Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

I don’t recommend anyone become an entrepreneur. The tools and temperament needed to get from startup idea to startup success were the focus of the guests on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Jeremy dropped out of Princeton to become an entrepreneur. Wanting to create impact is great. It’s too hard.

Cofounder 145

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 145

Steve Blank

MARCH 26, 2019

As a serial entrepreneur turned educator, this didn’t make sense to me. In my experience, I saw that most business plans don’t survive first contact with customers. The class was unique in that it was 1) team-based, 2) experiential, 3) lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering).

Lean 254

Lean Business Model Balance Sheet Video 254

Steve Blank

AUGUST 21, 2013

gather data essential to customer purchases before doing the science. identify financing vehicles before you need them. And we recruited a team of world class Venture Capitalists and entrepreneurs to teach and mentor the class including Alan May , Karl Handelsman , Abhas Gupta , and Todd Morrill.

SBIR 318

SBIR Technical Review Lean Startup 318

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

I don’t recommend anyone become an entrepreneur. The tools and temperament needed to get from startup idea to startup success were the focus of the guests on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Jeremy dropped out of Princeton to become an entrepreneur. Wanting to create impact is great. It’s too hard.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The Times Square Strategy discussion I had with Eric Ries , was still top of mind, so instead of my standard Customer Development lecture , I offered my thoughts on: the origin of Customer Development, where we are today, and where does Customer Development go, and how you can help get it there.

Customer Development 226

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 226

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2011

I spent the month of September lecturing, and interacting with (literally) thousands of entrepreneurs in two emerging startup markets, Finland and Russia. What I found in Finland was: a whole lot of smart, passionate entrepreneurs who want to build a startup hub in Helsinki. 9-to-5 Venture Capital.

Finland 327

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 327

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2010

A business plan is the execution document that large companies write when planning product-line extensions where customer, market and product features are known. One of my favorites: “ Judging will include such factors as: Market opportunity, reward to risk, strategy, implementation plan, financing plan, etc.”)

Business Plan 316

Business Plan Business Model Customer Development Deal Flow 316

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Ari Newman is an entrepreneur, mentor, investor, and a friend. He works at Techstars where his responsibility is to ensure that the connections between alumni, mentors, and staff are as robust as they can be – helping entrepreneurs “ do more faster ” day in and day out.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

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. While that’s not true, it is a fact that entrepreneurs only have one word for “startup.”

Customer Development 217

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 217

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Almost every entrepreneur I met was using VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall. There’s a noticeable lack of tenacity in young, new entrepreneurs. Perhaps it’s the weather. In the U.S.

China 326

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 326

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. The first class was an introduction to the concepts of business model design and customer development. The Adventure Begins.

Lean 303

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 303

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

In the last five years “ Lean Startup ” methodologies have enabled entrepreneurs to efficiently build a startup by searching for product/market fit rather than blindly trying to execute. Horizon 3 is where companies put their crazy entrepreneurs. I’ve been working with large companies and the U.S. A 50x speedup kind of fast.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Most first-time entrepreneurs aren’t prepared for the challenges they will face building a startup, and yet they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. How founders find the determination to push through tough times was the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Filed under: Customer Development.

Entrepreneur 264

Entrepreneur Cofounder San Francisco Campaign 264

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. There’s lots of lore, emotion, and misconceptions of what VC’s do or don’t do for entrepreneurs. In this time, building a successful business meant building a company that had paying customers quarter after quarter.

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 233

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Almost every entrepreneur I met was using VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall. There’s a noticeable lack of tenacity in young, new entrepreneurs. Perhaps it’s the weather. In the U.S.

China 218

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 218

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Customer Development We were starting Epiphany, my last company. I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. As a young entrepreneur in his first startup, this post hits our current situation spot on.

Silicon Valley 248

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 248

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

Below, you will find a list of books recommended by serial entrepreneur David S. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy. Not so much. B y Eric Ries. B y Cindy Alvarez.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

As an agenda for each meeting, I suggest: – How can we most add value, in addition to helping with financing? I have developed a founder curriculum on my blog. Relationships with Venture Partners, Entrepreneurs in Residence , and other non-salaried personnel who can help your companies. Customer Development.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The Golden Age for Entrepreneurs and VC’s. The two decades from 1979 when pension funds fueled the expansion of venture capital to 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst were the Golden Age for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. They’ve created virtual IPO’s for founders and employees via late-stage private financing.

