Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

The Founder’s New Insight Smart founders are never satisfied with simply executing their current business model, they are constantly observing, orienting and deciding whether their current business model can be made better. But the purpose of this post is what happens when a founder (or large company CEO) finds a better business model.

Customer 216

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

No newly hired sales and marketing exec is going to tell a founder, “Hey my prior experience and assumptions may not actually be relevant to this new startup.” The Outsourcing of Founders Responsibility The Product Development model separates founders from deeply understanding their customers and market.

Customer Development 244

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 244

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Moreover, since the first CEO was likely to have been one of the founders, the trauma of CEO removal begins. Reply Nivi , on September 11, 2009 at 11:17 pm Said: One of the subtle lessons here for founder CEOs: you light a fuse on your own job as soon as you hire the first VP of Sales. innovation. Blog at WordPress.com.

Customer Development 232

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 232

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

It was amazing to see the two founders, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, build a $100 million company from coffee cups and T-shirts. But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and got an 8-digit term sheet that same afternoon.

Venture Capital 239

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

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VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2022

All the videos from the event , as well as our newly published landscape of the UK startups building the Metaverse can be found here. This video is a short excerpt from my panel on the opportunities for brands and platforms in the Metaverse. Video copyright, Taylor Wessing ; automated video summary credit: Munch ).

Generative AI 88

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ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

In fact, in the discussion on JuJu brands is yet another validation of the verticalization and niche-ization of the Internet. This week, I published an article called The Top 10 Vertical and Social Web Trends where I have discussed this at length. You can listen to the recording of today's roundtable here.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Some of the other founders had sold minicomputers to scientists and engineers, but no one knew or understood the unique class of applications and customers of supercomputers. A few days later Gordon became a founder. We were going to be guessing. I invited him to meet the team. Blog at WordPress.com.

North Carolina 131

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Customer Development Manifesto , Market Types « “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch Closure » 21 Responses Tweets that mention Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development « Steve Blank -- Topsy.com , on November 16, 2009 at 7:20 am Said: [.]

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Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you’ve tried to slog your way through my book on Customer Development you know that I’m insistent that the founders need to be the ones getting outside the building (physically or virtually) to validate all the initial hypotheses of the business model and product. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

Not so much on the sinking venture, but seeing you gents in action, developing and selling blind to navigational course corrections. On a more serious note, any tips on attracting founders? BTW, I personally would _never_ “find&# a founder over the web. You haven’t missed a thing. Might want to go it.

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Hopefully you and your co-founders are experts in one or two parts (agile development, SEO/SEM, etc.) But the rest; sales, marketing, bus dev is actually customer development that the founder needs to understand. Initially your job is to understand each of the parts of your business model before you hire someone to do it.

Sales 120

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Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

What makes an individual a great startup founder (versus an employee) has been something I had been thinking about since I retired. A Day in the Life of A Founder For those of you who’ve never started a company, let me assure you that it never happens like the pleasant articles you read in business magazines or in case studies.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Rich Karlgaard , publisher of Forbes and co-founder of the Churchill Club refereed the event. BTW, the definition of entrepreneurship I describe at 2:50 into the video is described in detail in the post “ You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur.&# the video skipped or something? Here’s a 6 minute excerpt from the talk.

Silicon Valley 157

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Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

Communism being a bad science experiment) ESL’s founder Bill Perry was moving the chess pieces. One key difference: unlike HP, which had restricted stock ownership to the founders and top management, Perry made sure everyone at ESL had stock. There were no venture investors. And no one who really knew could tell you.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

This post makes a lot more sense if you look at the earlier posts as well as the video and slides. Reply The Secret History of Silicon Valley 12: The Rise of “Risk Capital” Part 2 « Steve Blank , on October 29, 2009 at 12:30 pm Said: [.] to get acquired to raise money or get their founders and investors liquid.

Silicon Valley 203

Silicon Valley Technical Review Europe Germany 203

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The video below was my presentation to the group. The slides below go with the video. Just click through them as you watch the video. Extra credit if you know the back-story of slide 1 and why it’s appropriate for founders and their team. …………… Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.

Customer Development 227

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 227

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

Reply An Interview with Mark Fletcher, Founder of Bloglines and ONEList — TechDrawl , on July 10, 2009 at 3:56 pm Said: [.] Reply Process for the Enterprise » Blog Archive » Faith-based versus Fact-based , on June 21, 2009 at 3:55 pm Said: [.] As he points out, starting [.] Blog at WordPress.com.

