Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

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Las Vegas Silicon Valley Phoenix Montana 120

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 30, 2011

Blackbox , founded by entrepreneurs Bjoern Lasse Herrmann and Max Marmer, in June released its first Startup Genome Report — a 67-page in depth analysis on what makes Silicon Valley startups successful based on profiling over 650 startups. 74% of high growth internet startups fail due to premature scaling.

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Silicon Valley Software Review Startup Cofounder 189

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. as a distribution channel have vastly reduced the amount of capital a startup needs at the early stage when the risk is greatest. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds. ——-.

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Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 287

YoungUpstarts

MAY 29, 2011

This week Blackbox , founded by entrepreneurs Bjoern Lasse Herrmann and Max Marmer, released its first Startup Genome Report — a 67-page in depth analysis on what makes Silicon Valley startups successful based on profiling over 650 startups. Startups that pivot once or twice times raise 2.5x

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. If you’re a super experienced Silicon Valley CEO with a billion-dollar exit?—?probably.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

Just as national cultures influence and shape a country, so does the startup culture set by founder strategy drive the future of a new venture. I believe this new focus on culture is a key to startup success today. Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. Importantly we also discussed: should startups raise small amounts of money or large? how should you organize teams in a startup? 4:15 Eric’s startup history.

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Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference The Lean Startup Conference is next week--and now that we can step back and see all the speakers and mentors, we have to say: Wow. As the emeritus Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he still connects government and Silicon Valley.

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Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

But he left to work on what he told me he came to do - crack the innovation code of Silicon Valley and share it with the rest of the world. He set up Blackbox.vc, a seed accelerator for technology startups (and one of the tour stops for entrepreneurs from around the world.) Startup Genome Report. better user growth.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

Being a consultant is a role that works with big companies, but I have found that it doesn’t get much traction in small businesses and startups. I learned this the hard way, when I left IBM a few years ago to share what I had learned with the exciting world of startups in Silicon Valley.

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Silicon Valley Social Media Software Review Leadership 140

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. Between webcasts and interviews, we’ve been gradually introducing some of the speakers who are appearing at this year’s Lean Startup Conference. He gave us a quick rundown on two major growth challenges he’s faced: Challenge #1: Vanity Metrics.

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The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Thomas Clayton has started and run numerous high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. He is currently CEO of Bubbly , a social media startup backed by Sequoia Capital, SingTel Innov8, and JAFCO. The company is one of the largest VC–backed startups in Southeast Asia, having raised over $60M in funding.

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Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

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Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

Starting in the 1950’s, Stanford’s engineering department became “outward facing” and developed a culture of spinouts and active faculty support and participation in the first wave of Silicon Valley startups. Given its inward focus, Berkeley has always been the neglected sibling in Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Some things need to be done whether we like them or not; for example, daily cash-flow analysis and business metrics. That’s why smart investors, like the best ones in Silicon Valley, and the ones on Shark Tank , can tell a lot about the future success of a business, even before results. Learn to like the things that need done.

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Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review Metrics 144

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. And, with that warning, I offer to you, the big stories in the startup and investing ecosystem of 2018, written in ascending order of importance and magnitude…. 6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase.

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Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Building a new startup hub Last week, I had a unique opportunity to spend some time in Boulder at the behest of TechStars. It was a great experience to see a relatively new startup hub in action - and thriving. Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

Their firm is one of those that you think of when you think of Silicon Valley. They have some of the best names in the Valley. He called me 15 months later excited to show me his metrics and wanted to talk about his A round. Startup Advice' I got a call a few years ago from a well-known investor up North.

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Silicon Valley Early Stage Later Stage Technical Review 333

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 25, 2011

It’s been just over a year since the inaugural Startup Lessons Learned conference , and it’s time to do it again. The Lean Startup movement has made tremendous progress in the past year. Kent Beck himself helped us explain that “quality work” means something different when we’re facing the extreme uncertainty of a startup.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Lean Agile 146

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. However, in a startup the most common scenario is that projections get missed. The next most important set of metrics are sales by category; working capital (cash and other current assets, less current liabilities); EBITA; and gross margin.

