Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Let’s Fire Our Customers « Steve Blank (tags: product-management startup business) [.] 3) Managing the relationship is more consumptive than the rewards. I’ll add I’m particularly curious about how founders recognize that point at which they need to exit / fire the old customers. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Customer 195

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

I hope we managed to teach our children compassion and charity for others. Families gather from across the country to spend time with each other and feast on a traditional turkey dinner. And as they find their own way in life, they will continue to give back to others. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 137

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

I would learn a ton from Gordon for over a decade, not only about practical heuristics for managing complex engineering projects (i.e. Later he would leave for a few years to start the Computing Directorate at the National Science Foundation , help spec what became the Internet and then come back and run Ardent’s engineering.) Now In Print!

North Carolina 125

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Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

When I asked our trade show manager she looked at me like I was the house idiot and said, “Steve, don’t you know that my job is to set up our trade show booth?” But my favorite was when the public relations manager said, “we’re here to write press releases and answer the phone in case the press calls.” This is a big idea.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Reply Eran Shir , on November 21, 2009 at 9:35 pm Said: Steve, a great post is judged by the level of discussion it manages to spur, so in that metric, this is a fantastic one. I don’t think you need operational experience to be a good VC but Mark Suster’s great new post illustrates the difference. [.] Now In Print!

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

When the panicked manager of the magazine test lab would call under a last minute deadline, we would apologize profusely as we sent the cables over – with beer, pizza, and our product manager to help them through any testing “issues”. What did I learn so far? To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 124

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Posted on September 14, 2009 by steveblank Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. They built airplanes out of palm trees thinking if they did manna would come in airplanes again. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

As the (very junior) product marketing manager I got a call from our local salesman that someone at Apple wanted more technical information than just the spec sheets about our new (not yet shipping) chip. I vividly remember the sales guy saying, “It’s only some kid in field service. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 131

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Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

Our small training department had been without a manager for months and finding a replacement didn’t seem to be high on the VP of Sales list. Then it hit me – no one else wanted to be manager – what was the worst that could happen? I even had time to find a girlfriend who was a contractor to the company.

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

And that most of the post on trade shows was describing how to prepare and manage a physical presence in a trade show booth. These two posts were amazing. Anyways, here’s one question I have. You are correct all channels, web or otherwise, need to generate awareness and leads. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 128

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 128

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

But the rest of the management team really skeptical. When we saw our salespeople actually trying to steal the early boards to take home and show their kids, we knew we had a winner. All we had to do was tell customers they could get video into their computer – and not promise anything else. Little did we know. Now In Print!

Video 164

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 164

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

In 1964, Bill Perry, the head of the lab, frustrated with GTE’s management, quit (GTE, a phone company had bought Sylvania in 1959.) And in the tradition of great startups, on the way out Perry took 6 of his best managers with him. I can say that the management and staff at ESL was the absolute best.

Silicon Valley 171

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 171

techcrunch.com

AUGUST 12, 2012

The two Data Collective managing partners, who are currently raising fund number two, tell me that the timing is right for a fund committed exclusively to Big Data companies, as the barriers to entry in launching these sorts of startups are only getting lower. Around Azeroth Beta Edition: We had a pretty good day. About & Staff.

Early Stage 70

Early Stage San Francisco Los Angeles Southern California 70

Software By Rob

JULY 1, 2010

Join nearly 6,000 startup entrepreneurs by subscribing to my RSS feed. For a startup, this means avoiding “me too&# products, staying away from horizontal niches, solving a pain-point, and targeting a vertical niche. The lesson: stick to vertical niches. Subscribe via RSS On Twitter? at 12:52 pm [.]

Software Review 54

Software Review RSS Startup Vertical 54

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

He had teamed up with a former product manager at P&G to deliver seminars on just this subject. It was a management problem. We had been outsourcing an important part of our demand creation strategy – packaging – to an outside agency without having the expertise to judge or manage the results. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

mashable.com

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Have appropriate expectations, listen to the professionals in your employ and don’t micro-manage a design or development project. Here, developers and dev shops are organized by vertical so you can find a shop that has expertise in the kind of app you want to build. Events Manager at Mashable (New York, Sr.

Small Business 104

Small Business Technical Review Social Media Software Review 104

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2009

If you can’t manage chaos and uncertainty, if you can’t bias yourself for action and if you wait around for someone else to tell you what to do, then your investors and competitors will make your decisions for you and you will run out of money and your company will die. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 170

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Steve Blank

APRIL 22, 2009

We were happily brainstorming when one of his managers spoke up and said, “Well, the phrase ‘Big Dogs’ might not work because it might not translate well in our Mexican and Spanish markets.” To Order Outside of the U.S. And that he might want to think about aligning all his video and Internet products under that name.