Silicon Valley 234

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David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

(To see the video above, please click the image, and then click on the Play button.). Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . 3) Raise capital. Skype and Zoom are useful for video/audio conferences.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2009

As a founder you need to prepare yourself to think creatively and independently, because more often than not, conditions on the ground will change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant. Every potential startup founder should think about their level of comfort operating in chaos and uncertainty.

Silicon Valley 185

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

In hindsight it appeared clear that startups that survive the first few tough years do not follow the traditional product-centric launch model espoused by product managers or the venture capital community. Reply founders, beware « Adisababa’s Weblog , on January 20, 2010 at 10:05 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 133

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Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

And venture capital and entrepreneurship has made life even tougher for the modern corporation. Over the last 35 years venture capital has funded nimble new entrants (on a scale never imagined by Schumpeter ) who exist to exploit discontinuities in technology or customer behavior.

Silicon Valley 186

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Where as most start-up founders start with the conviction that they know success looks like and [.] Reply Best books for the lean product managers — Justin Gibbs , on April 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm Said: [.] familiar with Customer Development you should be. It’s very different than the traditional product development model.

Product Development 159

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 159

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

We faced this same problem in entrepreneurship and venture capital, but we are getting past it. If our goal is just to create a blog or a YouTube video as a hobby, there’s no need for this kind of rigorous process. And, most importantly, what could we do right now to answer the riskiest of these questions. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Steve Blank

APRIL 22, 2009

He had just filmed the second of a series of videos called, Speaking to the Big Dogs: How mid-level managers can communicate effectively with C-level executives (CEO, VP’s, General Managers, etc.) And that he might want to think about aligning all his video and Internet products under that name. Order Here.

Silicon Valley 201

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2009

I was positioning the company as the second coming of the video games businesses at the intersection of “ Hollywood Meets Silicon Valley.” My co-founder, head of business development and I were in Japan raising money. Then all my hard work will be for nothing. This actually happened to me twice in my career. Fast forward nine months.

Silicon Valley 166

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant. Billy Durant - Founder General Motors More in the next posts. Ford family did a pretty good job of managing founder-to-manager transition in car business and are still playing a big role in their enterprise 100 years since. What happened to him? Who was he?

Silicon Valley 179

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

In times when venture capital is hard to get, investors extract high costs for failure (down-rounds, cram downs , new management teams, shut down the company.) Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Lean 260

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

I would be very curious to hear the (hypothetical) suggestions you would have given to twitter’s founders, for example. Make A New Market If you are creating a new market, I’d start by watching a few instructional videos. Sometimes customers don’t realize they need a product until you give it to them. Order Here.

Silicon Valley 206

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 206

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

million in a second round led by previous backer Genesis Partners and joined by T-Venture , the venture capital company of Deutsche Telekom. Innovid has developed an interactive pre-roll ad format called iRoll, that encourages users to click on moving objects with the interactive ads before watching the video.

Software Review 138

Software Review Venture Capital Technical Review SEM 138

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

If you are a founder of a startup ethics begin with you. When your employees see that it’s “an anything goes” culture you’ll find unethical behavior occurring that you will regret. And in a big company most of it is illegal and can have enormous consequences. Think through if you want to win at any cost. (I A final note.

Silicon Valley 127

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Concept and Seed Stage In the Concept and Seed Stage, founders capture their passion and vision for the new company and turn them into a set of key ideas, which quickly becomes a business plan, sometimes on the back of the proverbial napkin. We’ll look at the model stage-by-stage. Blog at WordPress.com.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 269

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

Plus tips on overall trade show strategy. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Silicon Valley 203

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Austin Startup

AUGUST 7, 2017

Instead of arguing why Dallas might be better than Houston we should be talking about how we can work together to get our share of venture capital dollars more in line with our population size and startup activity by unlocking additional capital sources that have been previously inaccessible to tech.

Texas 97

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 97

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

The first step in Customer Development was Customer Discovery ; extracting hypotheses from the business plan and getting the founders out of the building to test the hypotheses in front of customers. Just as a refresher. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I finally understood how valuable these contests can be for students in cities or countries without a venture capital or entrepreneurial infrastructure. Over scrambled eggs and diet coke, I listened to this seasoned startup veteran describe the excitement of his students who came to the U.S. to compete.

Business Plan 156

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Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

The company was founded to build games with embedded video to bring Hollywood stories, characters, and narratives to a market where “shoot and die” twitch games were in vogue. In the game business of the early 1990’s video was at best a brief narrative, a distraction you maybe watched once, not the core of the game.

Silicon Valley 222

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