Steve Blank

OCTOBER 11, 2016

How to recognize when it’s time to pull the plug on your startup idea, and why founders can’t operate afford to operate in a vacuum were the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Dan Miller , co-founder of Level Therapy , provider of mobile therapy sessions. Dan Miller. Brian Zuercher.

Columbus 120

Columbus Entrepreneur Ohio Cofounder 120

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 9, 2013

After all, if you get too chummy with customers — or even appear too interested in or sympathetic to their personal circumstances — they might start to want more from you: better pricing, extended credit, lengthier conversations, access to your services on nights and weekends, etc. Customers require consistent care and investment.

Customer 170

Customer Technical Review Florida Cofounder 170

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? What went wrong?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Shawn immediately said the name I had given the four steps was confusing – I had called it market development – he suggested that I call it Customer Development – and the name stuck. And Jennifer is now my co-instructor in the Stanford Lean LaunchPad class.). Step 3: Jobs to Be Done. Chip platforms.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2013

To answer that question, we hosted a webcast conversation earlier this week with Eric Ries, Brant Cooper, and Patrick Vlaskovits. We’d like to share a few highlights and invite you to join the ongoing conversation by posing questions for Eric, Patrick, and Brant in the comments to this post. But you’re not going to your core business.

Lean 167

Lean Silicon Valley Agile Cofounder 167

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

There’s been a lot written about the individual characteristics of what makes a great founder , but a lot less about what makes a great founding team and how that’s different from a great founding CEO. In doing so we’ve failed to help founders understand what it takes to build a great founding team. Founders – the idea.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster. Jason: Yeah, one percent conversion rate is pretty normal. That’s why we’re having this conversation.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Our goal is to find out whether customers are interested in your product by offering to give (or even sell) it to them, and then failing to deliver on that promise. If youre worried about disappointing some potential customers - dont be. Just load them all in and choose a low cost-per-click. Measure conversion rates.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Computer hardware companies were faced with their customers asking for low-cost (relatively) desktop computers they had no experience in building. The Customer is a Genius Then instead of talking about our products he segued the conversation into their products. I was surprised to see that they were in the room.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. Heres an excerpt: The Startups Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Every startup that achieves success eventually faces a critical moment — whether to speed up or slow down. Are we going too fast?

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

“If you can fix a problem for someone and do it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than your competitor, you’re off to a good start.” – Gabriel Kuperman, founder and CEO of CuePin. The software was sold based on installation cost running on local servers for enterprises—which was very, very expensive. Brand to stand out.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

My co-hosts were Bob Walsh and Patrick Foley , hosts of the well-known Startup Success Podcast. Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. How cofounders can collaborate without going crazy.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Previously she was Co-Founder and CEO of SNAZZ, a cloud-based event management platform. What are some of the unique benefits and constraints from the point of view of a founder? . Access to the corporate investor’s ecosystem can open up great opportunities from technology validation to customer and partner development.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2013

Today he is the co-founder and Chairman of Triporati, LaunchPad Central. Jim co-taught classes with me at U.C. My prior journeys were spearheaded by the founder of this school of teaching, Steve Blank. And Zignal Labs. This would be my fourth voyage in the captain’s cabin of the SS LaunchPad. ” Lessons Learned.

Lean 288

Lean Cofounder Dividend Business Model 288

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 3, 2009

The same has been true of an unfortunate number of startups, they manage to generate a lot of hype, raise a lot of money, and sometimes make some of their investors, employees, or founders rich. bigs : @ericries says Stealth dev is a (undesirable, failure-presaging) customer-free zone. Use some customer development to find out.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 29, 2010

Weve gone from total obscurity to something people are beginning to misunderstand and even co-opt. The way forward requires getting everyone together in a room, and having a conversation about where were headed. Of course, readers of this blog know that the lean in "lean startup" doesnt refer to cost, but - rather - to Lean Thinking.

