Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

In the early stages of a startup your hypotheses about all the parts of your business model are your profound beliefs. Here’s how I learned why they were critical to successful customer development. And he proceeded to lay out a fairly complex and innovative sales and marketing strategy for our next 18 months.

Business Model 345

Business Model Product Development Early Stage Customer Development 345

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 20, 2011

We want to make a bet that your Lean Launchpad class can apply the scientific method to market-opportunity identification. We taught them the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. The class textbooks were “ The Four Steps to the Epiphany and Business Model Generation.”).

Incubator 307

Incubator Government Silicon Valley Lean 307

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. Price is as important as any other feature to determine product/market “fit.” In a huge market this is probably still OK because there’s enough customers for everyone to thrive in different ways.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

It taught lean theory ( business model design , customer development and agile engineering) and practice. Now, 4 years after I arrived at BerkeleyHaas, we don’t teach business plan writing in any of our entrepreneurship classes or in any of our dozens of programs and competitions. Berkeley-wide.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2020

finding product/market fit). Finally to have a better chance of a viable enterprise, they need to test all the other hypotheses in their business/mission model (pricing, demand creation, revenue, costs, etc.). The key principles of customer development are: There are no facts inside the building so get the heck outside.

Customer 419

Customer Business Model Restful Video 419

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

By the early 1920s a new dean changed the curriculum – shifting it from an industry orientation (steel, railroads, etc.) – to a functional one (marketing, factory and employment management (HR), etc.). Entrepreneurship Becomes a Subject in Business Schools. First Case Study-General Shoe.

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2020

We’re holding a series of 5-day online classes at Stanford where teams will learn how to develop new business models for an economy that’s getting back to work and on the road to recovery. The Covid-19 virus has upended traditional ways of doing business, travel, education, entertainment, healthcare, etc.

Lean 436

Lean Business Model Affiliate Incubator 436

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

As we prepared for the new Hacking for Defense class at Stanford, we had to stop and ask ourselves: How do we use the Business Model Canvas if the primary goal is not to earn money, but to fulfill a mission? In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue?

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Sea Turtles and VPN – the connections to the rest of the world.

China 327

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 327

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

Different market opportunities present radically different startup risks and costs. The time to product and scale of investment is radically different than other startup markets.&# Intellectual Property At the next class I said, “You all ought to get out and start talking to customers on day one, and get early feedback on your idea.

Vertical 156

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 156

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2016

You must also understand the value the product provides customers (along with the rest of your business model.). And going for crowdfunding before you do customer discovery with customers can lock you into the wrong idea too early. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Detroit 120

Detroit Baltimore Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2016

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I believe that: a product is just a part of a startup, but understanding customers, channel, pricing, – the business model – is what turns a product into a business. using the business model canvas as the framework. Reflection Week. Nova Credit.

Lean 120

Lean Incubator Business Model Channel 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

Scalable startups are on a trajectory for a billion dollar market cap. Not all start ups want to go in that direction – some will opt instead to become a small business. has a large enough market that most U.S. startups ignore the rest of the world until they scale in their own country. ———-.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Sea Turtles and VPN – the connections to the rest of the world.

China 219

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 219

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 16, 2013

Seems like every third startup nowadays is using the “Freemium” business model: The lowest service tier is free, and the business is designed to get those users hooked and then upgrade to a paid plan. Which means it costs 20-100x as much on marketing campaigns to achieve the equivalent revenue.

Marketing 318

Marketing Viral Campaign Business Model 318

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

The art of entrepreneurship and the science of Customer Development is not just getting out of the building and listening to prospective customers. He got my attention when he said, “following your customer development stuff is making my company fail.” Then I asked, “Satish, what’s your business model?

Customer 329

Customer Business Model Customer Development Startup 329

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 235

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 235

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

For the last 75 years products (both durable goods and software) were built via Waterfall development. This process forced companies to release and launch products by model years, and market new and “improved” versions. And these changes may have unintended consequences leading to customer dissatisfaction and confusion.

Continuous Deployment 331

Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 331

Steve Blank

JUNE 4, 2012

As the morning fog burns off the California coast, I am working with Steve Blank, preparing for the Lean LaunchPad Faculty Development Program we are running this August at U.C. The tools and techniques available to small businesses on Main Street are the same ones that were being used for the last 75 years. Serendipity.