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Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Small Business and Startups: The Trends for 2014 (Pt II) - crowdspring.co/1atXci8. Good whitepaper on advertising measurement metrics | by Ben Kunz – crowdspring.co/HsVIMR.

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

The Next Web

MARCH 11, 2014

Visit his blog to read more about startups and product design. How can stupid-sounding startups with untested ideas become so successful? “It Late last year, Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures published a study on billion-dollar startups , partly in attempt to identify patterns in these wildly successful, “unicorns.”

Silicon Valley 151

Silicon Valley Cofounder Stock Options Mobile 151

Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Well yes, I understand that, but this is a startup, what else do you want to do? “I Stay out of startups. Metrics – Mine is Bigger Than Yours The first thing SuperMac needed to do was to change how our potential color desktop publishing customers viewed our products versus our competitors’ products.

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Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2023

There may be a lot of talk and activity, some initial workshops, boot camps, and visits to Silicon Valley, but there is no sustained support. Maturing proficiency with innovation metrics. Episodic innovative activity from a key sponsor. This requires dedicated resources of both time and money.

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ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Startups need to survive and thrive on a shoestring budget, which is why it’s based on rapid experimentation. How to create a growth hacking strategy using the pirate metrics model. In the activation phase, measure these performance metrics: Conversion rate Number of customers using a product feature Drop-off rate Dwell time.

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Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 15, 2015

He may have been named by Silicon Valley thought leader Paul Graham as one of the five most interesting startup founders since 1979, but Sam’s curious penchant for wearing t-shirts over long-sleeve shirts suggests that he’s definitely too young for me. What I fell in love with was Sam’s How To Start A Startup class at Stanford.

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Cofounder Delaware Startup Technical Review 100

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

My first job out of school was at one of the early bioinformatics companies in Silicon Valley, working as the head of technical services. Earlier this year I founded a new startup called KlickFu. And what do you think about the controversy about stealth vs. not for startups? What are you working on now?

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Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 5, 2013

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Email Design Best Practices For Small Businesses and Startups – [link]. Measuring What Matters: How To Pick A Good Metric – [link]. ” – [link].

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Reading the articles and the comments is probably worth it, but I personally think that the NY Times is overstating the advantage of being in Silicon Valley with a couple of exceptions. Of course, thats probably even more true in Silicon Valley. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? .

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Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. They taught you about customers, markets and profits.

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Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M As I’m fond of saying, startup fundraising isn’t about convincing skeptics but rather finding true believers.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Up and Running

JULY 5, 2016

While we may think of a major hub like Silicon Valley as a prime example of an entrepreneurial city, the reality is that these epicenters of growth may not always offer the most supportive climate for new businesses. Louis is a growing hub for startup activity. See Also: What My Startup Accelerator Taught Me About Pitching.

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St. Louis Oklahoma City Oklahoma Tulsa 105

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

If these sound like reasonable answers to you, and you are in a startup/small company, update your resume. Most startups put together a corporate mission statement because the CEO remembered seeing one at their last job, or the investors said they needed one. What I was actually hearing was a failure of management.

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Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 263

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

When we looked at the color graphics board market, our competitors had defined the market as one measured by technical metrics: screen resolution, number of bits of color, screen refresh rates, acceleration, etc. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that what we had to do was to tell our story around one key metric performance ?

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Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 144

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

That is until I saw that in startup after startup customers come from places you don’t plan on. He’s Only in Field Service When I was at Zilog, the Z8000 peripheral chips included the new “ Serial Communications Controller &# ( SCC ).

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Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 133

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

As an investor and former founder, I know that scalable growth (and the pretty hockey stick graph) is the holy grail for every startup. 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.

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