Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2013

To fill this gap I wrote The Four Steps to the Epiphany , a book about the Customer Development process and how it changes the way startups are built. Eric Ries, who took my first Customer Development class at Berkeley, had the insight that Customer Development should be paired with Agile Development.

Technical Review 223

Technical Review Lean Venture Capital Customer Development 223

Steve Blank

JANUARY 30, 2013

I earnestly believe that large corporations should emulate Lean Startups (Business model design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering.) If I were starting a corporate innovation program today, I’d use the Lean LaunchPad classes as the starting framework. Lessons Learned.

Programming 273

Programming Technical Review Incubator Intellectual Property 273

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Best practices in software development started to move to agile development in the early 2000’s. This methodology improved on waterfall by building software iteratively and involving the customer. But it lacked a framework for testing all commercialization hypotheses outside of the building. Lessons Learned.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

This was followed by an 8-minute slide presentation describing their customer discovery journey over the 10 weeks. While all the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ), Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, each of their journeys was unique.

Lean 417

Lean Security Asia SBIR 417

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 16, 2013

One good example is the way in which we''ve adjusted the length of different phases of our agile sprints. We don''t follow a set agile methodology, but rather follow a more home-grown, minimal version of various approaches. At 65 mph, it''s like having a large animal sitting on your chest.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Software Engineering Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

Each has its own iterative process: customer development and agile development respectively. In a customer problem pivot, we try to solve a different problem for the same customer segment. When doing intense customer development, the problem team can attain a high level of empathy with potential customers.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

is an elegant way to model any service-oriented business: Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue We used a very similar scheme at IMVU, although we werent lucky enough to have started with this framework, and so had to derive a lot of it ourselves via trial and error. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

The framework has the team talking not just to potential customers but also with regulators, and people responsible for legal, policy, finance, support. The company has adopted Lean language and process: curation, prioritization, three horizons, I-Corps – business/ mission model canvas, customer development and agile engineering.

Incubator 319

Incubator Curation Engineer Government 319

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

I know plenty of people who prefer more advanced source control system, but my belief is that many agile practices diminish the importance of advanced features like branching. Its not that the idea behind them is wrong, but I think agile team-building practices make scheduling per se much less important. Youd better. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 144

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 144

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Go on an agile diet quickly. With a product development team that is not shipping, any agile methodology will surface major problems quickly. Force anyone who is in customer contact to take the role of the Product Owner and insist that they deliver something new on a short regular interval. (For Perhaps thats a fallacy?

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Customer Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

To create great entrepreneurs, we had to give our students the experience of navigating the chaos and uncertainty of running a lean startup while providing the same kind of rigorous framework the business plan did in its day. It taught lean theory ( business model design , customer development and agile engineering) and practice.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

This was followed by an 8-minute slide presentation describing their customer discovery journey over the 10-weeks. All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ) Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique.

Oakland 315

Oakland Asia Lean Video 315

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2009

In other words, a principled way to combine agility with stability. Imagine you hear from an engineer that they are worried that a certain payment subsystem is unreliable, and will therefore double-charge some customers. One way to evaluate this fear is to spend time on analysis: how many customers will be affected?

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Architecture Lean Continuous Deployment 133

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

The only efforts a new product team should be expending are those that lead to validated learning about customers. In the meantime, I hope some of you will find the lean startup a helpful framework. Not everything has to follow lean startup and customer development principles, and I write that as a devoted practitioner of both.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. What can you do about it? Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. Finally, I’ll write about 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.

Customer Development 229

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 229

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

To move innovation faster, we now have 21 st century tools — Business Model Canvas , Customer Development , Agile Engineering – all adding up to a Lean Startup. When combined with the business model canvas, the Three Horizons of Innovation provide a framework for corporate innovation. Fast forward to today.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2020

While there’s agreement that companies need to adapt to changing markets, rapidly find new markets, new customers and new revenue models, the question is how ? This is the first step before you zoom in and design the business model, engage in focused customer development or test your minimal viable products. Here’s how.

Customer 436

Customer Marketing Customer Development Lean 436

Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Here at Palo Alto Software in 2007 and 2008, we embraced these planning concepts and moved towards a more agile planning process. In 2010, Alex Osterwalder published his book, Business Model Generation , where he created a framework for what Tim called “business identity.” At the time, we used Business Plan Pro and Basecamp for this.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2019

Lean Methodology consists of three tools designed for entrepreneurs building new ventures: The Business Model Canvas – to write down all the hypotheses about a new business; Customer Development – a process for testing those hypotheses outside the building; Agile Engineering – to rapidly build minimal viable products to test product/market fit.

