A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. Price is as important as any other feature to determine product/market “fit.” In a huge market this is probably still OK because there’s enough customers for everyone to thrive in different ways.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

It taught lean theory ( business model design , customer development and agile engineering) and practice. Now, 4 years after I arrived at BerkeleyHaas, we don’t teach business plan writing in any of our entrepreneurship classes or in any of our dozens of programs and competitions. Berkeley-wide.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2020

finding product/market fit). Finally to have a better chance of a viable enterprise, they need to test all the other hypotheses in their business/mission model (pricing, demand creation, revenue, costs, etc.). The key principles of customer development are: There are no facts inside the building so get the heck outside.

Customer 423

Customer Business Model Restful Video 423

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

By the early 1920s a new dean changed the curriculum – shifting it from an industry orientation (steel, railroads, etc.) – to a functional one (marketing, factory and employment management (HR), etc.). Entrepreneurship Becomes a Subject in Business Schools. First Case Study-General Shoe.

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2020

We’re holding a series of 5-day online classes at Stanford where teams will learn how to develop new business models for an economy that’s getting back to work and on the road to recovery. The Covid-19 virus has upended traditional ways of doing business, travel, education, entertainment, healthcare, etc.

Lean 436

Lean Business Model Affiliate Incubator 436

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

As we prepared for the new Hacking for Defense class at Stanford, we had to stop and ask ourselves: How do we use the Business Model Canvas if the primary goal is not to earn money, but to fulfill a mission? In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue?

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Sea Turtles and VPN – the connections to the rest of the world.

China 329

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 329

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2016

You must also understand the value the product provides customers (along with the rest of your business model.). And going for crowdfunding before you do customer discovery with customers can lock you into the wrong idea too early. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Detroit 120

Detroit Baltimore Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2016

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I believe that: a product is just a part of a startup, but understanding customers, channel, pricing, – the business model – is what turns a product into a business. using the business model canvas as the framework. Reflection Week. Nova Credit.

Lean 120

Lean Incubator Business Model Channel 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

Scalable startups are on a trajectory for a billion dollar market cap. Not all start ups want to go in that direction – some will opt instead to become a small business. has a large enough market that most U.S. startups ignore the rest of the world until they scale in their own country. ———-.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

For the last 10 years China essentially closed its search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other websites were not accessible from China. business models. Sea Turtles and VPN – the connections to the rest of the world.

China 221

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 221

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

To do this they have to accomplish five things; 1) get deal flow – via networking and legwork, they identify likely industries, companies and teams with the potential for rapid growth (less than 10 years), 2) evaluate those companies and teams on the basis of technology, market opportunity, and team.

Silicon Valley 237

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 237

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2014

For the last 75 years products (both durable goods and software) were built via Waterfall development. This process forced companies to release and launch products by model years, and market new and “improved” versions. And these changes may have unintended consequences leading to customer dissatisfaction and confusion.

Continuous Deployment 332

Continuous Deployment Customer Agile Cloud 332

Steve Blank

JUNE 4, 2012

As the morning fog burns off the California coast, I am working with Steve Blank, preparing for the Lean LaunchPad Faculty Development Program we are running this August at U.C. The tools and techniques available to small businesses on Main Street are the same ones that were being used for the last 75 years. Serendipity.

Silicon Valley 314

Silicon Valley Lean Utah Customer Development 314

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Market research tools to help you figure out the size of the opportunity your startup is pursuing, are here. The class teaches the three basic skills all entrepreneurs need to know: business model design. customer development. Some general customer development slides click here. agile engineering.

Open Source 335

Open Source Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development 335

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. By now the company may have found and settled on a repeatable business model.

Cofounder 230

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 230

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

A business plan has a set of assumptions (who’s the customer, what’s the price, what’s the channel, what are the product features that matter, etc.) that make up a business model. Yet by first customer ship most of the business model hasn’t been validated or tested. Pivots By Firing Executives.

Burn Rate 253

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 253

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

If you can just be friendly enough and get your users to party with you, the rest is really easy. "Authentic" is dead - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 3, 2010 It's time to retire the following phrases. For a micro-ISV, selling to big businesses can be more lucrative than selling to consumers.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or Their objective is to get users, orders, customers, etc.

Wiki 319

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 319

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

In general, successful startups do three major things: They understand who their customers are, what they want and clearly define the product or service Unique Selling Point(USP). However, the key difference between a successful and unsuccessful startup rests on the shoulders of the entrepreneur themselves. By customer development.

