Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

As the (very junior) product marketing manager I got a call from our local salesman that someone at Apple wanted more technical information than just the spec sheets about our new (not yet shipping) chip. Your board nods sagely at your target customer list. Market Type But most startups aren’t in existing markets.

Silicon Valley 143

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 143

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

In the 20 th century corporate skunk works were used to develop disruptive innovation separate from the rest of the company. ——– In the 20 th century companies could be leaders in a market for decades by just focusing on their core product(s). They were the hallmark of innovative corporations.

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Channel Customer Development Distribution Restful 292

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

This process forced companies to release and launch products by model years, and market new and “improved” versions. In the last few years Agile and “Continuous Deployment” has replaced Waterfall and transformed how companies big and small build products. The Old Days – Waterfall Product Development.

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Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 331

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 16, 2013

Freemium is not customer development Just imagine how much you’ll learn once you have 1,000 real, active users of the system: Everything from behavioral statistics (which features are actually used?) to democratic product development (voting on which features customers would like to see next?).

Marketing 318

Marketing Viral Campaign Business Model 318

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

Its goal is to take the original idea and search for a repeatable and scalable business model - first by finding product/market fit, then by testing all the parts of the business model (pricing, channel, acquisition/activation, partners, costs, etc.). They deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. Read the rest of The Startups Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Labels: product development Speed up or slow down? (for This is the speed-up-or-slow-down moment.

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. And the rest is history: Google Maps was a huge success. Ship it.&# No press should be allowed.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. But none of that happened.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

You can almost set your watch to six months or so after first customer ship, when Sales starts missing its “numbers,” the board gets concerned and Marketing tries to “make up a better story.” Now the company is in crisis mode because the rest of the organization (product development, marketing, etc.)

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Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 251

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

It’s been thirty years, but every once an awhile I still wonder what happened to the rest of their lives. By the time I came back to the United States, he was gone from the company. Too often people abandon their ethics because “hey the other guys is doing it, I have to to do it to compete.&# I’m not buying it… literally.

Silicon Valley 210

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 210

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

One such technique is called Five Whys, which has its origins in the Toyota Production System, and posits that behind every supposedly technical problem is actually a human problem. Read the rest of The Five Whys for Start-Ups. Read the rest of The Five Whys for Start-Ups. Applied to a start-up, heres how it works.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

At the very least, you can plug those assumptions into your financial model, now that you have a sense for what the cost of acquiring new customers might look like. Even more importantly, you can start to experiment with feature set, positioning, and marketing - all without building a product. Any specific experiences to share?

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 22, 2010

Luckily for the rest of us, he was able to find his path to a green card, and now employs 24 Americans in West Lafayette, Indiana. The cost of creating new companies is falling rapidly, and access to markets, distribution, and information is within the reach of anyone with an Internet connection. He started Passageways Inc.

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San Francisco Indiana Lean Startup 121

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2008

But I have a special sympathy for the "product manager" in a startup that is bringing a new product to a new market, and doing their work in large batches. I met one recently that is working on a really innovative product, and the stories I heard from their development team made me want to cringe.

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San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

Filed under: Marketing , Technology , Venture Capital | Tagged: Steve Blank , Venture Capital , Entrepreneurs , Early Stage Startup , Tips for Startups « Customer Analytics – From Those Who Should Know SuperMac War Story 10: The Video Spigot » 14 Responses Michael F.

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Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 156

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money. They’ve found product/market fit (what products customers want to buy). They’ve learned the best distribution channel to get the product from their company to the customer.

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Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Way back when the money was doled out, the team made a compelling pitch about the large market that was going to adopt their new innovative product or service. Read the rest here. Lets return to our team thats failing to hit their targets.

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Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

Heres the key quote: Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research - Bokardo It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. Now, I cant speak to what process Steve Jobs uses to get his team to do this market assessment.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

Next, you have to deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers. And here’s where life gets really interesting, as the reality of product development and customer input collide, the facts change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant.

