Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Metrics like Return on Net Assets, Return on Capital and Internal Rate of Return are the guiding stars of the board and CEO. As Harvard professor Clayton Christensen noted, these efficiency metrics provided wise guidance for times when capital was scarce and raising money was hard. Act Like a Startup. This never ends well.

Private Equity 330

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 330

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

On the surface, it's yet another "marketing metrics" company. P.S. If you're raising money, investors love to see a co-founder or even just an advisor who has been successful before. Even "cool, agile" companies like 37signals are trapped. The Dream Team. Yes of course I'll share details!). Existing customers.or

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

female founders. founder friday. Lessons learned from female founders and women entrepreneurs. Startup Quote: Wendy Tan White on Building a Successful Startup » FounderDating: How I Found My Co-Founder. Tweet By Elizabeth Knopf (Co-Founder & CEO, Sorced). Conference 2012.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2013

They are the co-authors of The Lean Entrepreneur , and the co-founders of the Moves the Needle Group , which advises the innovation practices of Fortune 100 companies. We invite you to check out the entire video , including a fascinating conversation about why revenue is not a good growth metric.

Lean 167

Lean Silicon Valley Agile Cofounder 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Kent, a veteran programmer, a founder of the Agile method and the creator of Extreme Programming, came armed with anecdotes and lessons from his own experience, as well as a few questions for Eric. As a counterpart to the question of how to create and test an MVP, Steven and Diane discussed how to use metrics to measure progress.

Lean 165

Lean San Francisco Cofounder Programming 165

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 4, 2015

In order to grow, startups need a much more focused, realistic and agile approach to goal setting that builds momentum and establishes a pattern of success. Use OKRs to establish how company success is measured, establish a metrics-driven culture and track performance progress. For startups, agility is a must. How OKRs Can Help.

Agile 100

Agile Startup Cofounder Metrics 100

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Paul Graham’s recent essay, Founder Mode , describes the mindset that founders need to adopt to navigate the early stages of building a startup, and how they’re different than ‘manager mode’ which is traditional management/corporate best practices.

Management 103

Management Technical Review Venture Capital Generative AI 103

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 10, 2010

Co-Founder, Micah Baldwin – [link]. Immigrants founded 7000 tech co’s from 1995-2006 – [link]. Entrepreneurs: Beware of Vanity Metrics - [link]. Good startup lessons shared by @robjohnson & joshfraser (founders) about EventVue failure - [link]. Getting Funded: An Interview with Graphic.ly

Social Media 77

Social Media Small Business Design Media 77

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

“If you can fix a problem for someone and do it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than your competitor, you’re off to a good start.” – Gabriel Kuperman, founder and CEO of CuePin. We created UpKeep to fill this void—a cloud-based solution that was affordable for any size business.” – Ryan Chan, founder of UpKeep.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2012

Pair Customer Development with Agile Development. Success Begins with Buy-In from Investors and Co-Founders. Startup Metrics are Different from Existing Companies. Failure is an Integral Part of the Search for the Business Model. If You’re Afraid to Fail You’re Destined to Do So. Not All Startups Are Alike.

Customer Development 331

Customer Development Developer Customer Cofounder 331

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

And the final lesson was that we were keeping score on our packaging with the wrong metrics – it wasn’t about awards, it was about sales in the retail channel. Hopefully you and your co-founders are experts in one or two parts (agile development, SEO/SEM, etc.)

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

There are three parts to a good competitive analysis: (1) defining the metrics and identifying the competitors you’re comparing, (2) gathering the data, and (3) the analysis. You’re going to need some brand health metrics to track. For example, Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, always used to say he sold hope, not makeup.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2019

A number of blog posts recently have mentioned this, but we seem to be experiencing a rise in repeat founders starting new businesses and raising seed capital. We’re also seeing a wave of folks who were not founders, but were star players among the first 25 folks at a unicorn company also starting new companies.

Founder 256

Founder Agile Cofounder Seed Capital 256

Hearpreneur

JUNE 21, 2017

My Mama, the founder of Yuca’s Hut in Los Feliz, CA, didn’t allow a lack of college degrees or a business plan to deter her from launching her dream. Larry Page, Google co-founder.I I am co founder of GreenPal which has been described as Uber for lawn care. I’m Marty, the Co-Founder of REIZE.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Africa Cofounder CTO Hire 66

Up and Running

JUNE 23, 2015

Meg Wirth and Allyson Cote, founders of Maternova. I was fortunate enough to speak with co-founder Allyson Cote, and hear the Maternova story, as well as some of its exciting plans for the future. Maternal health is a concern the world over, especially in developing nations. The quirky and cute Maternova offices.

Cofounder 60

Cofounder Sweat Equity Social Media Business Model 60

mashable.com

MAY 24, 2011

May 23, 2011 17:45:54 Reply 0 Flag this comment HD1080i Follow +1 DITTO ON THAT … counting app downloads vs use-case metrics shows that the native app gets lost in its own sea of icons. Discovery by social and webapp html5 is more agile and less icon-find-item-search. Richard Rabins Co-Chairman Alpha Software, Inc.

