Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

While most of the early attention in a startup is paid to finding product market fit ( the match between value proposition and customer segment on the right-side of the canvas) it’s the left side of the canvas that will tell you what your founding team should look like. Filed under: Customer Development.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

SVPG

OCTOBER 14, 2014

The role of the product organization is to consistently deliver significant new value to the business through continuous product innovation. At a startup, the product team either innovates and provides real value or the startup dies. They just make minor optimizations to existing products. 2) Passion.

Product 91

Product Technical Review Engineer CTO Hire 91

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 30, 2012

The class teaches founders how to dramatically reduce their failure rate through the combination of business model design, customer development and agile development using the Startup Owners Manual. More importantly, it makes no demands of you to stand and deliver your weekly customer development progress in front of your peers.

Startup 335

Startup Lean Incubator Business Model 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

AUGUST 3, 2012

Long before there was the Lean Startup, Business Model Canvas or Customer Development there was a guy in Santa Barbara California who had already figured it out. Frank Robinson of SyncDev has been helping companies figure out their minimum viable product and pivots since 1984, long before I even knew what it meant.

San Jose 259

San Jose Technical Review Customer Development Software Review 259

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2021

The key to understanding value propositions is in building interviews that are based on a set of hypotheses (about the problem, the stakeholder and potential solutions to be explored) and data to be captured while using minimum viable products (just enough “product” to increase the efficacy of a conversation and increase the speed of learning).

Curation 350

Curation Technical Review Lean Australia 350

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. Process Versus Product.

Government 320

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 320

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

APRIL 12, 2010

He took a deep breath, looked around the boardroom table and then proceeded to outline a radical reconfiguration of the product line (repackaging the products rather than reengineering them) and a change in sales strategy, focusing on a different customer segment. Operating in Chaos + Speed + Pivots = Success.

Business Model 334

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 334

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2016

This integral element of most businesses is woven through every aspect of operations. For most companies to succeed, the goal is to deliver a quality product at a reasonable profit. In fact, there is likely a long line of suppliers that provide materials, processes, and services before a product is delivered.

Management 145

Management Forecast Los Angeles San Francisco 145

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2014

We’re changing the order in which we teach the business model canvas and customer development to better-fit therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices. “Customer Development” to test the hypotheses outside the building and. We’ve pivoted our Lean LaunchPad / I-Corps curriculum.

Intellectual Property 287

Intellectual Property Lean IP Open Source 287

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, October 5, 2008 The product managers lament Life is not easy when youre working in an old-fashioned waterfall development process, no matter what role you play. The product manager was clearly struggling to get results from the rest of the team. Lets start with what the product manager does.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

In the last five years “ Lean Startup ” methodologies have enabled entrepreneurs to efficiently build a startup by searching for product/market fit rather than blindly trying to execute. Gore , I’ve found two corporate strategy tools developed by other smart people helpful in bridging Lean Startups with Corporate Innovation.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2011

“Re-architect and re-write” the product. He hired an operating exec as the CEO a few years ago. He told the board that the only way to to deliver these changes is to re-write our product.&# The customers aren’t asking for new code. Who Wants to Work on The Old Product. It Seems Logical.

Part-Time VPE 323

Part-Time VPE Agile Engineer Startup 323

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Optimising Your Operations Efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to operations. Whether it’s managing your supply chain or automating customer service, look for ways to optimise every aspect of your operations. This will not only enhance productivity but also help retain top talent.

Intellectual Property 153

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 153

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

I could recite requirements and concepts of operations from memory. It was only after returning to Stanford and taking the Lean Launchpad class that I became convinced that a radically different, customer-centric approach was the solution. Filed under: Air Force , Customer Development , Lean LaunchPad , Teaching.

Lean 268

Lean Technical Review Acquisition Software Review 268

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

Here’s how I learned why they were critical to successful customer development. I was an aggressive, young and a very tactical VP of marketing at Ardent , a supercomputer company – who really hadn’t a clue about the relationship between profound beliefs, customer discovery and strategy. Who are the payers?