Venture Capital 302

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 302

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

However, the key difference between a successful and unsuccessful startup rests on the shoulders of the entrepreneur themselves. What do Successful Entrepreneurs do that Others Don’t? Entrepreneurs who succeed may have crazy ideas, but they do not stop there. What are the Things Successful Entrepreneurs do not do?

Startup 156

Startup Acquisition Business Model Finance 156

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

a language corporate innovation groups can use to communicate to business units and finance. — As Selections Committee chair for our Sacramento Angels investor group, I review applications from dozens of startup entrepreneurs looking for investment. data that investors, accelerators and incubators can use to inform selection.

Sacramento 311

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 311

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 13, 2011

I spent the month of September lecturing, and interacting with (literally) thousands of entrepreneurs in two emerging startup markets, Finland and Russia. Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur, educator, thought leader and creator of the rigorous "Customer Development" methodology detailed in his book, "The Four Steps to the Epiphany."

Finland 158

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 158

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. You literally have to take your vision of the opportunity and against all rational odds assemble financing, and a team to help you execute. And that’s just to get started.

Founder 308

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He was a life-long entrepreneur and the first business he created out of college (actually, he founded it while he was at Caltech) was a company that manufactured high quality audio speakers. He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Managewith.us - Collaborative Task Manager Mavenlink - manage project communications, documents, schedules, budgets, payments Industrial Logic – Agile eLearning Misc Office Help Google Apps – cloud mail server, calendar, docs, etc.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

But then, because there might be entrenched competitors and your concept is radically new, you still need to invest in the customer development process to learn how to get design wins from companies who may be happy with their existing vendors. Am I in a company with “invention risk? Or does my company have both types of risk?

Vertical 159

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 159

The Next Web

JANUARY 27, 2013

Up until today, I consider all four a must-read for any entrepreneur or anyone looking into entrepreneurship. Especially because I could have used this time on marketing, sales and customer development, and actually helped our business move forward. For me, these books were great guides. Every now and then I run into them.

Netherlands 159

Netherlands Technical Review Software Review Cofounder 159

Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

One of the confusing things to entrepreneurs, investors and educators is the relationship between customer development and business model design and business planning and execution. When does a new venture focus on customer development and business models ? Here’s an attempt to put this all in context.

Search 324

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 324

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Most first-time entrepreneurs aren’t prepared for the challenges they will face building a startup, and yet they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. How founders find the determination to push through tough times was the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Filed under: Customer Development.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder San Francisco Campaign 120

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Which at this stage of the company was marketing and financing. Believing Your Own BS is Toxic Lots of noise and smoke before a product ships seems to be a toxic byproduct of enthusiastic entrepreneurs. Not being able to hear negative customer input is an extremely bad idea.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Customer Validation needs to have the CEO actively involved.

Software Review 217

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Technical Review 217

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

A 20 th century VC was likely to have an MBA or finance background. Until then investors and entrepreneurs acted like startups were simply smaller versions of large companies. (And the results do appear years earlier than in a traditional startup.). Third, venture capital has now become Founder-friendly.

Restful 238

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 238

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

For entrepreneurs good things come to those who ask. Entreprenuers Know How to Ask Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to ask for things relentlessly. Entrepreneurs are fearless, persistent and uninhibited about asking – whether it’s asking to assemble a team, get financing, sell customers, etc.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review California 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. When you’re an entrepreneur, yeah, there’s 100 gaps. Ajay Kshatriya. Joining me in the Stanford University studio were.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. When you’re an entrepreneur, yeah, there’s 100 gaps. Ajay Kshatriya. Joining me in the Stanford University studio were.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

One of my beliefs is that such a theory should be addressed to entrepreneurs and the people who hold them accountable. It’s this latter criteria that I think tends to get overlooked in most writing about entrepreneurs. Who holds entrepreneurs accountable? I also frequently see the reverse. Are we making progress?

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167