The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

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. There’s a reason why I refer to early-stage VC funding as vulture capital, and to be honest it’s pretty accurate. Focus on Product Development First.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Version One Ventures

MAY 3, 2023

Many of the most talented entrepreneurs and engineers left India to study and then work in the US and Canada. With the right product or service for the Indian market and strong execution, an “India for India” start-up can see incredible growth. Reverse brain drain” “Reverse brain drain” is a real thing in India.

India 87

India LP Silicon Valley Vertical 87

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Rather than focus the university inward on research, Terman took the radical step of encouraging Stanford professors and graduate students to start companies applying engineering to pressing military problems. Urgency and risk-taking in a startup are integral parts of the culture, felt by 100 percent of early-stage employees.

Government 308

Government Artificial Inteligence Silicon Valley North Korea 308

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. You act as a tactical implementer as you add no insight/or value to product development. I was a great marketer.

Business Model 305

Business Model Product Development Early Stage Customer Development 305

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

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Early Stage. Seed to Series A.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

firstround.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Product and Engineering. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Product and Engineering. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Ian Langworth started his career as an O’Reilly author and software engineer at Google. First Round Capital. The Review. Plusstartup. The Review.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Engineer Software Review Part-Time VPE 52

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 4, 2015

As any engineering VP based in San Francisco knows, it’s a competitive market for technical talent. It’s difficult to hire and retain the top designers, engineers, data scientists, and QA professionals, and an organization’s sustained growth can be threatened by this block to growing engineering teams.

B2B 100

B2B San Francisco Semantic 100

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. How do you know you have it? Honestly, we don’t know.”?

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

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. The problem is that in an early stage business there probably isn’t a perfect fit between your early product and a customer’s needs.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

blog.wepay.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

» 6 Things a Non-Engineer Should Know Before Founding a Web Startup By Rich Aberman Despite the obvious look of shock and panic on the faces of my WePay teammates, I recently committed my first lines of production code. I used to think that you build the product and then you get people to use it. The 90/10 rule.

Engineer 53

Engineer Software Review Web Technical Review 53

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

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? Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. I would say the norm for many early-stage companies is somewhere between 6-10 in-person meetings per year. Ask for short conference calls.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

blog.wepay.com

APRIL 28, 2010

» 6 Things a Non-Engineer Should Know Before Founding a Web Startup By Rich Aberman Despite the obvious look of shock and panic on the faces of my WePay teammates, I recently committed my first lines of production code. I used to think that you build the product and then you get people to use it. The 90/10 rule.

Engineer 53

Engineer Software Review Web Technical Review 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2022

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Marketing 283

Marketing Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting 283

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, science and engineering at both Stanford and U.C. Berkeley were heavily funded to develop Cold War weapon systems. Over my career as a serial entrepreneur I observed that since the late 1990s, no early-stage Silicon Valley investor had used business plans to screen investments.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 17, 2011

Founded by three Silicon Valley veterans - Tim Brady, Alan Louie, and Geoff Ralston - Imagine K12 will support early stage ed-tech startups through a funding and mentorship program. Working with Students, Teachers, Schools for Product Development. It's about attracting bright engineering talent to the space.

Incubator 116

Incubator Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 116

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Many founders have to turn to brute force to figure it out, even when they themselves don’t have practitioner product management experience. However, managing product development correctly is incredibly important in the earliest days and can make or break your company. product engagement, retention metrics).

Hiring 120

Hiring Bandwidth Product Early Stage 120

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

Let’s start out with the basic functions of a tech company: 1) Engineering 2) Marketing 3) Sales 4) Business development 5) PR 6) Design 7) Product Management 8) HR 9) Operations 10) Finance Ok, that's just overwhelming. In a way, you can think of BD as “sales when you don’t know what the product is yet.”

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. So, I’ll explain my reasoning through the story of ASC, a fictitious company that has a combination of characteristics I’ve seen across a number of early stage companies.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

When they promise to help you with marketing, sales, distribution, integrated product development, etc. But the venture guys don’t make the calls on what the product / business guys do. But even he would feel conflicted when I had to cut the engineering team because he valued our product more than his investment.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Marketing demand creation programs (Search Engine Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising, Lead Generation, Trade Shows, etc.) are all expensive and potentially fatal distractions if done before you have found product/market fit and a repeatable sales model.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2019

Image via Wikipedia As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Early Stage 218

Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting Entrepreneur 218

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? But all things are never equal.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Hippoland

OCTOBER 9, 2016

If you’re still in the early stages of your entrepreneur-education/journey, you may even think you need to protect your idea and not share it with anyone. Demonstrate that you can pull the trigger on things quickly — whether it be getting customers, hiring / firing employees, or product development.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage CTO Hire Email Later Stage 48

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2017

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Early Stage 242

Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting Entrepreneur 242

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

I have heard many founders — even in the first few months of product development — expect to raise seed rounds, pay themselves salaries, etc. There is no doubt about it — startups offer some amazing opportunities to exercise Computer Science and Systems Engineering knowledge.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Market Risk vs. Invention Risk - Click to Enlarge For companies building web-based products, product development may be difficult, but with enough time and iteration engineering will eventually converge on a solution and ship a functional product - i t’s engineering, not invention.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Their engineering teams didn’t have the expertise using off-the-shelf microprocessors (back then “real” computer companies designed their own instruction sets and operating systems.) They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors. Their engineers hated us.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Some believe in the all-in approach to product development: build an advanced app. Early stage idea validation can be accomplished without building an application. Almost on a weekly basis, I meet new aspiring entrepreneurs looking to execute on their ideas. Second, we have to get our hands dirty.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

After I retired, I began teaching Customer Development , a theory of how to reduce early stage risk in entrepreneurial ventures. Customer Development Manifesto. The Leading Cause of Startup Death: The Product Development Diagram. The Best Marketers Are Engineers……… 154.

Silicon Valley 202

Silicon Valley Customer Development IP Developer 202

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Public venture funding has become a valuable avenue for growth for early-stage businesses in the sector, helping to put Canada’s tech industry on the map for professionals both locally and abroad. million for early-stage companies and the US $42.2 million for late-stage companies in the United States.

Canada 127

Canada Government Venture Capital Early Stage 127

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Early stage startups have to survive one day at a time and are often presented with limited choices of the moment that enable them to continue. At early stages you probably don’t have an assembly line and can’t clearly define any particular job. One of my engineers once told me my favorite color was plaid.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

I thought a good place to start was with the origins of the idea that "software design" should be considered a discipline in its own right, on par with computer science, software engineering, and computer programming. Great engineers see it and smile. This is called set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE). [1]

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. And do your customer development.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Strong support from serial founders, engineers, and other specialized resources that are particularly relevant to the earliest days of a company can overcome that hurdle and (in theory at least) yield companies that otherwise wouldn’t be built. Second, the company must eventually own the product development and maintenance functions in-house.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60