Steve Blank

AUGUST 21, 2013

gather data essential to customer purchases before doing the science. identify financing vehicles before you need them. Filed under: Customer Development , Lean LaunchPad , Science and Industrial Policy , Teaching. Customer Development Lean LaunchPad Science and Industrial Policy Teaching'

SBIR 314

SBIR Technical Review Lean Startup 314

Steve Blank

JUNE 19, 2014

understand the core customers and the sales and marketing process required for initial clinical sales and downstream commercialization. gather data essential to customer partnerships/collaboration/purchases before doing the science. identify financing vehicles before you need them. The class is team based.

Lean 269

Lean SBIR Intellectual Property Customer Development 269

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Pre-seed investing should be super simple, so any signs of pro-rata rights, tranched financings, charging the company for value-added services, etc. As an inexperienced founder, you are very likely to take at least two rounds of financing before a series A, so the round to try to skip is any sort of second seed. should be avoided.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. You might as well bring your lucky rabbits foot to the VC meeting. Just as a refresher.

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

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. As a result, the standard product development model is not only useless, it is dangerous.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2010

One of my favorites: “ Judging will include such factors as: Market opportunity, reward to risk, strategy, implementation plan, financing plan, etc.”) Filed under: Customer Development Manifesto , Durant versus Sloan: Startups Verus Companies , Teaching. All of which may be true in large companies.

Business Plan 312

Business Plan Business Model Customer Development Deal Flow 312

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2012

Filed under: Air Force , Customer Development , Family/Career/Culture. Designed tradeshow booths, spent long nights at shows setting them up, and long days inside them during the shows. Unless you’ve had a ton of experience (which includes failing) in a broad range of areas you’re only guessing.

Thailand 331

Thailand Engineer Customer Development SEO 331

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 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Ironically one of the things that’s holding back the Finnish cluster is Tekes , the government organization for financing research, development and innovation in Finland. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Teaching , Technology , Venture Capital. 9-to-5 Venture Capital.

Finland 324

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 324

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2016

From manufacturing to sales to finance, the supply chain routinely fails to command the respect it deserve. Transportation partners play an enormous role in the supply chain as they bring products into distribution centers and sometimes directly to customers. Develop Relationships with Supply Chain Partners.

Management 145

Management Forecast Los Angeles San Francisco 145

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

To move innovation faster, we now have 21 st century tools — Business Model Canvas , Customer Development , Agile Engineering – all adding up to a Lean Startup. Filed under: Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan , Customer Development , Science and Industrial Policy. Fast forward to today.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 9, 2012

TLDR: Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits , authors of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development are back with a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur. It took the idea of Customer Development and made it accessible to a whole new audience. Illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. You can pre-order it starting today.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Lean Southern California San Diego 167

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

The motivations are the same – profit – driven by entrepreneurs and venture finance. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. China Customer Development Technology Venture Capital' They are the signs of a leadership frightened not by external enemies but by their own people.

China 323

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 323

Steve Blank

JULY 24, 2012

I Know A Great Customer. As other startups were quickly automating all the department of large corporations (SAP-manufacturing, Oracle-finance, Siebel and Onyx-Sales) our first thought was that our company was going to automate enterprise-marketing departments. Filed under: Customer Development , E.piphany , Marketing.

Seattle 259

Seattle Cofounder Engineer Sales 259

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? Customer Development. A well-developed model is Andreessen Horowitz’s Executive Briefing Center. This is an open-ended query and the most important question.). – What are your fundraising goals?

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

The motivations are the same – profit – driven by entrepreneurs and venture finance. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. China Customer Development Technology Venture Capital' They are the signs of a leadership frightened not by external enemies but by their own people.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

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. See part one for the first time it happened. This time it was serious. Good stuff too.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

It’s not just about a logo or a tagline; it’s the experience you promise your customers. Develop a marketing strategy that leverages both digital and traditional channels. Understand your costs, both fixed and variable, and plan your finances accordingly to sustain operations and fuel growth.

Intellectual Property 133

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 133

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 271

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital | Tagged: Entrepreneurs « Customer Development Manifesto: Market Type (part 4) Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners (part 5) » 16 Responses Jon Ziskind , on September 14, 2009 at 9:19 am Said: Steve – Great post and really great advice.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

Prior to founding Carely , Michael Eidsaune earned his MBA in finance and spent several years in investment management, eventually earning his level 1 CFA certification. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show. We tried to boil the ocean in the most literal sense. If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Cofounder 142

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 142

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

a language corporate innovation groups can use to communicate to business units and finance. I use the Investment Readiness Level as part of my sessions to help the students understand that being ready for investment means that besides having a pretty PowerPoint, they need to do real work and show Customer Development progress.

Sacramento 306

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 306

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2016

Second, the leaders of these companies tended to be those who excelled at finance, supply chain or production. But starting in the last quarter of that century and accelerating in this one, a new form of financing – risk capital (angel and venture capital) — emerged. Filed under: Corporate Innovation , Customer Development.

Architecture 227

Architecture IRR Balance Sheet Liquidity Event 227

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2013

But before startups could happen, China’s basic science, technology and finance infrastructure and ecosystem needed to be built. As we’ll see later, the MOF (Ministry of Finance) also has had a hand in funding new ventures. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. Like the U.S.

China 315

China Taiwan Silicon Valley Guam 315

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 ? And when do business planning and execution come into play?

Search 320

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 320

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

You’ll learn more about what destroys startups, how to use the Customer Development method to succeed, how to use the Business Model Canvas, how to identify and keep your customers, and how to drive profits. Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy. B y Cindy Alvarez.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

Prior to founding Carely , Michael Eidsaune earned his MBA in finance and spent several years in investment management, eventually earning his level 1 CFA certification. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show. We tried to boil the ocean in the most literal sense. If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. This is a customer development problem. So What is Customer Development? The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses. Website Analysis.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

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. How would that change my company strategy?

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 13, 2011

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." Blank teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford University and UC Berkeley and blogs at steveblank.com. 9-to-5 Venture Capital.

Finland 158

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 158

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 163

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2013

Recently, the financing of innovation in medical devices has collapsed even further with most Class III devices simply unfundable. Some startups in this field are actually beginning with Customer Development while others struggle with the classic execution versus search problem. Regulatory Issues.

Startup 294

Startup Venture Capital Lean IPO 294

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

I know that this all seems obvious now with the movements started by Steven Blank ( Four Steps of Epiphany ) with the whole Customer Development processes / Lean Startup movements also popularized by people like Eric Ries. Many people at a young startup are trying to manage their finances like the rest of their user base.

Customer 280

Customer Technical Review Software Review Mexico 280

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

In Customer Development the goal of a minimum feature set is to pare the features of the first product release to the minimum necessary for early customers. The finance system didn’t talk to the sales system which didn’t know the manufacturing system even existed. All the Data and Not a Drop to Think.

San Francisco 228

San Francisco Database Advisory Board Silicon Valley 228

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Such as ensuring their companies are properly insured, that they have a separate current account for business finances and that they are up to date with the legalities of their business. By customer development. You should combine user research and customer building in order to grow your business.

Startup 115

Startup Acquisition Business Model Finance 115

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2013

But before startups could happen, China’s basic science, technology and finance infrastructure and ecosystem needed to be built. As we’ll see later, the MOF (Ministry of Finance) also has had a hand in funding new ventures. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. Like the U.S.

China 207

China Taiwan Silicon Valley Guam 207