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.

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Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 227

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

The “it” is a physical or web product they’ve often been locked-down, pounding away at, for many weeks. Without passionate customers, even the most passionate entrepreneur will flounder at best. If you can’t figure this out on your own, and relate it to customers succinctly, it’s a certainty that your customers never will.

Startup 333

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 333

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 253

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 253

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Do they have better sales, marketing, or product development groups? What the winners start with is the realization that in a world of continuous disruption, they have only a few years to develop new capabilities or be pushed over the brink. Is it that some CEOs are better than others? Are their people smarter?

Incubator 416

Incubator Lean Agile Business Model 416

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. The meaning of alpha test , beta test, and first customer ship are pretty obvious to most engineers. Here’s what the product development diagram looks like from a sales perspective.

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Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 228

Steve Blank

MARCH 2, 2011

In it Shackleton defined courage and leadership. Working with him, I’ve been impressed to watch his small team embrace Customer Development (and Business Model Generation ) and search the world for the right product/market fit. And they’ve being doing this while driving product cost down and performance up.

Silicon Valley 237

Silicon Valley Agile Customer Development Early Stage 237

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. They never understood Market Type. Why does Market Type matter? End result?

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 220

SVPG

MARCH 17, 2011

In my last article I discussed the role of the leader of the product organization. I want every product leader to feel considerable urgency and importance around this need. I want every product leader to feel considerable urgency and importance around this need.

Developer 67

Developer Product Technical Review SCRUM 67

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition.

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Small startups act the same way, simply cloning each other’s products. Perhaps products like WeChat , designed for an international market, might be the beginning of real innovation. Their leadership has shown incredible foresight in engineering an amazing economic engine and formidable military. I can’t imagine a U.S.

China 327

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 327

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

The product is an amazing technical tour de force. But the product/market fit of this first iteration is a swing and a miss. launched a product in 1990 called PhotoCD. The moment I saw the product I knew every one of my professional graphics customers (ad agencies, freelancers, photo studios, etc.)

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Search Marketing Forecast Burn Rate 292

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 25, 2014

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! The Ultimate List of Customer Development Questions – crowdspring.co/1nHT6tS. The Ultimate List of Customer Development Questions – crowdspring.co/1nHT6tS.

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 2, 2024

The Shark Tank hook is simple: Identify a unique and usually as-yet-unmet need in the marketplace, create and produce a product that satisfies that need, and then hopefully cash in on it for big bucks. Despite the ‘smart’ glasses’ cutting-edge technology, the product was discontinued after just one year. million people per episode.

North America 147

North America Artificial Inteligence America Valuation 147

crowdSPRING Blog

JUNE 6, 2014

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Customer Development 101) – crowdspring.co/1pNIOcD. Crowdsourcing Your Way To What Customers Really Want | Fast Company – crowdspring.co/1oNJIZp.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Software Review 94

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

While I was consulting for them, I got a call from a recruiter for a company called SuperMac, which made add-on products for the Macintosh. They sold their product through the computer retail channel, something I knew nothing about. They sold to a set of customers I knew nothing about.

Silicon Valley 165

Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review RSS 165

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I set up an advisory board as a vehicle to get these industry experts engaged with the company and product. Velvet Painting Period - MFLOPS Poster Engineers as Marketers There was one other reason I was talent-spotting our advisors and potential customers.

Engineer 221

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 221

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. So their management teams were insisting that they OEM (buy from someone else) these products.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Small startups act the same way, simply cloning each other’s products. Perhaps products like WeChat , designed for an international market, might be the beginning of real innovation. Their leadership has shown incredible foresight in engineering an amazing economic engine and formidable military. I can’t imagine a U.S.

China 219

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 219

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. The book is still in production, so I haven't seen the whole thing yet.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Lean Southern California San Diego 167

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

An example of a reversible decision could be adding a product feature, a new algorithm in the code, targeting a specific set of customers, etc. An irreversible decision is firing an employee, launching your product, a five-year lease for an expensive new building, etc. These are usually difficult or impossible to reverse.

Silicon Valley 307

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 307

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

And while technically correct, and eventually the company ought to fire unprofitable customers, the result when done by impatient founders is most often less than optimal. While it is “just business,” many customers form emotional bonds sometimes with products, other times with the company itself. And they rarely come back.

Customer 216

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 216

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Passionate – is the company/product/customers the most important thing in your life? However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model.

Cofounder 229

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 229

ConversionXL

JANUARY 24, 2014

It’s Not A Conversion Problem, It’s A Customer Development Problem. Think About Customer Experience, Not Just Conversion Optimization. Yet, it’s equally important that a business development person is able to communicate the value of your product to each, in order to truly tap into their customer base.

Developer 104

Developer API Cofounder New Jersey 104

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

I just spent half a day with Henrich, the head of product of a Fortune 10 company. We’re helping them convert one of the critical product lines inside an existing division from a traditional waterfall project management process into Lean. This product line has 15 project managers overseeing 60 projects. All good Lean basics.

Agile 64

Agile Lean Leadership Conversion 64

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. making use of non disclosure agreement is both expensive and counter productive.

Silicon Valley 253

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 253

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Customer Development is all about gathering a list of what features customers want by talking to them, surveying them, or running “focus groups.” As the engineers were busy rearchitecting the original Stanford MIPS chip into a commercial product, one of my jobs was to find out what features customers wanted.

Customer Development 284

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 284

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

The first few months of my startups were centered around building the founding team, prototyping the product and raising money. I’m convinced that starting a company without talking to customers is like throwing your time and money in the street (unless you’re already a domain expert). Fundraising isn’t the product.

Silicon Valley 204

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 204

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

The other departments in marketing gave the same answers; the product-marketing department said their job was to write data sheets. To do that we will create end-user demand and drive it into the sales channel, educate the channel and customers about why our products are superior, and help Engineering understand customer needs and desires.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 269

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 269

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 131

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Markets with Customer/Market Risk are those where the unknown is whether customers will adopt the product. is whether there is a customer and market for the product as spec’d. In these markets it’s all about customer/market risk. Based on this insight, I updated my earlier diagram to look like this. (The

Vertical 162

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 162

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Your product and company vision needs to match your appetite for funding. Prior to founding Keen Home , Nayeem Hussain spent his career focusing on M&A, corporate development/strategy, and financial analysist, first at Prudential Financial and then at Loral Space & Communications. Nayeem : I didn’t, no. Orders increased.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

The good news for the country is that the leadership of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has decided to turn the ship now. The process starts by collecting agency-wide ideas and/or customer problems, collecting a group insight, and sorts which problems are important enough to pursue.

Lean 182

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 182

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

The good news for the country is that the leadership of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has decided to turn the ship now. The process starts by collecting agency-wide ideas and/or customer problems, collecting a group insight, and sorts which problems are important enough to pursue.

Lean 182

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 182

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. Were startups failing because of product failures or was there some other failure mode? a customer before you try and build a business. Reply Best books for the lean product managers — Justin Gibbs , on April 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm Said: [.]

Product Development 159

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 159

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

But here was a $499 product that could let everyone use video.) Even though we won’t make a ton of money, it will be an ambassador for the rest of our product family. People who aren’t current customers of our graphics boards will get to know our company and brand. If we’re smart we’ll cross-sell them one of our other products.

Video 184

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 184

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Was SuperMac attempting to introduce radically new products and create a new market ? Was the company attempting to be a low cost provider by introducing cheaper products to an existing market? Was the company attempting to introduce faster and better products to an existing market? No, not really.

Silicon Valley 157

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 157