Lean 334

Lean Marketing Agile Customer Development 334

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Do some Customer Development instead. You create an entire framework of understanding and action based on your product/idea that sets it in motion in a self-sustaining way. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Combining agile development with customer developm.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 29, 2010

Tactics were discussed out of context, and there wasnt an overarching framework for figuring out what works for what kinds of companies, industries, and stages of growth. Tactics were discussed out of context, and there wasnt an overarching framework for figuring out what works for what kinds of companies, industries, and stages of growth.

San Francisco 120

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

This whole framework breaks down when teams confront entrepreneurial situations in which theyre trying to build something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This whole framework breaks down when teams confront entrepreneurial situations in which theyre trying to build something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

One of the confusing things to entrepreneurs, investors and educators is the relationship between customer development and business model design and business planning and execution. When does a new venture focus on customer development and business models ? And when do business planning and execution come into play?

Search 326

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 326

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2016

using the business model canvas as the framework. by having the students get out of the classroom and talk to 10-15 customers a week and build a new Minimum Viable Product weekly. The combination of the Business Model Canvas, Customer Development and Agile Engineering is an extremely efficient template for the students to follow.

Lean 120

Lean Incubator Business Model Channel 120

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

This simple three-part framework underlies almost all discussions about technical design today, and it was clearly on display in the recent debates over technical debt. When it becomes possible to build products "live" with customers, the cycle time changes and design becomes a much more dynamic process. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

In school I was being pounded day and night with anything that has to do with agile software development. When I entered the company, I realized that there were no process and I quickly applied what I know about agile software development. I am basically a one-man shop. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Part-Time VPE 94

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 25, 2022

I reminded them that when team members get out of their buildings and comfort zones, and directly talk to, observe, and interact with the customers, stakeholders and beneficiaries, it allows them to be agile, and the solutions they deliver will be needed, timely, relevant and take less time and resources to develop.

Framework 401

Framework Distribution Channel Leadership 401

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

A Lean Startup methodology offers entrepreneurs a framework to focus on what’s important: Business Model Discovery. Teams use the Lean Startup toolkit: the Business Model Canvas + Customer Development process + Agile Engineering. Customer Development Customer Development Manifesto Lean LaunchPad Teaching'

Oakland 330

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 330

Steve Blank

MAY 10, 2011

These diagrams are the visual representation of the how and the what a team learned in the class – how they tested their hypotheses by getting out of the building using the Customer Development process and what they learned about each part of their business model. The students were challenged to get users, orders, customers, etc.

Lean 288

Lean Business Model Agile Customer Development 288

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2020

Our goal, within the constraints of a virtual classroom and a limited amount of time, is to give you a framework to test a business model. You will be virtually “getting your hands dirty” by talking to customers, partners and competitors as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup (or a restart) actually works.

Lean 335

Lean Business Model Affiliate Incubator 335

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2013

It’s curriculum is built on a framework of business model design, customer development and agile engineering – and its emphasis on evidence, Lessons Learned versus demos, makes it the worlds most advanced accelerator.

Lean 270

Lean Washington Incubator Agile 270

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

We had all the tools in place but we didn’t actually practice agile development. No fancy tools needed here — it’s about the mentality, attention to detail, and the actions that foster agile development, not the tools & systems you set up in place to facilitate this. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

And how thinking of a solution to this commonly used model’s failures led to a new model – the Customer Development Model – that offers a new way to approach startup activities outside the building. Product Development Diagram 1. —– Part 2 of the Customer Development Manifesto to follow.

Customer Development 245

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 245

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

A revolution has taken hold as customer development and agile engineering reinvent the Startup process. The process they use to guide their search is customer development. They would: Blog their Customer Development progress as a narrative. Weekly blog of the customer development narrative.

Silicon Valley 292

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 292

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

But part was a recognition that we could gain substantial competitive advantage by leveraging a community of like-minded visionary customers to serve a wider (and more mainstream) audience than we could alone. Personally, the framework Ive found most helpful is MTVs "create, share, validate" feedback loop. Expo SF (May.

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

Lean Methodology consists of three tools designed for entrepreneurs building new ventures: The Business Model Canvas – to write down all the hypotheses about a new business; Customer Development – a process for testing those hypotheses outside the building; Agile Engineering – to rapidly build minimal viable products to test product/market fit.

Customer 427

Customer Marketing Lean Vertical 427