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Is Strategic Money an Oxymoron?

Both Sides of the Table

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. Imagine your investor has to call the CEO of a $20 billion company for approval for your merger or sale.

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The Leading Cause of Startup Death – Part 1: The Product.

Steve Blank

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.

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Running Your Business By Instinct Is Not Recommended

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the biggest in this decade was the merger of America Online (AOL) with Time Warner, engineered in the early 2000’s by Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and AOL CEO Steve Case for a whopping $164 billion. Time Warner was forced to take a $99 billion loss only two years after the merger, and Levin was forced out.

Merger 275
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Don’t Make Business Decisions Based Only On Intuition

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the biggest in this decade was the merger of America Online (AOL) with Time Warner, engineered in the early 2000’s by Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and AOL CEO Steve Case for a whopping $164 billion. Time Warner was forced to take a $99 billion loss only two years after the merger, and Levin was forced out.

Merger 433
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Reasons Not To Make Decisions Today On Gut Instincts

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the biggest in this decade was the merger of America Online (AOL) with Time Warner, engineered in the early 2000’s by Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and AOL CEO Steve Case for a whopping $164 billion. Time Warner was forced to take a $99 billion loss only two years after the merger, and Levin was forced out.

Merger 276
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I’ve seen the Promised Land. And I might not get there with you.

Steve Blank

Critical for this transition are a CEO and executive staff who are clear-eyed pragmatists, capable of crafting and articulating a coherent mission for the company and distributing authority down to departments that are all driving toward the same goal. These new challenges require a different set of management and leadership skills.

Agile 120
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Entrepreneurs Who Rule By Gut Instinct Usually Lose

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the biggest in this decade was the merger of America Online (AOL) with Time Warner, engineered in the early 2000’s by Time Warner CEO Jerry Leven and AOL CEO Steve Case for a whopping $164 billion. We’ve all worked with autocratic leaders in large companies who seem to thrive in this mode. It’s been downhill from there.

Merger 239