Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Learn why the traditional way of writing a five-year business plan is often a waste of time and how to use a Lean Plan instead for smarter, easier strategic planning to establish your long-term vision. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for the long term. What is a long-term plan?

Business Plan 83

Business Plan Lean Forecast Exit Strategy 83

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Funding process.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2013

Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Product development. For a great idea person, the product details keep changing for the better, but nothing ever gets finished. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 275

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Retention 275

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2010

Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Product development. For a great idea person, the product details keep changing for the better, but nothing ever gets finished. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 237

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Retention 237

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 241

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 241

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Waterfall Development. While it sounds simple , the Build Measure Learn approach to product development is a radical improvement over the traditional Waterfall model used throughout the 20 th century to build and ship products. Waterfall Development was all about execution of the requirements document.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 3, 2017

From product development to market research, many startups are one-person operations in their early days. Even as their teams grow, entrepreneurs often feel that they must tend to every aspect of the business, including low-level tasks that distract from revenue-generating activity. Wearing Your Many Hats With Style. Accountant.

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Management Arizona Software Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

He nails the current key startup parameters, including the following: Crafting a lean business plan as your road map. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 19, 2017

by Steve Owens, Founder and CTO of Finish Line Product Development Services. The lean start-up movement has been based on a single insight – which the purpose of a start-up is to discover a business model that works. Reducing product turn time. Specifically, we show that OPD leads to: Increasing the ability to pivot.

Product Development 153

Product Development Lean Developer Product 153

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

I have about 11 years in the technology sector including roles doing market research, sales and product development. My focus has been marketing strategy and product development. I’m currently working with several startups, helping them launch new web businesses. Most people think they can do product design.

Los Angeles 179

Los Angeles Southern California Management Product 179

Up and Running

APRIL 12, 2018

You can track your most important financials in Excel spreadsheets, but using a business dashboard tool that integrates with your accounting software can make it easier and help you avoid doing double data entry. Your business also has fluctuating expenses. Map out your plan for growth. Communication (telephone, internet).

Forecast 77

Forecast Early Stage Software Review Technical Review 77

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

To create this first year in business checklist, I turned to our in-house experts here at Palo Alto Software: Sabrina Parsons, CEO; Noah Parsons, COO; Josh Cochrane, Vice President of Product Development; and Josh Fegles, Academic and Government Channel Sales Director, and founder of gluten-free cookie company Jude’s Foods.

Forecast 60

Forecast Software Review Lean Finance 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Funding process.

Startup 268

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 268

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Funding process.

Institutional Investors 230

Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping Database 230

Growthink Blog

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

And as they do, sometimes even unknowingly that beautiful dream of a business exit and financial windfall recedes depressingly into the sunset. Putting out there as to what our financial results will be , and why - in the form of well-documented and reasoned financial forecasts.

Harvest 48

Harvest IP Software Review Forecast 48

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 2, 2020

Along the way, we found out that preparation, real expectations, inner motivation, and hard work are the most important things to get straight before you even start developing a startup. Here are some of the most crucial practices to incorporate in your business plan before you start developing a product or a service.

Startup 147

Startup Demand Software Acquisition 147

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Some believe in the all-in approach to product development: build an advanced app. In line with my funding limitation, the plan was to introduce a very basic version of Recycler Spotter app to those 256 joiners. The beta app would include a list of recycling facilities and local businesses, like a simple directory page.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Up and Running

OCTOBER 10, 2018

This article is part of our Business Planning Guide —a curated list of our articles that will help you with the planning process! Business advisors, experienced entrepreneurs, bankers, and investors generally agree that you should develop a business plan before you start a business.

Startup 114

Startup Forecast Lean Balance Sheet 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. Funding process.

Startup 255

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 255

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I hate business plan competitions. I Love Business Plan Competitions I had a breakfast with a friend who has founded a few companies in Thailand and started the New Ventures Program at one of their universities. For all the reasons why business plan competitions are wonderful for students from outside the U.S.,

Business Plan 143

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 143

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. While these objectives provide an illusion of progress, in reality they do little to validate the business plan hypotheses about customers and what they will buy.