Silicon Valley 311

Silicon Valley Lean Utah Customer Development 311

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Market research tools to help you figure out the size of the opportunity your startup is pursuing, are here. The class teaches the three basic skills all entrepreneurs need to know: business model design. customer development. Some general customer development slides click here. agile engineering.

Open Source 335

Open Source Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development 335

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. By now the company may have found and settled on a repeatable business model.

Cofounder 229

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 229

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

A business plan has a set of assumptions (who’s the customer, what’s the price, what’s the channel, what are the product features that matter, etc.) that make up a business model. Yet by first customer ship most of the business model hasn’t been validated or tested. Pivots By Firing Executives.

Burn Rate 251

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 251

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

Its goal is to take the original idea and search for a repeatable and scalable business model - first by finding product/market fit, then by testing all the parts of the business model (pricing, channel, acquisition/activation, partners, costs, etc.). Filed under: Customer Development , Family/Career/Culture.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

If you can just be friendly enough and get your users to party with you, the rest is really easy. "Authentic" is dead - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 3, 2010 It's time to retire the following phrases. 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

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or Their objective is to get users, orders, customers, etc.

Wiki 316

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 316

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

In general, successful startups do three major things: They understand who their customers are, what they want and clearly define the product or service Unique Selling Point(USP). However, the key difference between a successful and unsuccessful startup rests on the shoulders of the entrepreneur themselves. By customer development.

Startup 115

Startup Acquisition Business Model Finance 115

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

I hear similar things for pre-revenue startups that are on schedule, on time, and on budget - even though they are busy building something that nobody wants. (In In fact, this crisis was at the heart of Steve Blank ’s original impetus to develop customer development as an alternative set of milestones to use for startups.)

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2012

In a university, the Lean LaunchPad class teaches a methodology the students can use for the rest of their careers. In an incubator, the Lean LaunchPad develops angel or venture-funded startups. 2) Get the teams out of the building to test their hypotheses with prospective customers. Methodology. This was a bit astonishing.

Lean 258

Lean Incubator Business Model Georgia 258

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

I remind my students that I’m teaching them a methodology they can use the rest of their careers, not running an incubator. in the snack food market. Jon’s big vision was to build a company that disrupted the meat snacks business. What Do You Mean You Only Spoke to 1 Customer?

North America 120

North America Lean Customer Development Distribution 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Wait a minute, what about the rest of Customer Development ? Aren’t you going to validate your hypotheses by first getting some customers?”. Now I was confused, and I asked, “Well what do you guys believe – Customer Development or launch on a schedule?” Executing both of them would put us out of business.

Customer Development 313

Customer Development Singapore Channel PR 313

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I hate business plan competitions – when they encourage students to write a “winning plan&# rather than teaching them how to get out of the building and use locally available resources to start a company. as one attempt to clearly define how exactly the company is creating value in the market.

Business Plan 156

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 156

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. So I met the entrepreneur and asked him how his search for a business model was going. Great, but we’re having a bit of a problem getting traction.” Hmm, I asked, “Can you go back to the beginning and tell me about your Customer Discovery process?

Founder 226

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 226

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *. Pre-launch customer development data is another way, sometimes in the form of user surveys for consumer companies or interviews with potential beta customers for B2B businesses. B) Post-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 150

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Maybe It’s Me When I got to the SuperMac, our Marketing Communications group told me about our “award-winning&# retail packaging for our graphics boards. Her packaging class was so good that we sent every new marketer at SuperMac to take it. Yet when I saw our retail package, I was confused. Worry about the sales results.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

If there was any doubt among the teams about the value of what they’re learning, Blinken put it to rest with a compelling overview of how so many of today’s complex global problems – from stopping Ebola to monitoring cease-fires and improving food security – demand innovative, tech-based solutions. A giant fork in the road.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

If there was any doubt among the teams about the value of what they’re learning, Blinken put it to rest with a compelling overview of how so many of today’s complex global problems – from stopping Ebola to monitoring cease-fires and improving food security – demand innovative, tech-based solutions. A giant fork in the road.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120