Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. How to raise real money with a Customer Development presentation in the next post. Order Here.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

He just hired Meg Whitman. Startups wrote business plans, generated expansive 5-year forecasts and executed (hired, spent and built) to the plan. The mantra of “ first mover advantage ,” the idea that winners are the ones who are the first entrants in their market, became the conventional wisdom of investors in Silicon Valley.“

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors. So their management teams were insisting that they OEM (buy from someone else) these products. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, February 11, 2009 The free software hiring advantage This is one of those startup tips Im a little reluctant to share, because its been such a powerful source of competitive advantage in the companies Ive worked with. This approach gives you an edge in hiring. Instead, engage with the project.

Software Review 68

Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Growth hacking and growth teams are so commonplace today, at least inside Silicon Valley, that it’s easy to forget that “growth” (as we know it now) is a relatively new phenomenon. The evolution of the growth function changed this dynamic, mashing together product dev and marketing as integrated functions.

Software Review 60

Software Review South Africa Hockey Stick Viral 60

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

Well, Steve Hoffman (02:34): First of all, I did three venture funded startups in Silicon valley and two bootstrap startups. Steve Hoffman (06:08): If you don't get the right people on board, you know, hire them really hard to succeed, marketing, getting your name out. So I know what it's like. How do people find you?

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

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. Order Here. Now In Print!

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

He spoke at the Founder Institute last week, and his advice was to not hire a PR agency until there were so many inbound requests that you can’t handle them yourself. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Is this behavior an outlier or is it the norm in the PR industry? Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

If that’s you, by all means hire a VP of Sales with a great rolodex and call on established mainstream companies – and ignore the rest of this post. Look for some “ skunk works &# project where the product developers are actively seeking alternatives to their own engineering organization. Order Here.

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 131

Venture Chronicles

AUGUST 2, 2013

I have covered a couple of topics in this series, the first being hiring the best people and the second organizing for success based on the attributes of the people you are hiring. and by framing it as a binary choice I am perpetuating the problem in many ways. We should have been able to do both.

Product 62

Product CTO Hire Architecture Startup 62

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Talented product developers. When 3M brought “lead users” into its innovation process, they improved revenues by a factor of eight times over innovations from internal product developers. And engaging customers in such ways is generally much less expensive than hiring costly employees or agencies.

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community. And do your customer development.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

View from Seed

JULY 26, 2022

AD: I spent the early part of my career doing investment banking in Silicon Valley and healthcare consulting in NY. AD: I once heard someone say, “if you want the best personal development seminar on the planet, start a business” and that is one of the best summaries of what I find so intriguing and fulfilling about being a founder.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley Later Stage Early Stage Founder 156

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 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Where did Silicon Valley come from? I think the absolute best reading on this subject is a book called Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 by AnnaLee Saxenian. And what were they doing beforehand?

Silicon Valley 68

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. For example, some startup sales execs believe hiring the core sales team is a key objective. Here’s what the product development diagram looks like from a sales perspective.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 215

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

By the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of how to develop new products or tweak your existing offerings by working with existing or prospective customers to incorporate their feedback to create viable solutions to their problems, and clearly communicate their value. So What is Customer Development?

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Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, November 29, 2008 The ABCDEFs of conducting a technical interview I am incredibly proud of the people I have hired over the course of my career. This second objective plays no small part in allowing you to hire the best. Hiring decisions are among the most difficult, and the most critical.

San Francisco 146

San Francisco Lean Agile Java 146

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 29, 2019

Transcript of Bringing Marketing and Product Development Together written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. She is a Silicon Valley based strategic product and marketing executive, happens to be the Chief Product Officer at a project management tool called Obo. Back to Podcast. Transcript.

Product Development 31

Product Development Product Developer Marketing 31

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. but rest assured they would be.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

Hiring Poorly. Make sure that new hires understand your rate of innovation. If you dont manage this expectation upon hiring, you will be managing employee issues six months down the line. Someone told me recently, Any time Im talking to someone who doesnt work for me already, Im evaluating if I should try and hire them.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

Jeff Hilimire

OCTOBER 8, 2014

We actually met taking some web development classes in Chicago. I was doing an early-stage startup in Chicago and Betsy was running a physical product development company in Charlotte that she’d recently sold. Both Betsy and I come from entrepreneurial backgrounds before starting TTS. Nice growth!

Cofounder 68

Cofounder Charlotte Raleigh Atlanta 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Hire the absolute best and the brightest, true experts in their fields, who in turn can hire the smartest people possible to staff their departments. By hiring experts, conducting lots of focus groups, and executing to a detailed plan, the company became deluded that it knew what customers wanted. We can skip the chasm.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

To give visibility to these companies to: Sources of funding (angels / VCs), business development partners, mentors who have themselves built successful companies, the press and potential employees to hire. To show these companies that they can remain in LA. The first two years of the program focused on education & mentorship.

Los Angeles 287

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Incubator Startup 287

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, December 7, 2008 The hackers lament One of the thrilling parts of working and writing in Silicon Valley is the incredible variety of people Ive had the chance to meet. And we cant hire new engineers any faster, because you cant be interviewing and debugging and fixing all at the same time!

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

YoungUpstarts

MAY 16, 2018

Instead, he would take his evident talent to Silicon Valley. People in big companies see innovation through the lens of new product development. Who’s more likely to successfully make that first sale or hire? And, they know that marketing is the critical ingredient that makes it all come together.

Silicon Valley 157

Silicon Valley Forecast Venture Capital Business Plan 157

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Hiring is a chapter unto itself, but it deserves to lead off any discussion of context. Compensation decisions obviously affect hiring and retention. You can’t be too careful in determining comp packages for your new hires. That will keep the Silicon Valley wags buzzing for some time to come.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.lanceglasser.com

MAY 13, 2012

Product development. Queuing theory and product development. The Essential Product Investigation Phase Gate. So you want to ship the product early? The minimum viable product. Silicon Valley melting pot. Metrics for cyclical businesses. Let the Games Begin! Stock buybacks. Bah, humbug.

CTO 40

CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Architecture 40

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In addition, I’ve noted a few multi-product lending firms, e.g., Kapitus and United Capital Source , which provide RBI as one of many structural options to companies seeking capital. . We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. Alternative Capital. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

bizthoughts.mikelee.org

MARCH 8, 2012

If you’re a non-technical entrepreneur in Silicon Valley that’s out of college now, it can be tough to find a technical cofounder. I was able to hire phenomenal software engineers and grow a strong team culture. With all the funded startups that are unable to hire, that’s a huge ace up my sleeve.

Technical Cofounder 40

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 40

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe 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. Market Type also affects the market size as well as how you launch the product into the market.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Id like to call special attention to Kurt Carr s perspective (lets hope he finishes his five-part series): Now that I’m back in Ohio (I was one of the token foreigners in a room full of Silicon Valley residents), I have found myself reliving and rethinking much of what I saw there.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

Eric, Any thoughts on how forum feedback fits into customer development and agile product development? Youve probably addressed this in the past, but I continue to be blown away by how fast Blizzard reacts to noise in their forums and rapidly makes fixes to the product. What is customer development?

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development? ScienceDaily: Corporate culture is most important. Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online.

Agile 76

Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. In the earliest stages, these skills relate to what any good founding team should bring to the table — an acumen for business strategy and product development coupled with great engineering.

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48

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. Through trial and error, hiring and firing, successful startups all invented a parallel process to product development.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital California 127