Customer Development 220

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 220

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Product development process. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. Funding process.

Startup 239

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 239

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

Steve Blank

MARCH 1, 2010

Most competitive analyses are: 1) sales documents for investors and/or 2) an attempt to rationalize the founders assumptions. It’s Part of the Plan. While most investors don’t actually read your business plan for a first meeting, a summary of your competitive analysis usually ends up as a slide or two in your PowerPoint presentation.

Customer Development 260

Customer Development Metrics Differentiation Engineer 260

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Your original business plan will probably go out the window when you land your first customer. But, it’s darn nice to have some clarity in the mundane aspects of administering a business. Adhering to standard rules and processes, no matter how formally they are documented, can keep the machinery humming. Not really.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

Products: You obviously can’t create value without a viable product (or service) to sell. This section of your Venture Value Scorecard should summarize the important advances you have made recently in research and product development. Tags: scorecard venture value Akira Hirai business valuation.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

Steve Blank

AUGUST 18, 2010

We were lucky to learn about Customer Development early on in the life of our startup. It made more sense than our 60 page business plan predicated on a B-school class and a supernatural ability to predict the future. More importantly, we’d witnessed Customer Development’s massive success at another local startup.

Customer Development 230

Customer Development Developer Customer California 230

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

Small businesses in particular rely on word of mouth and recommendations, so the better your relationship with them, the stronger your communications with them, the greater the WOM effect will be. This applies whether the focus is on product development, strategy, hiring, or positioning in the market. Disciplined.

Small Business 95

Small Business Startup Leadership Vertical 95

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

With an out-of-this-world business plan. When it was spun out as a a separate company, Iridium’s 1990 business plan had assumptions about potential customers, their problems and the product needed to solve that problem. A Business Plan Frozen in Time. This business plan was a static document.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Up and Running

MARCH 1, 2016

If you want to explain your idea to someone in-depth and are worried potential theft, you can get them to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)—a legal document that states both parties intent to keep information confidential. At Palo Alto Software, we use the One-Page Pitch feature in LivePlan to quickly validate new business ideas.

Non-disclosure Agreement 60

Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Non-Compete Naming 60

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Small Business Force

JUNE 9, 2011

Much has been written about the need for a business plan. But most often it's in the context of a document that's used to raise money, often creating a masterpiece of dazzling charts and colors, with writing often worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. It should be a living, breathing document. your battle plan, your livelihood.

Business Plan 28

Business Plan Operations Sales Restful 28

Up and Running

OCTOBER 8, 2015

Instead, we built a product first (that’s expensive!) and then started hunting around for the right target market (that’s usually the cheap part of product development). See Also: How Not Doing Market Research Sunk My Business. Don’t just do it to fill in a section of your business plan.

Marketing 60

Marketing Forecast CTO Hire Finder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Getting educated about advertising, agencies, and media buyers I see lots of startups whose business plans revolve around selling high-value ad space to brand advertisers. Do you know the difference between Client Briefing, Strategic Planning, Media Buying, and Post Monitoring?

Advertising 60

Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2012

Develop a strong backbone. The backbone of your technology company revolves around a well-organized, up-to-date, specific and documented vision, brand-key, business plan, intellectual property rights, contracts, financial administration, NDAs and bylaws it can rely on. Most start-ups fail.

Bankruptcy 121

Bankruptcy Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 121

Software By Rob

AUGUST 5, 2010

The knowledge that you need 10,000 hours to master a subject, that certain trends become viral after the 412th person adopts it, or that you should make your product remarkable, is not going to help you launch. Nor will it save you a single minute during product development, or sell one more copy of your application.

Founder 78

Founder Startup Software Review Software 78

Up and Running

AUGUST 5, 2014

Make those tweaks before fully entering the market – and understand that, for most entrepreneurs, this is a process, not a single final product. Develop a Plan. As you develop a business plan and a roll-out plan, and think about each step along the way, and what you will need to take each step.

Los Angeles 156

Los Angeles Guerilla Green CPA 156