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The Class That Changed the Way Entrepreneurship is Taught

Steve Blank

In 1985 the University of Miami held the first national business plan competition. A decade later, I began to teach the foundations of Lean, first at UC Berkeley (Customer Development) and then at Stanford using cases and business plans. Lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering).

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Philadelphia University Commencement Speech – May 15th 2011

Steve Blank

In the middle of a Michigan winter, I stuck out my thumb and hitchhiked to Miami, the warmest place I could think of. I managed to find a job at the Miami International Airport loading racehorses onto cargo planes. If I hadn’t discovered something I truly loved to do, I might be driving a cab at the Miami airport.

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Be Where Your Business Is

Steve Blank

Second, Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents, so she was commuting to NY four days a week and managing the sales force from Miami when she wasn’t in New York. She lamented, “We’ve lost a couple of deals because we were selling at the wrong level.”.

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This Weekend

Startup Lessons Learned

Product management and customer development, KISSmetrics. One caveat: if you come by, you are automatically volunteering to be subjected to some intense customer development. Also: booze. The evening's slate: 20 Ways to Not Build Stuff Cindy Alvarez. Co-founder, Backblaze.