Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2010

I’ve been teaching Customer Development at U.C. Berkeley was brave enough to let me write and teach a class on a subject that no one had ever heard of – Customer Development. Customer Development was a process to quickly search for a profitable business model when customer needs (features, pricing, channel, etc.)

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Lean Developer Customer 242

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2010

I suggested that they first might want to read my post on why business plans are a poor planning and execution tool for startups. Where did the idea that startups write business plans come from? A startup is not executing a series of knowns. Instead of business plans I have suggested that startups use business models.

Business Plan 317

Business Plan Business Model Customer Development Deal Flow 317

View from Seed

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Editor’s note: At a recent team meeting at NextView, we looked at the high number of startups we invested in which were pre-product at the time. It’s often a good idea for founders to find a way to build something and get some early market validation before raising outside capital. Is there founder/market fit?

Product 120

Product Startup Early Stage Seed Capital 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 30, 2013

Doing so meant they would have to take risks for IP acquisition and customer/market risks outside their experience or comfort zone. I earnestly believe that large corporations should emulate Lean Startups (Business model design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering.) Lessons Learned.

Programming 270

Programming Technical Review Incubator Intellectual Property 270

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

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

It’s time to update Build, Measure, Learn to what we now know is the best way to build Lean startups. Build a product, get it into the real world, measure customers’ reactions and behaviors, learn from this, and use what you’ve learned to build something better. Then came the Build-Measure-learn focus of the Lean Startup.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc. It is the key to “customer development” that Steve Blank talks about. And market your brand, not your personality.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) talk to more customers? This post is part four.

Customer 240

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 240

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2018

He has been an entrepreneur since he was young, founding top conversion and marketing companies like Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics, Quick Sprout, and more. These don’t require coding skills—they’re usually visual templates that are easy to use but don’t allow for great customization (that would require technical skills). Custom development.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Technical Review Hosting SEO 107

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. I knew everything about our operating system, hardware and applications – and I was going to prove it.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

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. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 4, 2019

Many startups are big data-dependent as they implement innovative solutions. Cloud computing can be further sub-divided into various types depending on the market that it’s serving. Oracle aims to help customers develop their operations and enhance their experience with the cloud. People want more and more storage.

Cloud 82

Cloud Artificial Inteligence Matching Hosting 82

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

By the early 1920s a new dean changed the curriculum – shifting it from an industry orientation (steel, railroads, etc.) – to a functional one (marketing, factory and employment management (HR), etc.). The case method and business plans are the antithesis of how entrepreneurs create startups. First Case Study-General Shoe.

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. You have to wonder: does the VC you have on your board today have the right skill set to help you succeed in today’s economic environment?

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 235

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2014

Product/Market fit now has its own book. —— The Lean Startup process builds new ventures more efficiently. It has three parts: a business model canvas to frame hypotheses, customer development to get out of the building to test those hypotheses and agile engineering to build minimum viable products.

Business Model 335

Business Model Design Customer Development Lean 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Pattern Recognition One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that you are constantly running a pattern recognition algorithm against a continual collection of customer and market data. For me this was one of the joys of entrepreneurship – constant learning and new insights.

Customer 216

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 216

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Your product and company vision needs to match your appetite for funding. The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. — Getting Keen Home’s smart vent to market was no small task.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

At the same time we were educating the press , we began to educate our own marketing department about what exactly we were supposed to be doing inside the company. During the first few weeks I asked each of my department heads what they did for marketing and the company.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 269

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. Letting our customers and the market know that we were a real organization with real people rather than a pre-packaged, pre-processed marketing machine.

Customer 280

Customer Technical Review Software Review Mexico 280

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

ConversionXL

JANUARY 31, 2014

Step Zero – Really Understand Your Target Market. Do This: Really get to know your market. Conduct surveys & interviews to understand your customer’s pain points. These questions help you uncover trends within your market and tell you things analytics alone can not. The Conversion Funnel Survival Guide.

Analytics 134

Analytics Video Matching Conversion 134

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 29, 2018

If you want to take your business to the next level, you should consider app development. Are you are a startup that needs to market your products and services ? Either way, custom software development is an effective way to build brand awareness and give your business a competitive edge.

Developer 93

Developer Offshore Software Developers Software Development 93

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

And building a startup is not for the faint of heart. 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. Prior to founding Andela , he co-founded 2U , an education technology startup that went public in 2014.

Cofounder 145

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 145

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. Customer Development. Fundraising.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

And building a startup is not for the faint of heart. 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. Prior to founding Andela , he co-founded 2U , an education technology startup that went public in 2014.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

But for startups, business plans fail to match the chaotic reality they encounter in the real world. Yet year after year, decade after decade, VC’s would watch as no startup business plan survived first contact with customers. They kept insisting startups write business plans as the price of entry to venture funding.

Business Model 267

Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 267

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

An Existing Market All four were trying to resegment an “Existing Market.” An existing market is one where competitors have a profitable business selling to customers who can name the market and can tell you about the features that matter to them. Me – “Have you used Company x’s product?

Silicon Valley 206

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 206

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

This process forced companies to release and launch products by model years, and market new and “improved” versions. Agile is a tremendous advance in reducing time, money and wasted product development effort – and in having products better match customer needs. Marketing delivers a “requirements” document to engineering.

Continuous Deployment 331

Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 331

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. BTW, when the customers were “three-letter” intelligence agencies, contractors used an oblique way of talking about who they were working for: they were all referred to as simply the “customer.”)

Silicon Valley 194

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 194

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Join the Lean Startup discussion at Web 2.0 Expo for free Im honored to announce that my Lean Startup session at the Web 2.0 Everyone else can register to come to both sessions for free, including the Lean Startup talk in the main conference. What does this mean for you?

Lean 76

Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 9, 2009 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo , which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. ericnakagawa : Show of hands how many in startup here? Startups need to spend time with these customers.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2010

Back from a family humanitarian trip/vacation to one of the last bastions of Communism where “marketing&# isn’t even a profession and entrepreneurship is a crime. The key things I want students to take from the class are: Understand that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a profitable business model.

Business Model 235

Business Model Silicon Valley California Engineer 235

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. Don’t startups exist for the same reason? How does that stack up?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

JUNE 4, 2012

This is a 3-day program for entrepreneurship faculty from around the world how to teach entrepreneurship via the Lean LaunchPad approach ( business model canvas + customer development ) and bring their entrepreneurship curriculums into the 21st century. The reality is that the United States is still a nation of small businesses.

Silicon Valley 311

Silicon Valley Lean Utah Customer Development 311

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

I was having coffee with the CEO of a new startup, listening to her puzzle through how to communicate to potential customers. She was an academic on leave from Stanford now selling SAAS software to large companies, but was being inundated with marketing communications advice. “My Define the Mission of Marketing Communications.

Marketing 316

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 316

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) Luckily most startups now realize there is a better way. Startups Are Not Small Versions of Large Companies. The revenue numbers and revenue model came from a startups original Business Plan.

Burn Rate 251

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 251

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

The goal of the class is to expose students to the basics of the Lean Methodology – Business Model Design , Customer Development and Agile Engineering. The not so good news is that other than having been customers, none of them had ever been in the fashion business. They had the Lean Startup model to follow.

Lean 120

Lean Customer Development Business Model Agile 120