San Francisco 120

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 7, 2016

The importance of using customer feedback to shape Minimum Viable Products and why world-class founders are disciplined were topics discussed by the guests on the latest episode of Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111. Mark Hatch , co-founder of TechShop prototyping studios.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Green Founder 120

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

It should be even more important to the founders themselves, because it demonstrates that their business hypothesis is grounded in reality. These founders have not managed, to borrow a phrase from Steve Blank , to create a scalable and repeatable sales process. Our cost to acquire a customer on AdWords was only a few cents.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Since we were only paying per click, it didnt cost us anything to cast a wide net. And then we would use that simple analytics system I mentioned to monitor the conversion rates of customers from each campaign. Only much later did I realize that this was an application of customer development to online marketing.

SEM 164

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 164

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, January 19, 2009 Lean hiring tips In preparing for the strategy series panel this week, I have been doing some thinking about costs. I want to talk specifics, and when you come right down to it, most technology startups dont have a very interesting cost structure.

Lean 140

Lean Hiring San Francisco Continuous Deployment 140

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. Thats what business is designed to do.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. In later posts I’m going to get into more detail on specific topics like hiring, raising money, what types of ideas have the potential to get big, finding your founders, and the like.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

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

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Like a financial debt, the technical debt incurs interest payments, which come in the form of the extra effort that we have to do in future development because of the quick and dirty design choice. Although it costs to pay down the principal, we gain by reduced interest payments in the future. How costly is a failure?

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? Any suggestions?

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

For example, say that your business model calls for a 4% conversion rate – as ours did initially at IMVU. After a few months of early beta at IMVU, we discovered that our actual conversion rate was about 0.4%. If it costs $0.10 to acquire an early adopter, how much should it cost to acquire a mainstream customer?

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?" " Web Development Startups Solo Founders I am a creative guy with a startup idea.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Alistair and Ben, co-authors of the book Lean Analytics, will help you sort it out in our next webcast, Lean Analytics for Non-tech Companies. To help turn the conversation specifically to non-tech companies—the topic of our webcast this week —we asked Alistair to answer a few questions. This is confirmation bias, and it kills.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

He summarized that conversation well, so rather than re-tread that material, Ill quote it here: One thing that I was surprised to learn was that IMVU started out with continuous deployment. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean 131

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

Beyond just those who will be hearing about the lean startup for the first time, Im expecting to shake a lot of hands and have a lot of interesting side conversations. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? September 8, 2009 6:25 PM dbsaid.

DC 90

DC Washington San Francisco SBIR 90

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

Most of all, I encouraged them to start talking to their most passionate customers and running some big experiments based on that feedback. I thought we were having a successful conversation. Back to my conversation with the company I met recently. Given their precarious situation, I really struggled with what advice to give.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Frank Rimalovski , executive director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute joined me in the studio to discuss how the Entrepreneurial Institute is transforming the culture at NYU; and Frank Sculli , co-founder of BioDigital Inc shares what he wishes he’d known before he started his company. Frank Sculli.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Cofounder Investment Bankers 120

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Team Configuration 500 Startups Guerilla Marketing Organizations Entrepreneurship Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs Startups Startup Incubators and Seed Programs Seedcamp Y Combinator TechStars Lean Startups What is the perfect startup team? They are many more examples.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

So I generally feel right at home in these conversations. As the costs of production fall, it’s getting easier and easier to send in a proposal or even a complete work. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Ever-more artists and authors are petitioning them.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, December 7, 2008 Getting started with split-testing One of the startup founders I work with asked me a smart question recently, and I thought Id share it. If youre a founder or top-level executive, have the courage to be wrong in a very public way. Either way, make sure you can be wrong.

San Francisco 132

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 132

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

.” Hackernews list of “Tools of the Trade” for startups - includes over 150 SaaS tools used by startups, and over 150 comments with interesting insights from founders. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. tells you how much adwords cost. Customer Support. turn customer feedback into action.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

a guide for hackers) (This post was inspired by a conversation with Nivi from Venture Hacks , but is otherwise not his fault) There has been a proliferation of frameworks and metaphors lately that are designed to help startups avoid the all-too-common fatal mistake of failing to find a market. Is a market a set of paying customers?

San Francisco 89

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Ruby Lean 89