Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

This class is built on conducting in-person of interviews with customers/ beneficiaries and stakeholders, but due to the pandemic, teams now had to do all their customer discovery via a computer screen. How would customer interviews work via video? See here for an extended discussion of remote customer discovery.).

Lean 385

Lean Security Asia SBIR 385

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

AUGUST 31, 2009

So what’s wrong the product development model? The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.)

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

Starting in the 1950’s, Stanford’s engineering department became “outward facing” and developed a culture of spinouts and active faculty support and participation in the first wave of Silicon Valley startups. Given its inward focus, Berkeley has always been the neglected sibling in Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

Second, this class – which is built on the idea of interviewing customers/beneficiaries and stakeholders in person – now had to do all their customer discovery via a computer screen. How on earth would customer interviews work via video? At first this seemed to be a fatal stake through the heart of the class.

Oakland 301

Oakland Asia Lean Video 301

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. But the purpose of this post is what happens when a founder (or large company CEO) finds a better business model. Get it done, now.

Customer 195

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 195

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

We just finished our Lean LaunchPad class at UC Berkeley’s engineering school where many of the teams embedded machine learning technology into their products. Machine Learning Meets Lean – Berkeley Lean LaunchPad Class. Get of the building and test those hypotheses using customer development.

Artificial Inteligence 318

Artificial Inteligence Lean Exit Strategy Startup 318

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2015

BMNT , a new Silicon Valley company, is combining the Lean Methods it learned in combat with the technology expertise and speed of startups. The OODA Loop was the Lean Startup philosophy before lean. In 2010 Colonel Peter Newell took over the REF and turned its focus into what we would call a Lean Startup.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Afghanistan Iraq Kuwait 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 13, 2010

But to give you a sense of how fast they are moving, it’s only been a week since I posted the syllabus for our new Stanford entrepreneurship class Engr245 ( The Lean Launchpad.) Here’s the course announcement from Professor Vergara (in English): Customer Development Course in Chile – Lean Launchpad.

Chile 235

Chile Silicon Valley Lean Agile 235

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He tells the story of how he was out of cash, stressed out, nobody in LA or Silicon Valley would give him money, he had finally found an investor in Minneapolis but his venture bank was going to shut him down for breaking a “covenant&# in their agreement by not having enough cash in the bank. we both love Jason).

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any engineering, customer or competitor problem, and you shouldn’t agonize over trying to find one. An example of a reversible decision could be adding a product feature, a new algorithm in the code, targeting a specific set of customers, etc.

Silicon Valley 300

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 300

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Customer Development We were starting Epiphany, my last company. 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. He continued: “I’d like to convince my boss so our company can be your first customer.”

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We recently had Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder and business planning expert, present our Bplans audience with his latest advice on lean business planning. Start your lean business plan today: Download our Free Lean Plan Template one-page-pitch-download.pdf. That’s a lean business plan.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Hacking for Diplomacy takes the Lean Startup methodology and applies it to problems sourced from the State Department. Teams are continuing their relentless interviewing of customers, or beneficiaries as we call them in this class. For the deputy secretary, such a dialogue in Silicon Valley is not a matter of charity, but necessity.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Hacking for Diplomacy takes the Lean Startup methodology and applies it to problems sourced from the State Department. Teams are continuing their relentless interviewing of customers, or beneficiaries as we call them in this class. For the deputy secretary, such a dialogue in Silicon Valley is not a matter of charity, but necessity.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2020

With technology, businesses have instant access to customer data and are able to conduct meaningful research that keeps them a step ahead of competitors. . When starting your business—think specialized and targeted. Keep in mind that tech businesses are successful all around the nation, not just in Silicon Valley.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Green Silicon Valley Non-Compete 97

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

The most common mistake startups make is assuming they can operate the same way big companies do, and expect success with little to no feedback from potential customers. A corporation like Starbucks could pick locations by throwing a dart at a map and know they’ll at least break even with a new location and mediocre customer service.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

The Lean LaunchPad course online. I teach potential founders a hands-on, experiential class called the Lean LaunchPad at Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia and Caltech. The class teaches the three basic skills all entrepreneurs need to know: business model design. customer development. Visitors Guide to Silicon Valley.

Open Source 335

Open Source Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development 335

Steve Blank

JANUARY 20, 2014

When Customer Development and the Lean Startup were just a sketch on the napkin, Dino Vendetti, a VC at Bay Partners, was one of the first venture capitalists I shared my ideas with. Over the years we brainstormed about how Lean entrepreneurship would affect regional development. Job creation in Bend is everyone’s business.