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Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 310

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

This technique rests on three things: identifying the kinds of work that need to get done, creating the right type of teams for each kind, and steering the company by allocating resources among them. Strategy - startups first encounter this when they have the beginnings of a product, and theyve achieved some amount of product/market fit.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

You can read the rest of his posts on his blog : Introduction , Part 1 , Part 2.) When I first encountered customer development , it was considered pure lunacy by mainstream entrepreneurs and VCs. You can read the rest of his posts on his blog : Introduction , Part 1 , Part 2.) We all owe him our thanks for persevering.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

.&# In 2002 I became exposed to the idea of “agile software development&# and subsequently was a first round investor in Rally Software which is now the market leader in Agile application lifecycle management software. Read the rest. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Spencer Fry

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

When considering our product development process and track record, however, I simply don’t see the value in the work that they would bring to our team that a developer, designer, or head of product can’t drive themselves. Don’t be so quick to hire a PM for every 2-3 developers that join your team.

Product 72

Product Wiki Developer Hiring 72

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

but rest assured they would be. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Alas, they arent published in a dead-tree medium yet, so I cant say something like "they are the essential reference on my bookcase." No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2010

The cost of creating new companies is falling rapidly, and access to markets, distribution, and information is within the reach of anyone with an internet connection. The result is a profound democratization of the digital means of production. The result is a profound democratization of the digital means of production.

San Francisco 122

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 122

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Heres my favorite part: If youve got a team, part of the team should obsess about the backlist, honing it, editing it and promoting it, while the rest work to generate (as opposed to promote) the frontlist. The opportunity isnt to give into temptation and figure out how to recklessly and expensively market the frontlist.

San Francisco 76

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 76

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us. Now, helping potential customers discover new things they might like is the job of the discipline of marketing. The key tools of this new marketing are: targeting, filtering, and customer insight. Is that a lot?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

OnlyOnce

AUGUST 12, 2013

” In other words, should we just be taking the same kind of lean/agile approach to CX that we do with technical product development and UX — but basically do it more holistically across every customer touchpoint, from marketing to invoice? “Customer Experience is a journey, not a project.

Lean 94

Lean Agile B2B Metrics 94

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

At some point in my career as I began to formulate thoughts about mission and intent , I started to think about the broader role of marketing in a growing technology company. It became clear to me that the mission of marketing in most companies has to be to support sales.

Silicon Valley 132

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 132

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

So if youre new, consider not paying any attention to the rest of this post, and just diving into the archives, if you havent already. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 18, 2010

Recently, he was bitten by the lean startup bug and has started writing about his experiences attempting to apply lean startup and customer development principles. Managing weekly releases got a lot harder once I started doing customer development. Things started to slip. Things started to slip.

Continuous Deployment 151

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Lean Wiki 151

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

On the other hand, it’s a whole universe and you’d need an interesting perspective on why you should go attack that market and face all that competition and noise and everything that’s in the market. So when you’re thinking about marketing positioning to me, that side of it is the interesting side of it.

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Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2009

But they require coordination across departments – engineering, marketing, customers service. Teams that work this way are more productive, as long as productivity is measured by their ability to create customer value (and not just stay busy). Everyone understands the results.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Metrics Continuous Deployment 133

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

For the rest of us, there is an alternative: to create credibility by building a lean startup. At IMVU, we were terrified by how early we shipped (and charged for) our first product. Here in Tampa, our biggest challenge is convincing the regions technology "leadership" that grassroots economic development is a good thing.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

Because, unless you are working in an extremely static environment, your product development team is learning and getting better all the time. Instead of waiting for that to happen, make sure there is a mechanism for sharing refactoring lessons with the rest of the team. Why dont they just learn to do it right the first time?

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Product launch) In todays world, there is no reason you have to do these two things at the same time. If not, do not launch there.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168