Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Unfortunately, even today, building a good product doesn’t guarantee you a business. Unanticipated pivots, quality write-offs, and shrinkage.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

He took a deep breath, looked around the boardroom table and then proceeded to outline a radical reconfiguration of the product line (repackaging the products rather than reengineering them) and a change in sales strategy, focusing on a different customer segment. The Search for the Business Model.

Business Model 332

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior. Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product. ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes.

Founder 340

Founder Cofounder Sacramento Technical Review 340

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2013

Starting a business is a lot like starting a marriage. Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. I challenge any startup to show me they have avoided all of these: One of the founders isn’t delivering. The product is behind schedule. Things go wrong.

Founder 250

Founder Startup Software Developers Software Development 250

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Eliminating middlemen in healthcare – from using AI to automate repetitive human jobs to exploring new and better business models for providing care.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2023

They poured their hearts and souls into creating an innovative product fueled by the desire to make a difference in the lives of their target audience. It’s disheartening, but sadly, this is one experience that many startup founders face. I understand the struggles that come with being a startup founder.

Design 105

Design Product Churn Rate Architecture 105

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 13, 2023

A well-constructed business model is a foundational element of a business plan and strategy. Business models can vary significantly across industries and businesses, reflecting each enterprise's unique characteristics and goals. Thanks to Jordan Adair, ShirtMax ! #2- Thanks to Rodney Warner, Connective ! #3-

Business Model 131

Business Model Affiliate Jordan B2C 131

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

There are quite a few other Software Development Companies in Southern California working on open source and/or freemium business models. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

This is a question startup founders ask themselves multiple times a week. It’s not just the competition against the incumbents and the large tech platforms that founders has to worry about, but most importantly is the company’s performance and product market fit. How are we doing?

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

View from Seed

APRIL 6, 2021

You have 4-6 years of professional experience as a technology operator, founder, or investor in New York. You have unbounded curiosity for emerging trends, a love for experimentation, and you’re always eager to dive into new products and technologies before others do. You act as an “ invited guest.”. You are hungry. A Final Note.

Technical Review 317

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage Cofounder 317

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

It’s the antithesis of how founders want to build a business. In a regulated market, the government controls how products and services are allowed to enter the market, what prices may be charged, what features the product/service must have, safety of the product, environmental regulations, labor laws, domestic/foreign content, etc.

Washington 271

Washington Government Marketing Silicon Valley 271

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step. Seed capital is a component of the initial investments made in young businesses. The criteria change after a company reaches the growth stage when it is deemed to have attained product market fit.

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 125

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

Most existing investors (those still in business) hoarded their money and stopped doing follow-on rounds until the rubble had cleared. Except, that is, for the bottom feeders of the Venture Capital business – investors who “ cram down ” their companies. W hy would any founder agree to this? Why do VCs Do This? You Have a Choice.

Cram Down 404

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 404

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

While you are working away on your business plan, looking for ways to raise capital, finding the right people to hire, etc., But have you ever had the opportunity to pick the brains of founders who created amazingly successful startups and companies like Envato , Backblaze , Simple , or Treehouse ? Things snowballed from there.”.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Founder Startup Bootstrapping 164

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Most large companies manage three types of innovation: process innovation (making existing products incrementally better), continuous innovation (building on the strength of the company’s current business model but creating new elements) and disruptive innovation (creating products or services that did not exist before.).

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

View from Seed

JULY 6, 2020

You have 4-6 years of professional experience as a technology operator, founder, or investor in New York. You have unbounded curiosity for emerging trends, a love for experimentation, and you’re always eager to dive into new products and technologies before others do. You act as an “ invited guest.”. You are hungry. A Final Note.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Software Review Hiring Seed Stage 257

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). (BTW,

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

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. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

Many are reporting that they’re seeing a more diverse pool of applicants than traditional equity VCs… even though virtually none have a particular focus on women or underrepresented founders. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Cofounder Founder Technical Review 60

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 19, 2023

In addition to receiving immediate help navigating the tricky process of turning an idea into a feasible business model, upon completing the programme the budding entrepreneurs stand to be connected with local startup hubs and accelerator programmes for follow-on assistance and investment should they require it.

