Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

This post describes how following the traditional product development can lead to a “startup death spiral.&# In the next posts that follow, I’ll describe how this model’s failures led to the Customer Development Model – offering a new way to approach startup sales and marketing activities.

Customer Development 232

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 232

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 26, 2022

To overcome these challenges, leaders will need to keep people at the center of our conversations, and organizations will need to help their employees build emotional intelligence and expert people skills. Prezi hired the former director of product from Pixar to build a more cinematic video meeting experience.

Software Review 122

Software Review Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur 122

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

by Dan Adams , president of Advanced Industrial Marketing and author of “ New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth “ Right now our economy and our nation feel anything but business-friendly. They’re afraid to hire, afraid to spend, afraid to risk. Just… afraid. You need to find this out up-front.

Product 251

Product B2B Product Development Developer 251

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Increase the pipeline and the conversion rate. Now is the time to formalize lead-generation efforts, and initiate efforts to maximize the conversion rate to sales closure. Some startups hire more people to delay automation, or spend money wildly on new tools for the future. Introduce new products and enhancements every month.

Social Media 329

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 329

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Just a decade ago, most software/cloud startups used a traditional model where product and marketing were siloed: product teams created the product and marketing drove people to the website to buy it. The evolution of the growth function changed this dynamic, mashing together product dev and marketing as integrated functions.

Software Review 60

Software Review South Africa Hockey Stick Viral 60

ConversionXL

APRIL 13, 2017

Call it whatever you like, but when businesses are hiring for any of those titles they simply want somebody who can generate lots of quality leads for as little cash as possible.”. A growth team, however, is largely overlapped with product, engineering, and design as well. Product vs. Growth?

Analytics 99

Analytics Engineer SEO Channel 99

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Nick Kim , Crosscut’s Head of Platform, in his presentation at the 4th Annual VC Platform Summit, shared their Platform development methodology, which he viewed as an exercise in product development. For example, recruiting writ large is useful at all stages of development. Platform as a Product. Minimal cost. .

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Spencer Fry

DECEMBER 16, 2019

Throughout my career as an entrepreneur, I've gotten my hands dirty in every area of the business: product, marketing, support, community, success, and so on, but at 19 people, I just haven't had the time to be everywhere at all times. New hiring responsibilities. I have to pick and choose what I do and what I don't do.

CTO Hire 44

CTO Hire Wiki Product Development Matching 44

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Today, brands are hiring social media specialists for customer support, crowdsourced product development, promotions and even leads generation. Hiring The Right Candidate. It's pretty clear that brand conversations are happening regardless of how we monitor or react to them.

Social Media 134

Social Media Media Programming Viral 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

This term refers to an initial venture-capital investment, often wrongly sought to seed early product development. In fact, most often, it is limited to seeding a startup business rollout or scale-up after development is completed from friends and family. Frothy is good for entrepreneurs. Seed-round investment.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 25, 2012

Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams by Lou Adler. Read through this great book to better understand why performance-based hiring could be the best choice for filling your business with great employees. Productivity. A great product is meaningless if you can’t sell it.

Merger 228

Merger Leadership Design Management 228

Austin Startup

APRIL 8, 2019

Team morale is high, we are exceeding the [REDACTED] KPI by several months, burn went up faster than expected, and product development is ticking along well except for one hiccup. Team: We are considering hiring [REDACTED] full time. Hopefully, it is helpful. Dear Shareholder, Happy Monday from Austin! NEED HELP / ASK? —?At

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Balance Sheet Startup Austin 48

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. They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

But, you need to build that first product right. On the other side of the equation, there are a growing number of design, development, and digital media shops who are hungry to expand, or swap focus, to building a company that’s more than just a service shop.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 60

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 26, 2018

Let me use the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework for product development to explain why. I will give you a high-level summary here, but if you are building products then I recommend spending some time with Google to find out a bit more. Reams have been written about the JTBD framework. That job breaks down into component parts.

Customer 75

Customer Framework Differentiation Customer Development 75

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Talented product developers. If you can harness the knowledge, natural enthusiasm, and peer influence of your very best customers — I call them “Rock Star” customers — they’ll market, sell, and help develop breakthrough products for your firm better than your internal resources can do, and often at a fraction of the cost.

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2017

Will your product serve better as a mobile app (which offers a better experience on mobile, yet needs to be installed and can be deleted on a whim), or a web app (immediately accessible at any time, yet less simple to navigate from a handheld gadget)? What is your product goal? Validate your product concept with an MVP.