Business Model 345

Business Model Product Development Early Stage Customer Development 345

Steve Blank

JANUARY 30, 2013

Entrenched Innovation Model Issues : Qualcomm’s existing innovation model – wireless products were created in the R&D lab and then handed over to existing business units for commercialization – was wildly successful in the existing wireless and mobile space. Part 1 outlining the program is here. Read it first.

Programming 270

Programming Technical Review Incubator Intellectual Property 270

Steve Blank

MAY 30, 2016

Understanding the left-side of the mission model canvas ( activities, resources , partners , and costs) forces all teams to ask, “Are we building a product for a DOD/IC customer only or do we have a “dual-use” product that could be sold commercially and get funded by venture capital?”. This post is a continuation of the series.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley San Diego Technical Review Incubator 120

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

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

This means being really conservative with your cash burn early on until you have clearly found product/market fit. But the best founders I know almost always operate as though they have much less money in the bank, and won’t scale burn until they are super confident in their product/market fit. Experienced founders: B2B.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

32 students were scattered across the globe and given a seemingly impossible assignment- they had 10 weeks to understand and then solve a real Dept of Defense problem – by interviewing 100 beneficiaries, stakeholders, requirements writers, et al while simultaneously building a series of minimal viable products – all while never leaving their room.

Oakland 313

Oakland Asia Lean Video 313

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

Investors who provide hands-on help have little or no effect on the company’s operational performance. more likely to successfully scale with sales driven startups than with product centric startups. Founders overestimate the value of IP before product market fit by 255%. . Business-heavy founding teams are 6.2x

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

Srivastava leads Verizon’s innovation outpost (their Silicon Valley R&D center) in Palo Alto focusing on building products and services powered by big data and analytics. You need to be able to understand how to take advantage of the market you’re operating in, including how to take advantage of corporations. .

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 21, 2013

Creators of new products in environments of extreme uncertainty, startups face enormous risks. Through rapid experimentation, short product development cycles, and rigorous measurements of the right metrics, they can ascertain what customers really want. As a startup owner, what can you do to improve your chances?

Lean 193

Lean Technical Review North America Startup 193

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

Founders of startups (and new ventures inside existing companies) are searching for product/market fit and a repeatable and scalable business model. An entrepreneur must start with the belief that all their assumptions are simply hypotheses that will undoubtedly be challenged by what they learn from customers. experiential.

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. I have seen really great product people espouse the death of the business plan. Do so at your peril.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

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

APRIL 14, 2013

Small startups act the same way, simply cloning each other’s products. And some of their best and brightest have ended up in the organizations like the 2nd Bureau, Unit 61398 tasked euphemistically for “Computer Network Operations.”. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital.

China 327

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 327

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2017

Go ahead to include how-to-videos on the website that demonstrate proper use of products. Any issues with products should be responded to in less than a week. Also, provide a physical location where the products can be found. Most people would prefer to view a product physically prior to an online purchase.

Software Review 133

Software Review Technical Review Retention Channel 133

The Equity Kicker

JULY 29, 2013

I just read a great post on Quora which contends that every startup needs a great product picker – i.e. a person with a Steve Jobs like ability to know what customers want and what is going to make a product successful. If the product is great and the value proposition strong distribution problems can be solved.

Product 108

Product Cofounder Lean Distribution 108

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

JANUARY 28, 2020

Christensen, writing for a corporate audience, explained that there were two classes of products – sustaining and disruptive. His message was that existing companies are great at sustaining technologies and products but were ignoring the threat of disruption. At that tipping point the legacy industry collapses.

Lean 431

Lean Business Model Government Agile 431

Steve Blank

JANUARY 31, 2018

3:55: Operating in chaos. 43:30 Deliverable products and services not activities. 56:00: Customer Development versus Design Thinking. A fun interview at Stanford about some old things and new ones. 2:15: Founders and dysfunctional families. 7:18: Mentorship is a two-way street. 11:50: Founders are artists.

Lean 194

Lean Government Customer Development Founder 194

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

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

ASC starts building product, but as they get into the thick of it, the team realizes executing on their vision is going to be extremely hard. Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited. Heads down on product, they say. Soundbites from potential customers are encouraging.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

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