Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

My ex-boss was going to be the VP of Engineering and I would report to the CEO whose marketing acumen and sales instincts seemed at the time to be telepathic and sense of theater was legend. Forget the Hypertext idea and come on back to California. I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.”

North Carolina 131

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Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

And I understood engineering since I interacted with them almost daily. And finally, I had a great working relationship with our engineers who designed the chips. I found that having a senior marketer responsible for business strategy surrounded by ex-engineers and domain experts makes one heck of a powerful marketing department.

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

MARCH 28, 2009

Think of a plane the length of a 767 airliner (but with 30 foot longer wings and 8 engines rather than 2) whose only mission was to FedEx 70,000 pounds of nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. I made them a pretty good offer – hire me as a training instructor at the salary they were [.] I was always kind of curious.

Silicon Valley 224

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Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

I packed up my life in Michigan and spent five days driving to California to start work. I made them a pretty good offer – hire me as a training instructor at the salary they were going to pay me as a lab technician. You’re Hired, You’re Fired. Driving across the U.S. is an adventure everyone ought to do.

Agile 265

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Interestingly enough, Fred Terman, Dean of Stanford Engineering was tied to all three companies. Many investors weren’t interested in working for a large company for a salary and bonus, and most hated the paperwork and salary limitations that the SBIC imposed. government would invest three (up to $300,000.)

Silicon Valley 129

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Steve Blank

JUNE 18, 2009

Eric Ries’s astute observations about engineering and Lean Startups make the same point. Work Smarter Not Harder As I got older I began to realize that how effective you are is not necessarily correlated with how many hours you work. My ideas about Customer Development started evolving around these concepts. The short answer is no.

Entrepreneur 333

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