Startup 113

Startup Acquisition Business Model Finance 113

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2012

In a university, the Lean LaunchPad class teaches a methodology the students can use for the rest of their careers. In an incubator, the Lean LaunchPad develops angel or venture-funded startups. 2) Get the teams out of the building to test their hypotheses with prospective customers. Methodology. This was a bit astonishing.

Lean 260

Lean Incubator Business Model Georgia 260

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

I remind my students that I’m teaching them a methodology they can use the rest of their careers, not running an incubator. in the snack food market. Jon’s big vision was to build a company that disrupted the meat snacks business. What Do You Mean You Only Spoke to 1 Customer?

North America 120

North America Lean Customer Development Distribution 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Wait a minute, what about the rest of Customer Development ? Aren’t you going to validate your hypotheses by first getting some customers?”. Now I was confused, and I asked, “Well what do you guys believe – Customer Development or launch on a schedule?” Executing both of them would put us out of business.

Customer Development 316

Customer Development Singapore Channel PR 316

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said. So I met the entrepreneur and asked him how his search for a business model was going. Great, but we’re having a bit of a problem getting traction.” Hmm, I asked, “Can you go back to the beginning and tell me about your Customer Discovery process?

Founder 232

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 232

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *. Pre-launch customer development data is another way, sometimes in the form of user surveys for consumer companies or interviews with potential beta customers for B2B businesses. B) Post-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Maybe It’s Me When I got to the SuperMac, our Marketing Communications group told me about our “award-winning&# retail packaging for our graphics boards. Her packaging class was so good that we sent every new marketer at SuperMac to take it. Yet when I saw our retail package, I was confused. Worry about the sales results.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

The Lean LaunchPad class teaches students how to build a Lean Startup using business model design, customer development and agile engineering. Teams have to get out of the building and talk to 10-15 customers a week.) But what NYU did with the rest of their grant dollars was simply brilliant. Make it Better.

Lean 277

Lean New York City New York Customer Development 277

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

If there was any doubt among the teams about the value of what they’re learning, Blinken put it to rest with a compelling overview of how so many of today’s complex global problems – from stopping Ebola to monitoring cease-fires and improving food security – demand innovative, tech-based solutions. A giant fork in the road.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

If there was any doubt among the teams about the value of what they’re learning, Blinken put it to rest with a compelling overview of how so many of today’s complex global problems – from stopping Ebola to monitoring cease-fires and improving food security – demand innovative, tech-based solutions. A giant fork in the road.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Washington United Kingdom Lean 120

Steve Blank

JULY 22, 2010

Customer Validation needs to have the CEO actively involved. Customer Development Diagnostics over Lunch. He went through his product feature by feature and matched them to the customer problems. He talked about how his business model would make money and how the prospects he talked to seem to agree with his assumptions.

Forecast 279

Forecast Sales Customer Customer Development 279

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

” As the managing editor of Bplans, I’ve had the good fortune to learn about business via the content we share; through interviews with LivePlan customers and other business owners; and thanks to brilliant, informal coaching from people like Tim Berry, Noah Parsons, and the rest of the executive leadership team at Palo Alto Software.

Curation 60

Curation Lean Software Review Finder 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Fairchild Semiconductor became the progenitor of a flood of Silicon Valley chip companies and at the same time the adoption of the limited partnership as the model for Venture Firms gave VC’s their own profitable business model. Quickly iterate the product in front of customers. They build a minimum feature set.

Lean 266

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 266

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

While finding product-market fit is important, getting the rest of the business model right is the difference between and a great demo and a great business. We did do a lot of … customer discovery. We did a lot of talking to customers, trying to understand who really had the need.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder DC Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

MAY 1, 2015

Customer Development for us meant a lot of hard-won learnings. The rest of the 123 total interviews helped us figure out a working business model. By now we believed we had tested our hypotheses and wanted to validate whether there was a market. There was no going back. Eat your own dog food.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Lean Customer Development Startup 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 4, 2016

These include the continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction by states and non-state groups, the outbreak of internal conflict across the Middle East and in parts of Africa, the most significant flow of refugees since World War II, and a changing climate that is beginning to affect both developed and developing countries.

Lean 168

Lean Government Agile Africa 168

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

So we started in the academic market — because they would actually buy. I remember selling Angela Lee at the Kellogg School of Business, and Angela referred it to someone at Wharton, who referred it to someone at Columbia and Duke, and the rest is history. . Ironically, though, academics are horrible customers.

Cofounder 151

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 151