Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. Our firm has a portfolio of companies across a broad range of markets and the way we look at it is pretty simple – the deals fall into two types: those with customer/market risk and those with invention risk.”

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. a customer before you try and build a business. That’s in stark contrast to the traditional Product Development Model where it’s expected a customer is already there and waiting and it’s simply a matter of [.]

Product Development 143

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 143

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. And most startup code and features end up on the floor as customers never really wanted them.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I lived through the time when working in my first job in Ann Arbor Michigan we had to get out a map to find out that San Jose was not only in Puerto Rico but there was a city with that same name in California. The second thing that’s changed is that we’re now Compressing the Product Development Cycle. The founders.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. The meaning of alpha test , beta test, and first customer ship are pretty obvious to most engineers. For example, some startup sales execs believe hiring the core sales team is a key objective.

Customer Development 215

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

View from Seed

AUGUST 10, 2021

They were wrapping up participation in an accelerator program and Ben was planning to move back to Chicago to build the company there, having previously worked at Groupon before moving on to other tech companies in Asia, as well as a brief time in California.

Chicago 177

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 177

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2017

However, when it comes to MLM product development, marketing ideas and compensation plan strategy, being a creative copycat could be a legal and ethical shortcut to achieving your business goals for your new MLM, party plan or direct selling company. The same goes for new MLM product development. Or did they?

Marketing 113

Marketing Seattle Operations California 113

View from Seed

AUGUST 10, 2021

They were wrapping up participation in an accelerator program and Ben was planning to move back to Chicago to build the company there, having previously worked at Groupon before moving on to other tech companies in Asia, as well as a brief time in California.

Chicago 156

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 156

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

At its essence, it’s all about creating opportunities and cultivating relationships that will help you increase revenue streams, reach new customers, or expand into different markets for your Topanga, California business. Another strategy is product development, which involves creating new offerings to satisfy customer needs.

Developer 119

Developer Reputation Merger Audience 119

Steve Blank

AUGUST 18, 2010

Andrew read the Four Steps to the Epiphany , tracked me down at California Coastal Commission hearing in Santa Barbara, and had me meeting with him in a stairwell during a break in my day-long meeting. Here’s his story of when Customer Development failed. So how did Customer Development fail us?

Customer Development 230

Customer Development Developer Customer California 230

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

AUGUST 24, 2009

Dinner in a Strange Land When I was in my mid 20′s working at ESL, I was sent overseas to a customer site where the customers were our three-letter intelligence agencies. The conversation happened to hit on politics and culture and my friend’s’ wife innocently offered up she had lived in a commune in California.

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2014

Back in the early 2000s, the Maker Movement took hold in California, based on the emergence of such do-it-yourself (DIY) tools as 3-D printers, Google''s SketchUp and makerspaces such as TechShop, with all the tools you need to make almost anything. A recent California event packed in 100,000 people.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Detroit California Cofounder 246

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe 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. They never understood Market Type. Why does Market Type matter?

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

View from Seed

AUGUST 10, 2021

They were wrapping up participation in an accelerator program and Ben was planning to move back to Chicago to build the company there, having previously worked at Groupon before moving on to other tech companies in Asia, as well as a brief time in California.

Chicago 136

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

My partner Greg Bettinelli is an avid sports fan who throughout his career has developed an expert understanding in online ticketing (at eBay has was a champion of the StubHub acquisition) and online marketing. If you’re interested in sports tech (or want to argue with a 49ers fan) you should definitely follow Greg.

Southern California 150

Southern California Philadelphia Mobile Stock 150

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is the sleeping giant of data protection laws. When it went into effect on January 1, 2020, the CCPA gave the United States its strictest regulations yet for protecting customer information. It’s 0.13% of California’s population or just under 1 out of every 800 people in the state. .

Small Business 90

Small Business United States California Small Business Administration 90

Steve Blank

JANUARY 14, 2013

Post WWII the responsibility for investing in research split between agencies focused on weapons development and space exploration (being completely customer-driven) and other agencies charted to fund basic and applied research in science and medicine (being driven by peer-review.). The irony is that while the U.S.