Silicon Valley 312

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 312

Steve Blank

JUNE 21, 2017

Listen to the entire interview here: Taking the Lean Startup From Silicon Valley to Corporations and the State and Defense Department. 2:35 The origins of the Lean Startup. 6:22 What’s Customer Development. 8:05 Business Model Canvas – Alexander Osterwalder. 10:01 Lean in Corporations.

Silicon Valley 222

Silicon Valley Lean Government Boston 222

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. And they probably never will be unless business model viability is reassessed across the board.

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

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. These companies would take our computers and put their name on them and resell them to their customers.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

We just finished our Lean LaunchPad class at UC Berkeley’s engineering school where many of the teams embedded machine learning technology into their products. Machine Learning Meets Lean – Berkeley Lean LaunchPad Class. Get of the building and test those hypotheses using customer development.

Artificial Inteligence 120

Artificial Inteligence Lean Exit Strategy Startup 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Passionate – is the company/product/customers the most important thing in your life? 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.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

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 305

Silicon Valley Lean Utah Customer Development 305

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Consumer Internet investing seems to have split off from traditional Venture Capital, and is creating a new category of VC’s: Lean VC’s. I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. Here’s why.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

In this time, building a successful business meant building a company that had paying customers quarter after quarter. It did not mean building a startup into a company to flip or hype on the market with no earnings or revenue, but building a company that had paying customers. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

Startup ecosystems in many of the smaller NATO countries don’t enjoy the long-established expertise or funding opportunities we have in Silicon Valley or other innovation clusters. These topics included: Raising funds as a European company, what it takes to work with the DoD, customer discovery for adjacent markets, and more.

Norway 214

Norway Silicon Valley Russia United States 214

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. We’ve had folks where they are in between jobs or their hours have been cut.

Detroit 120

Detroit Baltimore Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2010

The key things I want students to take from the class are: Understand that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a profitable business model. Learn how to put together a business model , not a business plan. Class Logistics. As described in the previous post , this is a hands-on class.

Business Model 226

Business Model Silicon Valley California Engineer 226

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2018

Ann Mei Chang is the Executive Director of Lean Impact, the social good division of the Lean Startup Company. Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good is going to be an amazing resource for so many people from innovators to funders and everyone in between. It was incredibly energizing!

Lean 125

Lean Silicon Valley Government Global 125

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 3, 2017

Guest post by Melissa Moore & Jennifer Maerz of Lean Startup Co. Over the last eight years, we’ve learned that our Lean Startup community members are constantly searching for better ways to build and scale products. senior faculty member Jonathan Bertfield The importance of creating islands of freedom, with Lean Startup Co.

New York 108

New York Lean Cofounder Silicon Valley 108

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2013

My co-author and business Partner Bob Dorf spends much of his time traveling the world teaching countries and companies how to run the Lean LaunchPad program. The hands-on Lean LaunchPad program offers the most intense support of all. The first 8-week Lean LaunchPad Colombia program.

Colombia 321

Colombia Lean Silicon Valley Coder 321

Steve Blank

JUNE 7, 2019

The eight teams spoke to over 820 beneficiaries, stakeholders, requirements writers, program managers, warfighters, legal, security, customers, etc. Followed by an 8-minute slide presentation follow their customer discovery journey over the 10-weeks. All the presentations are worth a watch. Goals for the Hacking for Defense Class.

Oakland 266

Oakland Lean SBIR Afghanistan 266

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. We’re dedicated to making The Lean Startup Conference unlike other entrepreneurship conferences. As Lean Startup takes root around the world, we’d like to learn from and help people working in geographically diverse areas connect with each other.

Lean 165

Lean Nebraska San Francisco Silicon Valley 165

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 3, 2014

— Its been three and a half years since I first designed and taught the Lean LaunchPad class and lots of water has gone under the bridge since then. Like in all our Lean Launchpad classes we teach a combination of theory coupled with intense and immersive experiential learning outside the classroom. Massive pivot.

Lean 272

Lean Silicon Valley Customer Development Incubator 272

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2013

My co-author and business Partner Bob Dorf spends much of his time traveling the world teaching countries and companies how to run the Lean LaunchPad program. The hands-on Lean LaunchPad program offers the most intense support of all. The first 8-week Lean LaunchPad Colombia program.

Colombia 271

Colombia Lean Silicon Valley Coder 271