Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2014

We’ve pivoted our Lean LaunchPad / I-Corps curriculum. We’re changing the order in which we teach the business model canvas and customer development to better-fit therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices. The Lean LaunchPad is now being taught in over 100 universities. So why change something that worked so well?

Intellectual Property 290

Intellectual Property Lean IP Open Source 290

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

We’re deep into teaching a Lean LaunchPad class for Life Sciences and Health Care (therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health) at UCSF with a team of veteran venture capitalists. We’ve recorded these panels for each part of the business model canvas. The class has talked to 1,440 customers to date.).

Lean 266

Lean Customer Business Model Customer Development 266

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

As the farm fields flew by on the interstate I listened as Dave described how he translated his vision into a series of hypotheses and mapped them onto a business model canvas. As the miles sped by I explained to Dave that he had understood only two of the three parts of what makes a Lean Startup successful. Customer Discovery.

Cofounder 336

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Coder 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. He then brought her to board meetings so nobody could accuse him of not having a business model. You need product / market fit. CROSSING THE CHASM.

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Startup Business Model Non-Compete 401

Steve Blank

AUGUST 21, 2013

We’re going to test this hypothesis by teaching a Lean LaunchPad class for Life Sciences and Health Care (therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health) this October at UCSF with a team of veteran venture capitalists. The teams that took the Lean Launchpad class – get ready for this – had a 60% success rate.

SBIR 321

SBIR Technical Review Lean Startup 321

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Over the years Dino and I brainstormed about how Lean entrepreneurship would affect regional development. Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. Few entrepreneurs find this scalable and repeatable business model because it’s not easy.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2017

Guest Post by Misti Yang, Writer for Lean Startup Co. Editor’s Note: We wrapped up the 2017 Lean Startup Week in San Francisco just a few weeks ago, and we’re excited to share with you some of the best lessons learned in entrepreneurship and corporate innovation. Because these Lean Startup people, they do crazy stuff,” Alex joked. “So

Lean 245

Lean Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 245

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

She was an academic on leave from Stanford now selling SAAS software to large companies, but was being inundated with marketing communications advice. “My I reminded her that all the Lean tools she learned in class–Customer Discovery, business model and value proposition canvases– contained her answer.

Marketing 318

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 318

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 20, 2011

“We’ve been reading your blog about your Lean Launchpad class.” We want to make a bet that your Lean Launchpad class can apply the scientific method to market-opportunity identification. We want to make a bet that your Lean Launchpad class can apply the scientific method to market-opportunity identification.

Incubator 310

Incubator Government Silicon Valley Lean 310

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Surprisingly if you’ve filled out the business model canvas you already know who you need. She started by sketching her business model canvas on a napkin, but somehow the conversation quickly shifted to what was really on her mind. ——-. I told Radhika this is a perennial question for startups.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

His basic point was: If someone, including me, tells you something isn’t a great idea and there’s no market for it there are only two acceptable responses. I saw a great post from Tristan Kromer Pivoting on Investor Feedback a.k.a Beware of Mentors. It was a top post on StartupRoar on Tuesday. Either: "That’s interesting.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

To celebrate the debut of the Japan edition of “The Startup Owner’s Manual” and to express great thanks to Steve and his co-author Bob Dorf, I would like to reflect back what first drew me to this book and offer Steve’s worldwide readers a look at the progress of Customer Development and the Lean LaunchPad class in Japan.

Japan 305

Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 305

Steve Blank

JANUARY 30, 2013

Doing so meant they would have to take risks for IP acquisition and customer/market risks outside their experience or comfort zone. Therefore a major error in setting up our corporate innovation program was our lack of understanding how disruptive it would be to the current innovation model and to the executives who ran the R&D Labs.

Programming 273

Programming Technical Review Incubator Intellectual Property 273

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 19, 2017

The lean start-up movement has been based on a single insight – which the purpose of a start-up is to discover a business model that works. Instead of the “entrepreneur that knows what the market wants”, we move to the “entrepreneur that knows how to discover what the market wants”. The Lean Start-Up Environment.

Product Development 153

Product Development Lean Developer Product 153

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

According to a well-researched Motly Fool report, the challenge is very real, since around half of all businesses fail in the first five years. The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2018

Today, I want to introduce a new approach to business planning: Lean Planning. Lean Planning replaces lengthy business plans with a 20-minute planning process that focuses on increasing your chances of success in business. Lean Planning is simpler and faster than writing a traditional business plan.

Lean 134

Lean Forecast Software Review Business Plan 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

According to a well-researched Motly Fool report, the challenge is very real, since around half of all businesses fail in the first five years. The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) This post is part four.

