Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2017

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Customer 191

Customer Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 191

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

I will tell you brief details about seed stage funding, and deal sourcing on this page, so read the conclusion until the end. The following is a condensed explanation of seed funding: Seed money is a form of early-stage financing that new businesses receive from investors in exchange for a share of ownership in the company.

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 125

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. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? How many are there?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

It not only validates your idea, but it helps to identify features, options and adjustments to your idea received from advice from third parties, including potential customers, that you may not have initially considered. Some features may not be important to the user, so this is where feedback from beta customers is important.

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2019

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Technical Review 255

Technical Review Dilution Early Stage Product Development 255

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 26, 2022

Designing new hardware products that have a positive impact on customers is no small feat. There are several elements that go into hardware product design that taps an unaddressed customer need, has the customer WOW factor, and succeeds long term in the market. Next is the product level planning.

Design 133

Design Development Team Review Product Technical Review 133

View from Seed

JULY 5, 2022

Investors, customers, regulators, and all key stakeholders are demanding more transparent corporate sustainability disclosures. RH: Who are your customers? CC: Our customers are companies that are collecting, managing, and tracking their ESG data. . RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder?

DC 156

DC Software Review Government Boston 156

YoungUpstarts

MAY 30, 2019

Keeping this philosophy top of mind during the product management phase is crucial for early stage CTOs, especially when working through backlogs and other barriers that can undermine the user experience. For CTOs to properly oversee product management, bottlenecks must never turn into backlogs.

Management 129

Management Product SCRUM Early Stage 129

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about 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. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

In exchange, founders agree to transition their company into a new phase that requires them to start catering to investors’ needs in addition to those of its customers and employees. While the rewards may be a boon to their company in the short term, the consequences of accepting outside funding too early can be debilitating.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Among these obstacles exists the idea of product viability and adaptability. Customer feedback plays an important role in overcoming these obstacles. In the past, it has been incredibly challenging to determine what customers really want from a business or the products or services they purchase. Let’s dive deeper.

Software Review 100

Software Review Management Early Stage Startup 100

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

In the early stages of a startup your hypotheses about all the parts of your business model are your profound beliefs. Here’s how I learned why they were critical to successful customer development. The whole role of customer discovery and validation outside your building is to inform your profound beliefs.

Business Model 305

Business Model Product Development Early Stage Customer Development 305

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. Specialized VCs start to jump in at this stage.

Product Development 120

Product Development Developer Product Angel Investor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2013

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Entrepreneur 252

Entrepreneur Marketing Technical Review Dilution 252

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. VCs want to see that there’s a demand for your product and that you’re able to meet that demand.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 118

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

A marketing growth strategy goes deeper into customer relationships to uncover opportunities that engage, activate, and retain. This philosophy comes from The Lean Startup methodology , which relies on testing hypotheses to better understand your customers’ pain points and goals. Your customers want different things.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

Version One Ventures

MAY 3, 2023

With the right product or service for the Indian market and strong execution, an “India for India” start-up can see incredible growth. India for the world” has traditionally focused on outsourcing and leveraging cost advantages, from customer service to product development.

India 87

India LP Silicon Valley Vertical 87

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2012

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Startup 254

Startup Technical Review Dilution Early Stage 254

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Within a decade, the rise of venture capital in Silicon Valley enabled startups to find commercial customers rather than military ones. It’s not that these companies are smarter than Defense Department employees, but they operate with different philosophies, different product development methodologies, and with different constraints.

Government 308

Government Artificial Inteligence Silicon Valley North Korea 308

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. In fact, this company hasn’t shipped any new products in months.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2017

In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival. They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. These ideas can grow quickly into real products.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

In this article, we will discuss why it is important to understand the whole startup stages concept before you start a business to get the most benefit. Early Stage. This startup stage starts from the day you decide to work on a startup idea. Here is the complete list of points available in early stage startup.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival. They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. These ideas can grow quickly into real products. Meet the new consumer demand for customization.

Startup 397

Startup Cofounder Incubator Early Stage 397

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early. I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Two conditions that do matter to your startup’s out-year viability are the cost and length of its product development cycle. Startup founders counting the days until break-even or actively seeking outside capital must focus on streamlining their development cycles. Focus on Your Minimum Viable Product.

Cost 100

Cost Developer Small Business Administration Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Marketing 238

Marketing Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2012

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised. Setting the wrong or no expectations is another of the most consistent problems I see with every startup.

Advisory Board 240

Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 10, 2020

Here is a startup guide to creating an ideal customer profile. In almost every case, the data that’s most useful to a startup in its early days is the information needed to build complete customer profiles. What is a Customer Profile? In reality, the two things are quite different.

Customer 180

Customer Startup Analytics B2B 180

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. Our firm has a portfolio of companies across a broad range of markets and the way we look at it is pretty simple – the deals fall into two types: those with customer/market risk and those with invention risk.”

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. And even more importantly, was there any way to reduce risk in early stage ventures? a customer before you try and build a business.

Product Development 143

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 143

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2010

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm.

Startup 227

Startup Technical Review Dilution Early Stage 227

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2011

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised. Setting the wrong or no expectations is another of the most consistent problems I see with every startups.

Advisory Board 232

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 232

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital , customers , and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48