Silicon Valley 176

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Reply Best books for the lean product managers — Justin Gibbs , on April 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm Said: [.] That’s in stark contrast to the traditional Product Development Model where it’s expected a customer is already there and waiting and it’s simply a matter of [.] familiar with Customer Development you should be.

Product Development 143

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 143

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Yet we used the product development model not only to manage product development, but as a road map for finding customers and to time our marketing launch and sales revenue plan. I still think it is, but orthodox managers don’t see it that way. The irony is that few startups fit these criteria. None of mine did.)

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

weeks ago, positioning it as a tool designed to help small businesses effectively manage their social media efforts. An Existing Market All four were trying to resegment an “Existing Market.” The problem is that our messaging on the home page shouts “Write Once, Publish Everywhere&#. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 181

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 181

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Sloan Foundation , the Sloan School of Management at MIT , the Sloan program at Stanford , and the Sloan/Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York. Sloan realized that the traditional centralized management structures (like General Motors had in 1920) were poor fits for the management of GM’s already diverse product lines.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 156

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

As one could imagine this was the last thing the supercomputer center management wanted to hear. I liked to fail fast, move on, and not look back. All their peers were buying Cray’s, and they wanted one as well. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 185

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Since the Customer Development model assumes that most startups cycle through these first two steps at least twice, it allows a well-managed company to carefully estimate and frugally husband its cash. Having raised lots of money tempts you to give products away, steeply discount to buy early business, etc., It rarely happens that way.)

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

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. Joseph Campbell’s insight of the repeatable patterns in mythology is equally applicable to building a successful startup. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 127

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Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2009

I believe it’s just like a family trait, which starts from the characteristics of the top C-level executives and cascades all the way down, from the type of mid-management they hire, to who the mid-management hires, and then the way everyone is supposed to walk and talk. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 120

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2009

I really don’t know how you managed to keep your cool in that situation. Posted on December 3, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups I’ve had my ideas “stolen” twice. Looking forward to the reading the sequel and other “excruciatingly uncomfortable situations&# blogs! I would have gone a little bit ballistic. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 149

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Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

General managers of divisons are compensated on division P&L not long term innovation. You cannot say it is the people (owners, manager or workers). It’s not the executives are stupid it’s just that there are no incentives (or corporate DNA) for doing otherwise. What is a company anyway?

Silicon Valley 164

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Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

Get yourself into the booth selection meetings and get to know the manager. Location, location, location A small booth is no excuse for being stuck in the corner. Don’t tell me “that’s where they put all the small booths.” I know that, so why do I need you? Call often and early and try to upgrade your location. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Silicon Valley 178

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 178

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Reply Business Ethics Training , on December 28, 2009 at 5:39 pm Said: For all of you who are supervisors and managers who may be reading this: It is not only important to do things right, but it is important to make sure that the right thing is done right. Reply Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Silicon Valley 124

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Software By Rob

AUGUST 11, 2009

Join nearly 6,000 startup entrepreneurs by subscribing to my RSS feed. Subscribe via RSS On Twitter? Like UI designers, usability testers, product managers, user researchers, visual designers, information architects, technical writers, testers, user experience testers and — yes — marketers. at 11:07 am [.]

Open Source 62

Open Source Software Review Non-Compete Software 62

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

It is gently laying the foundation for a subsequent financing, helping the CTO set sensible milestones to be achieved that can demonstrate execution skill and release cycle management. It is helping with recruiting by leveraging my networks and experience in a particular domain. Camaraderie? Perhaps all of the above. Camaraderie?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

The Experience is the Product | Better product management and products , on September 23, 2010 at 12:17 pm Said: [.] Steve Blank so eloquently says, when you are creating a new market, you have no idea how long the flat part of the hockey [.] Reply » Should you be in an Existing Market? make-or-break. To Order Outside of the U.S.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

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.) Lean Startups aren’t Cheap Startups « Steve Blank (tags: startup product-management strategy) [.] To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur, make sure you hire and manage people so that they’re focusing on end goals and not motion or, once again, you’re screwed. What I thought would be a simple port is actually a major project I don’t have time to manage. They all have to be redrawn and reformatted.

Silicon Valley 324

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Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Rethink vertical segmentation: Healthcare? Review your marketing media allocation: offline media prices will go down and could generate attractive ROI, tradeshows might have less impact due to travel restrictions… G&A Manage your DSOs tightly – they will go up! Add RSS feed. Is Government a good idea? Newer Post.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 2, 2006

and so I think its a very, very big bet“ - Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Indeed, the opportunity is large: with 11m+ SMBs in the US only spending more than $300B in IT.but so far nobody managed to "crack the code" and current sales model are facing diminishing returns: (1) HT companies have little insights in their SMB customers (e.g.,

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Europe Software 48