Customer 241

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 241

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The problem is that professional investors (Angels and Venture Capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

—– Lean Innovation Management. In the last five years “ Lean Startup ” methodologies have enabled entrepreneurs to efficiently build a startup by searching for product/market fit rather than blindly trying to execute. The result will be: a new, Lean version of the Three Horizons of Innovation. Here’s how.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2010

The minimum feature set is the inverse of what most sales and marketing groups ask of their development teams. In the Customer Development model, the premise is that a very small group of early visionary customers will guide your product features until you find a profitable business model. You’re Selling The Vision.

Customer Development 313

Customer Development Business Model Developer Search 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The problem is that professional investors (Angels and Venture Capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Steve Blank

APRIL 21, 2011

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment with a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. Their week 6 business model now looked like this: . They ditched the residential market as they realized that a more accessible and profitable customer segment(s) were cities, lighting companies and utilities.

Channel 234

Channel Artificial Inteligence San Francisco Business Model 234

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

A canonical Lean Innovation process inside a company or government agency would look something like this: Curation. One of the quickest ways to sort innovation ideas is to use the McKinsey Three Horizons Model. Horizon 1 ideas provide continuous innovation to a company’s existing business model and core capabilities.

Incubator 319

Incubator Curation Engineer Government 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

For Logan Green of Lyft, his international travel purpose helped inspire him to the creation and growth of an industry-altering business. By finding new perspectives, he was able to redefine business models and satisfy customer needs in new and ingenious ways. Driven to reduce personal hardship and suffering.

Technical Review 357

Technical Review Green Social Media Lean 357

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

They have seen one side of a market where many of us have seen the ebb and flow multiple times. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. I spoke about a lot of things during the keynote.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. They’ll use government regulation and lawsuits to keep out new entrants with more innovative business models. Over time as these organizations got large, they built process.

Government 322

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 322

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

According to my experience and this Motley Fool article from a few years ago, the challenge is very real, with around half of all new businesses no longer existing after five years. Software apps that once required a 10-person team can now be done with the Lean Development methodology by two people in a couple of months.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Steve Blank

AUGUST 3, 2012

Long before there was the Lean Startup, Business Model Canvas or Customer Development there was a guy in Santa Barbara California who had already figured it out. Humility had crumbled the walls between marketing and engineering. Two years after release, product market share was up by 30% to 70%.

San Jose 261

San Jose Technical Review Customer Development Software Review 261

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

No wait, I forgot, actually the question is: What happens when employee #2 makes off with your code and roadmap and marketing data and customer list, moves to Bolivia, and starts selling your stuff world-wide at one-tenth the price? To summarize: Anything that can be copied will be copied, including features, marketing copy, and pricing.

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

I am always surprised when critics complain that the Lean Startup’s Build, Measure, Learn approach is nothing more than “throwing incomplete products out of the building to see if they work.”. It’s time to update Build, Measure, Learn to what we now know is the best way to build Lean startups. Here’s how. Build-Measure-Learn.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

According to my experience and a this Motley Fool article, the challenge is very real, with around half of all new businesses no longer existing after five years. Software apps that once required a 10-person team can now be done with the Lean Development methodology by two people in a couple of months.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2017

Subscription business models have been around for a pretty long time, but thanks to modern technology, this model has evolved from milk or newspapers delivery to a versatile eCommerce experience. As a starting entrepreneur, you might wonder: why on earth would I want to start a subscription (box) business? Conclusion.

Churn Rate 149

Churn Rate eCommerce Business Model Bootstrapping 149

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 5, 2017

Because Millennials participate so much of their daily lives online — from communicating with friends to reviewing restaurants — they represent a hugely lucrative market for brands. Millennials shop online more than Gen X’ers and certainly more than Baby Boomers, making them an obvious target market for ecommerce platforms.

Marketing 150

Marketing eCommerce Technical Review Social Media 150

Up and Running

APRIL 29, 2019

When your marketing plan aligns with your branding goals, your company becomes memorable to the masses. Nearly every business owner has goals , but how you define and carry them out often makes the difference between success and failure. percent of American companies use some type of digital content marketing.

Marketing 142

Marketing Social Media Lean Campaign 142

Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2021

Over the weekend I got asked the best way to teach students the principles of Lean via Zoom. I realized that pre-pandemic I had put together a series of two-minute videos called “See Why.” Here’s what I suggested they offer their students: Lean in Context. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With Customers.

Lean 367

Lean Customer Development Business Model Video 367