Silicon Valley 243

Silicon Valley Government Germany Japan 243

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

Your Customers are Not Who You Think For years I thought this “million unit chip sale by accident&# was a “one-off&# funny story. That is until I saw that in startup after startup customers come from places you don’t plan on. Your board nods sagely at your target customer list.

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 131

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

In the real world, most business plans don’t survive the first few months of customer contact. And even if they did – customers don’t ask to see your business plan. Preparing for a year is not the best way to spend time, rather getting customers is the better way to an Investor’s heart.

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

Founding a company is a sheer act of will and tenacity in the face of immense skepticism from everyone – investors, customers, friends, etc. Next, you have to deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers. And that’s just to get started. Let me know what you think.

Founder 297

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

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 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

techland.time.com

JANUARY 16, 2013

Over the past decade, she has played a vital role in strategizing the revival of the web site including being directly involved in edit, design, multimedia, product development, business development, strategy, personnel, budgeting, technology and infrastructure. Catherine Sharick is the managing editor of TIME.com. More on TIME.

Global 68

Global Technical Review Minnesota RSS 68

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

October 2012 – Erin Turner and Gagan Biyani host the first Growth Hackers Conference in Menlo Park, California. It is simply getting customers. And by the transitive property, anything that gets customers is marketing. […] Welcome to growth hacking. via TechCrunch). PR and publicity drive attention…to drive sales.

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2011

According to media research consultancy BIA/Kelsey , approximately 17-percent of Internet searches are local in nature with ready-to-buy consumers searching for businesses that offer a product or service that they are looking for locally – and this number is expected to grow to 20 percent by 2015.

Matching 140

Matching Small Business Advertising California 140

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. In contrast to simply executing your business plan, the Customer Development process is built on low-cost and continuous learning and iterating.

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Eighty some pages later I realized that a) I had some great war stories as a good marketeer and failed CEO, b) I’d have to pay my wife and kids to read them, c) the three of them were probably the entire total available market, and d) when I looked at what I had done and what other entrepreneurs had done at their startups, that there was a pattern.

Redemption 126

Redemption Silicon Valley RSS California 126

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Filed under: Family/Career « Let’s Fire Our Customers Durant Versus Sloan – Part 1 » 3 Responses Twitter Trackbacks for Unintended Lessons « Steve Blank [steveblank.com] on Topsy.com , on September 28, 2009 at 10:04 am Said: [.]

North Carolina 143

North Carolina Silicon Valley RSS Connecticut 143

YoungUpstarts

MAY 28, 2013

To give yours the best chance of succeeding you need to identify your Unique Selling Point which makes you stand out from the crowd and make sure you are promoting it to investors and customers alike. Get a mentor. Starting up a new business is daunting and the chances are you will have lots of questions, especially in the early days.

Entrepreneur 191

Entrepreneur America Social Media Forecast 191

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Through trial and error, hiring and firing, successful startups all invented a parallel process to product development. In particular, the winners invent and live by a process of customer learning and discovery. It’s a process that doesn’t exist in large companies with existing customers and markets.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital California 127

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 6, 2012

His method advocates the creation of rapid prototypes designed to test market assumptions, and uses customer feedback to evolve them much faster than via more traditional product development practices. It is changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Now is the time to think Lean. Sign up here.

Ireland 157

Ireland North America Lean Taiwan 157

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We’ll be conducting a series of educational programes covering: fund raising, team building, product development, sales, marketing, business development and how to prioritize your time as a CEO. Walk into any Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Southern California and you can’t miss their digital screens.

Los Angeles 276

Los Angeles Stealth Securities and Exchange Commission Southern California 276

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Modern Corporation Marketing At the same time General Motors also revolutionized automotive marketing by creating multiple brands of cars, each with its own identity targeted at a specific economic bracket of American customers. Within each brand there were several models at different price points.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 156

Up and Running

JANUARY 7, 2020

We ended up receiving a $5m term sheet from investors, dozens of government customers from all across the western United States, and several offers to acquire us for 10x the initial investment. Why does product-market fit matter? It’s when you have paying customers and can show both customer growth and customer retention. .

Product 82

Product Marketing Silicon Valley Term Sheet 82