Mobile 90

Mobile Web Social Media Software Review 90

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

You will also likely need help along the way, whether it comes in the form of a co-founder or a product team. This type of agile thinking is what matters. Step 4: Define your metrics and measure them. Define your metrics and measure them. Marketers use smoke tests to avoid this exact scenario.

Product 48

Product Audience Stock Conversion 48

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

” For Lindsay Nelson, CEO and co-founder of Theme Dragon, Inc that opportunity was founding a tech company. She and original cofounder Megan Bradford poured their proverbial blood, sweat and tears into this enterprise. If not, be agile enough to change direction and re-focus,” Nelson advises.

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

YoungUpstarts

MAY 26, 2014

It’s their comfort zone: numbers, metrics, analytics, logistics, strategies, and a well-defined and easy-to-see ROI. Nest Labs founder Tony Fadell said, “If you don’t have an emotionally engaging design, no one will care.”. It’s how companies become agile. Superior number-crunching and analytics. It’s where brands are built.

Analytics 160

Analytics Forecast Cofounder Agile 160

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

The finished book will come out on September 13, featuring an amazing cover designed by my IMVU co-founder Marcus Gosling and refined and tested by so many of you. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. them back to my publisher. I am incredibly proud of the result.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

David Teten

JANUARY 28, 2013

Small, agile funds are in an excellent position to take advantage of opportunities in the angel space. AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant concludes , “The real winners here are going to be the seed funds and early stage VCs that can write a $1 million to $2 million check. That is what we are doing through our own investments.

IRR 114

IRR Angel Investor Angel Groups Cofounder 114

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why vanity metrics are dangerous In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In this post, Id like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics. My personal favorite vanity metrics is "hits."

Metrics 167

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. Jim Murphy is a long-time agile practitioner in startups. But startups sometimes have trouble applying agile successfully.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

When I first encountered agile software techniques, in the form of extreme programming , I thought I had found the answer. I explained it to people this way: agile lets you make the trade-offs visible to whole company, so that they can make informed choices. Even worse, agile wasnt really helping me ship higher quality software.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal. Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. No vanity metrics should be looked at. Yet startups rely on collective learning in order to find their way.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

I hope to show why lean and agile techniques actually reduce the negative impacts of technical debt and increase our ability to take advantage of its positive effects. Yet other agile principles suggest the opposite, as in YAGNI and DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork. Reconciling these principles requires a little humility.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. He is the co-author of several books including The Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996). While an undergraduate at Yale Unviersity, he co-founded Catalyst Recruiting. October 13, 2008 6:47 PM Luke G said. Eric, love the blog.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Because five whys kept turning up a few key metrics that were hard to set static thresholds for, we even had a dynamic prediction algorithm that would make forecasts based on past data, and fire alerts if the metric ever went out of its normal bounds. Wed never heard of five whys, and we had plenty of "agile skeptics" on the team.

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. Instead, we do everything possible to validate the founders belief. We dont just abandon the vision of the company at every turn.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

Each has its own iterative process: customer development and agile development respectively. Some startups fail because the founders cant have this conversation - they either blow up when they try, or they fail to change because they are afraid of conflict. Thats why its so essential to have a co-equal problem team.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

The six key attributes spell ABCDEF: Agility. When talking about their past experience, candidates with agility will know why they did what they did in a given situation. To probe for agility, you have to ask the candidate questions involving something that they know little about. December 2, 2008 10:56 AM Ryan said.

San Francisco 146

San Francisco Lean Agile Java 146

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Focus on the output metrics of that part of the product, and you make the problem a lot more clear. To promote this metrics discipline, we would present the full funnel to our board (and advisers) at the end of every development cycle. Max Levchin of Slide and Paypal has noted that 10% of Slides headcount is devoted to metrics only.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

But by taking advantage of open source, agile software, and iterative development, lean startups can operate with much less waste. So far, I have found "lean startup" works better with the entrepreneurs Ive talked to than "agile startup" or even "extreme startup.") Of course, many startups are capital efficient and generally frugal.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

It should be even more important to the founders themselves, because it demonstrates that their business hypothesis is grounded in reality. Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. These founders have not managed, to borrow a phrase from Steve Blank , to create a scalable and repeatable sales process.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, July 13, 2009 The Principles of Product Development Flow If youve ever wondered why agile or lean development techniques work, The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development by Donald G. Reinertsen is the book for you. Expo SF (May.

Product Development 153

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 153

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 3, 2009

In order to give people the data they need to apply the strategy, we were very open with our company metrics, making all reports generally available and easy to run. When you think a certain feature will give a 50% boost to a given metric, and it only eeks out a 5% boost, you cant spin that as failure. March 9, 2009 8:35 AM Eric said.

Employee 146

Employee San Francisco Lean Software Review 146

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Stevey's Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile Learning from Obama: maneuver warfare on the campa. Expo SF (May.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167