale by executing the Revenue Plan. But the VC’s kept coming back to the lack of adoption of the product, the floundering sales force, the burn rate – and “the plan.&#.

Revenue

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate

Lean Startups aren't Cheap Startups

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

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS

And then you flip the big red switch

The Startup Toolkit

JUNE 27, 2012

Premature scaling is the #1 killer of startups[1][2]. Similarly, I think that working nights & weekends is an awesome way to start doing customer development and answering the big questions about your business. 2] Data via the startup genome project. [3] But never scaling[3] will also kill you.

Burn Rate

Burn Rate PR Campaign Hiring

The Curse of a New Building « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2009

Signs of Success One of the things you do right in a startup, is you move from one cheap and cramped building to another as you grow, with desks, cubicles and engineers piled cheek to jowl. We hired an interior designer and a great facilities person to manage the process. We’re no longer a small struggling startup.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley RSS Lean Agile

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part V: Happy 100th Birthday.

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

Berkeley Haas Business School was courageous enough to give me a forum teach the Customer Development Methodology. In ten years, from the early 1950′s to the early 1960′s, the valley went through a hiring frenzy as jobs in microwave companies went from 700 to 7,000.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review

Lessons Learned: Cash is not king

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 27, 2009 Cash is not king Cash on hand is just one important variable in a startup’s life, but it’s not necessarily the most important. These successful startups managed to have enough tries to get it right. What matters most is the number of iterations the company has left.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC

Lessons Learned: Don't launch

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. In fact, in most situations its a bad idea for startups to synchronize these events.

San Francisco

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage

Lessons Learned: Achieving a failure

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Hire the absolute best and the brightest, true experts in their fields, who in turn can hire the smartest people possible to staff their departments. Bring in an expert CEO with outstanding business credentials and startup experience to focus on relentless execution. Here are a few: We know what customers want.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment

StartUpRoar

Is the Lean Startup Dead?

The Customer Development Manifesto: The Startup Death Spiral (part.

Trending Sources

Why Founders Should Know How to Code

It Must Be A Marketing Problem

Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Create Structure out of the Gate and You’ll Thank Yourself Later

Crisis Management by Firing Executives – There’s A Better Way

Is the Lean Startup concept of MVP dead?

Death By Revenue Plan

Lean Startups aren't Cheap Startups

And then you flip the big red switch

The Curse of a New Building « Steve Blank

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part V: Happy 100th Birthday.

Lessons Learned: Cash is not king

Lessons Learned: Don't launch

Lessons Learned: Achieving a failure

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