Steve Blank

MAY 10, 2011

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. Class lectures were over last week, but most teams kept up the mad rush to talk to even more customers and further refine their products. The Lean LaunchPad was designed to fill that void. Syllabus is here. This is the End.

Lean 285

Lean Business Model Agile Customer Development 285

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. One of them used to be a lead developer at [insert hot consumer tech company here].

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

To continually innovate, companies need to operate at startup speed and cycle time much longer their 20 th century counterparts did. A 20 th century VC was likely to have an MBA or finance background. A few, like John Doerr at Kleiner Perkins and Don Valentine at Sequoia, had operating experience in a large tech company.

Restful 243

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 243

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Secondly, they had an owned & operated (O&O) website – Google.com – and Overture had shut down GoTo.com at the request of their very profitable and large distribution partners. 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

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 324

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 324

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

Our Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences is one of them. The Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences (the I-Corps @ NIH ) uses the Lean Startup Model to discover and validate the business model. The Lean Launchpad® for Life Sciences (the I-Corps @ NIH ) uses the Lean Startup Model to discover and validate the business model.

San Diego 265

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 265

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). We’ll build the class around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack.

Wiki 316

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 316

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

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

(In fact, this crisis was at the heart of Steve Blank ’s original impetus to develop customer development as an alternative set of milestones to use for startups.) I have seen founders replaced because their style seemed too chaotic, even though what’s really happening is that they are operating at startup speed.

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167

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 235

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 235

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

The idea was that these two people would operate as a unit, with the mentors job performance during this period evaluated by the performance of the new person. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May. .

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean 131

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Compared to the million-dollar startup, they are operating at micro-scale. Instead, each potential customer has to go through a self-serve process of signing up and paying money. (For For more on how this plays into the process of scaling up, see the Customer Creation stage of the customer development model.)

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

We agreed that all her founding CEOs seemed to have the same set of personality traits – tenacious, passionate, relentless, resilient, agile, and comfortable operating in chaos. It’s why all of you operated so well in the unpredictable environment that all startups face.” And that’s just to get started.

Founder 310

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 310

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods. Introducing Lean Planning: How to Plan Less and Grow Faster. How to Write a Traditional Business Plan.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

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

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

should have leaned on them a lot more, but I didn't, or at least not in the right ways. In other words, the future of financing is continuous funding, not discrete. Customer Care Today. Customer Validation needs to have the CEO actively involved. Customer Development Diagnostics over Lunch.

Software Review 217

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Technical Review 217

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

I now believe that the "pick two" concept is fundamentally flawed, and that lean startups can achieve all three simultaneously: quickly bring high-quality software to market at low cost. Cost and time are effectively absolutes (The Caretaker's high finance schenanigans and 20th century Physics aside). Expo SF (May.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators – disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost. It needs the tools and processes pioneered in Lean Startups. This is a big idea. What to Do?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Lean Startup Circle Boston – Meetup dedicated to the lean startup and customer development methodology. Dog Patch Labs – Shared workspace operated by Polaris Ventures. Not Boston focused, but definitely follow his reports of PE and VC financings and the state of the venture market. @danprimack.

Boston 71

Boston Technical Review Community Cofounder 71

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Lean Methodology Sources. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Part 3- Lean Cust. Customer service. Steve Blank’s Lean Startup Resources. Lean Startup Circle â?? Lean project management. easy business finance software. YCombinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 6, 2014

It detailed exactly what everyone was to do at every stage for every product, with instructions for every department ranging from hardware to software, and on to operations, finance, marketing, even the support teams that troubleshoot and repair the product after it goes to market.”

Product 84

Product Venture Capital Lean Finance 84

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

In 1960’s and ‘70’s few MBA’s would give up a lucrative career in management, finance or Wall Street to join a bunch of technical lunatics. The Stanford class introduced the first management tools for entrepreneurs built around the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack.

Engineer 311

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 311

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Top management was trying to coordinate all of the operating details (sales, manufacturing, distribution and marketing,) across all the divisions and the company almost went bankrupt that year when poor planning led to excess inventory (with unsold cars piling up at dealers and the company running out of cash.)

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 179

View from Seed

JANUARY 28, 2016

When we talk about seeds, we mean your first outside round of financing at the earliest stages of your business. In my prior post, I talked about the rise of the pre-seed and a more nuanced definition of a pre-seed based on milestones, not financing labels. This staged approach is often much better for the founders as well.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Finance Founder Syndicate 120

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

In an early stage startup, instead of sales being up front, the point departments are likely to be product development and customer development. Later on in this same company’s life, sales will become the pointy end and product development moves to a supporting role. It varies by company and changes over time.

Silicon Valley 132

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 132

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 19, 2013

Since raising our fund earlier this year, we’ve invested in a number of strong teams but this isn’t an easy business and we’re committed to bringing an operators mentality to what we do: measure and improve, every day, week, month. It''s not about the investors, it''s about the CEO ]. Two learnings.

Cofounder 104

Cofounder Term Sheet Seed Stage Portfolio 104

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Among those: plentiful financing and nerds , a culture that celebrates both failure and success, and an ethos of openness and sharing. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

Silicon Valley 68

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

The Entrepreneurial Mind

MARCH 10, 2011

Each of the selected concepts for our first year of operating this microfund received $15,000 in equity capital and special arrangements with participating partners for marketing, accounting, legal and technology services. This is true in the typical areas of accounting, finance, marketing, fundraising (like other micro funds).

Nashville 65

Nashville Tennessee PHP Ruby 65

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? The former focussed on biz.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

Rob Go

JANUARY 28, 2016

When we talk about seeds, we mean your first outside round of financing at the earliest stages of your business. In my prior post, I talked about the rise of the pre-seed and a more nuanced definition of a pre-seed based on milestones, not financing labels. This staged approach is often much better for the founders as well.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Finance Founder Syndicate 28

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

They never worked with the startup who had needed to raise multiple rounds of financing. You need to go out and do some customer development. Bigger than that was we had an operating agreement that had a non dilution clause for him and I don’t want to get into the weeds of that. That’s not really helpful.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60