Mobile 81

Mobile Application Development Web Software Review 81

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

by more "prosaic" conversation around food, wine, travel, family, sports and more. AND it was probably the most productive two hours any of us had all year. And more excitedly, through the development of a new product with a market potential many times greater than the company’s current core offering.

Conversion 48

Conversion Los Angeles Europe Acquisition 48

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.

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

This was my time at a Wall Street firm that had hired me after I applied for their Junior Stockbroker position, a little while after I graduated from college. SXSW brings a huge chunk of the music and tech world together in one city every year in March, and most startups launch their products there every year. How did I get the gig?

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 24, 2017

4- Hiring amazing team. At Cave, our biggest accomplishment this year was hiring impressive new people. We pride ourselves on offering our clients the best marketing services possible, and our most recent hires are a perfect fit for our mission. We were selling over $25,000 of products per hour at this pop up store.

Las Vegas 88

Las Vegas Entrepreneur Software Review Community 88

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

If you’re building a startup, you’re likely to be in one of these two situations: Launching and selling a new product that nobody’s ever heard about, and probably don’t even know they need, or… Improving an existing product or service, which means that you’re going head on against someone with more traction, people, and money than you.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Thats the conclusion Ive come to after watching tons of online products fail for a complete lack of customers. 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. Measure conversion rates. Nothing made any difference.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Hiring is a chapter unto itself, but it deserves to lead off any discussion of context. Compensation decisions obviously affect hiring and retention. You can’t be too careful in determining comp packages for your new hires. You want to see your product or service performing in the hands of real users.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Include both positives and negatives for a more productive board conversation, which is especially critical in the seed stage since nearly everything is in “figure it out” mode. The Challenges/Setbacks section should be completely transparent to set up a candid, productive discussion. Section 4: Product Roadmap.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

OnlyOnce

MARCH 14, 2011

In Part Two, I’ll talk about some of the practices we’re using in our product management and development teams. Every conversation and decision we made came down to finding out what would make the service (more) saleable. It was stressful, but productively stressful and fun. For one, there are the profits.

Software Review 67

Software Review Development Team Review Later Stage Technical Review 67

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

Five Whys has its origins in the Toyota Production System. The Five Whys for Start-Ups - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Root cause analysis and preventive maintenance are concepts we expect to see in a factory setting. Five Whys has its origins in the Toyota Production System.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. In fact, this company hasn’t shipped any new products in months. What’s going on?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Startups especially can benefit by using technical debt to experiment, invest in process, and increase their product development leverage. The biggest source of waste in new product development is building something that nobody wants. Unfortunately, customers hated that initial product.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

Id be honored to have you join the conversation. The Conversation - Harvard Business Review For most of us, the phrase management science conjures up a decidedly non-entrepreneurial image, and for good reason. Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Id be honored to have you join the conversation.

San Francisco 119

San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. In most agile development systems, there is a notion of the "product backlog" a prioritized list of what software is most valuable to be developed next.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Up and Running

MARCH 15, 2012

However, it’s also beneficial to replace water cooler conversations by connecting through social media. He writes, “This ensures that the product, development, marketing, partner, sales and management team all have full visibility of what is going on across the business (and what the people they’re working with actually look like!)

Software Review 79

Software Review Early Stage Employee Technical Review 79

ConversionXL

APRIL 17, 2019

Conversations with prospects or customers can improve practically every metric or user state model you’re aiming for. As Jen Havice noted here on the CXL blog , insights from customer interviews can: Accelerate the customer journey; Increase conversions; Drive more leads, sales, and revenue. Product Aware. Pain Aware.

Customer 120

Customer Framework Conversion Search 120

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. So let’s be very specific: let’s assume your dream job is product manager at Google, working on the Analytics product. love to find great products and services made by entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 30, 2010

Let me be clear about this: Never pass up an opportunity to have a “way too early” conversation with an investor. They’ve seen a ton of similar patterns, things to be aware of, or even potential hires that may want to join a company like yours. Sometimes, we even have good product feedback.

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Later Stage 113

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

One of the topics that raised heated debate was whether I had conflated technical design with product design , because I made the admittedly counter-intuitive claim that sometimes good technical design actually leads to increased technical debt. The argument itself got me thinking a lot about design and its role in building products.

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2016

Increase the pipeline and the conversion rate. Now is the time to formalize lead-generation efforts, and initiate efforts to maximize the conversion rate to sales closure. Some startups hire more people to delay automation, or spend money wildly on new tools for the future. Introduce new products and enhancements every month.

Social Media 120

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 120