New Zealand 98

New Zealand Technical Cofounder Early Stage Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Nail the business model. Process myth: Why building a product leads to failure.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2015

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Building an ethical business is more than just compliance and meeting legal requirements, and it has big paybacks. business culture entrepreneur ethics myths startup'

Founder 120

Founder Software Review Offshore Startup 120

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

It is possible to attract a venture capital partner with an idea for a business, but most deals are closed after the business has a founding team , a minimum viable product or MVP, and customers. This will be your calling card and a good jumping-off point to discuss your business with potential investors.

Venture Capital 144

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Security 144

VC Cafe

JUNE 26, 2023

I spent a chunk of my career as a product manager in search (Shopping.com, GLG, Ask.com, AOL and Google) so I find this particularly interesting. Until now, to succeed in search companies needed two things: 1) an index of the web 2) an algorithm to organise the results.

Generative AI 174

Generative AI Search ChatGPT Technical Review 174

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Disharmony among founders. Right off the bat, if the founders aren’t able to get along nor have any partnership agreements in place, your odds of failing are high. Any would-be fast-food restaurant would have to tread carefully if they were to try to match McDonalds’s business model. Source: Flickr.

Startup 131

Startup Demand Business Model Founder 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. We all know the products they give away, and the ones purchased by family and friends don’t count. Your revenue model has to make sense. A product, without customer support, is not ready for sale.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

I touched on this in my post “ Founder Investor Fit “ Passing the initial filtering process. Most of these can sound like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many founders skip this initial research. Problem Solution/ Product – show don’t tell if possible Why now?

Technical Review 166

Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder Portfolio 166

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Plan for a real revenue model.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

When Sloan arrived at GM in 1920 he realized that the traditional centralized management structures organized by function (sales, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing) were a poor fit for managing GM’s diverse product lines. Think of the iPhone and its yearly new models.). What Does GM Have to Do with Tesla And Elon Musk?

Cofounder 268

Cofounder Michigan Stock Forecast 268

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. You can’t be an effective founder or in the C-suite of a startup if you don’t hold any. You can’t be an effective founder or in the C-suite if you don’t have any. Who are the payers?

Business Model 305

Business Model Product Development Early Stage Customer Development 305

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

It is here that the groundwork is laid and the business model developed. A business plan is drawn up to attract investors and partners. The legalities of starting the business are addressed to create a structure for attracting funding. A growing business must support its personnel in every way possible.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Technical Review 399

Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

NZ Entrepreneur

OCTOBER 22, 2019

Founders’ Chat is a series where we share the entrepreneurial journey of founders from the GridAKL start-up hub. User testing, also known as usability testing, is a process of identifying users’ biggest problems and uncovering a product’s issues by testing it with real users. Tell us about Choice.

Founder 46

Founder Cofounder Design Sales 46

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Passionate – is the company/product/customers the most important thing in your life? This is the minimum feature set for founders. Other Roles in a Startup Generic advice given to entrepreneurs assumes that everyone is going to be the founder/co-founder. Founders know they want to start something.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2014

Kauffman just launched Founders School - a new education series to help entrepreneurs develop their businesses during the startup stage by highlighting how startups are different from big companies. After weeks honing the script and days of filming, I’m honored to present the “ Startups ” section of Founders School.

Founder 327

Founder Intellectual Property Lean Customer Development 327

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2020

Yet I find a big difference between “starting a new business” and “creating a new product.” In my experience, most successful entrepreneurs have indeed created a new product, but most people who claim to be inventors have a hard time starting a business. Two people with complementary skills are often equal to three.

Founder 312

Founder Intellectual Property Dilution Startup 312