Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. I chose to hire engineers from within each of our target markets and set up “Steve’s one month MBA course for engineers.” These hires were definitely not your standard marketing types.

Engineer 224

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 224

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco. I’ve watched the Valley go from Microwave Valley – to Defense Valley – to Silicon Valley to Internet Valley. So how did this happen? Where is it going?

Restful 249

Restful Silicon Valley San Jose Puerto Rico 249

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

Our industry just took one big step towards legitimacy with the hiring of renowned media exec Ynon Kreiz to run Maker Studios. The founders had been responsible for gaining staggering scale in the past 3 years, having been trail-blazers in building a network of talent and an unrivaled understanding of the YouTube ecosystem.

Video 320

Video Los Angeles Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 320

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

We give abundant advice to founders about how to make startups succeed yet we offer few models about dealing with failure. The press called Rocket Science one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley and predicted that our games would be great because the storyboards and trailers were spectacular. Should be past grief.”

Redemption 225

Redemption Cofounder Silicon Valley Burn Rate 225

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. Hire a CEO to Go Public. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

For example: Mitch Kapor was a founder of Lotus. As the emeritus Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he still connects government and Silicon Valley. He’s a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Facebook, Skype, Jawbone, and dozens of other companies whose products you use.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

is a venture capitalist investing in Silicon Valley and Singapore. You might have started searching for a tech-oriented co-founder to help you launch your idea, only to find that your startup can’t afford the ongoing salary for a skilled software developer. Eddy Lee, Ph.D, Step 3: Outsource a developer.

Web 160

Web Silicon Valley Salary Demand 160

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

If you’ve tried to slog your way through my book on Customer Development you know that I’m insistent that the founders need to be the ones getting outside the building (physically or virtually) to validate all the initial hypotheses of the business model and product. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back.

Technology 145

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 145

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

I covered what I call “the co-founder mythology.&# So embedded is this conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley that it feels like heresy to even question it. Either you’re not technical and you think you need a technical co-founder or vice-versa. Hire your co-founder.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

8220; His three things (worth reading his whole post anyway) are set vision/strategy and communicate broadly, recruit/hire/retain top talent, and make sure there’s enough cash in the bank. Why Product Managers Wear Sneakers - Steve Blank , September 2, 2010 I gave a talk last night to the Silicon Valley Product Management Association.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Such was my recent meeting with Seth Sternberg, founder & CEO of Meebo. Again, Seth: “One of the things I noticed when I looked around at startups is that often the founding teams hired people just like themselves. And I’d recommend them to any talented startup founders out there.&#. We then spoke about startups.

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

The culture and work ethic of Convergent had earned it the title “the Marine Corps of Silicon Valley”. Supercomputers get Personal Back in Sunnyvale my friend had not only been hired but had convinced the team that we should be building hardware – making a new class of computers not a software application.

North Carolina 133

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 133

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JANUARY 14, 2011

” The current top rated answer is from Siqi Chen , one of the co-founders of Serious Business. Inconsistent Hiring Bar. We’ve made some uneven hires over the course of Serious Business. The Silicon Valley wisdom that Execution > Idea hasn’t penetrated as far as it needs to.

Technical Cofounder 114

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley 114

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. And this Silicon Valley bias isn’t limited to any single meeting – it has been a recurring theme in my time as a VC. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 313

Silicon Valley Southern California Los Angeles Semantic 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice. Joel met his co-founder for Fog Creek software and learned a valuable management lesson. It took Joel awhile to realize that “If you’re hiring very bright people, let them do their damn job&#.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software St. Louis API 285

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

By contrast, as a venture capitalist, I can report that almost all of our portfolio companies are desperate to hire talented software engineers, and eager to hire in a range of other roles. I am now talking with some affinity groups in these domains about co-organizing such pitch nights under the umbrella of HBS Angels.

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

Jeff Hilimire

OCTOBER 8, 2014

My name is Richard Simms and, I am a Cofounder of Tech Talent South. My Cofounder, Betsy Idilbi , and I started working on TTS about a year and a half ago and have been going a million miles an hour since then. Betsy and I are on the road a good bit but more importantly, we’ve got great folks we’ve hired in each of these locations.

Cofounder 68

Cofounder Charlotte Raleigh Atlanta 68

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

K9 Ventures

MAY 6, 2015

Conventional wisdom in the startup world dictates that two founders are ideal for a startup. There are lots of famous pairs of duo co-founders: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Jerry Yang and David Filo, Hewlett and Packard, Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Having the right co-founder is perhaps the single most valuable thing in a startup.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 48

techcrunch.com

MARCH 8, 2012

The Trouble With Non-tech Cofounders. This is a guest post by Scott Allison, CEO and founder of Teamly.com. I want to reflect on my experience as a non-technical founder and reassess my original decision – almost two years ago – to stick to what I’m good at, and not waste time learning to code. guest author.

Technical Cofounder 49

Technical Cofounder Cofounder San Antonio Europe 49

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, February 11, 2009 The free software hiring advantage This is one of those startup tips Im a little reluctant to share, because its been such a powerful source of competitive advantage in the companies Ive worked with. This approach gives you an edge in hiring. Instead, engage with the project.

Software Review 68

Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2024

Hunter Walk: We both started our Silicon Valley lives in the late 90s, you most notably at Netscape, which was obviously important and influential. HW: You’ve been a startup founder as well as an executive at larger tech companies. When hiring into teams in each circumstance how do you assess fit differently?

Puerto Rico 143

Puerto Rico Hiring Founder Cofounder 143

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2013

3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link]. If there’s one video 1st time founders should watch to understand VC financing it’s this one – [link]. 3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link]. 5 Hiring Mistakes That Can Crush Your Company’s Culture – [link].

Social Media 90

Social Media Small Business Design Media 90

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community. But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

YoungUpstarts

MAY 5, 2014

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos calls it the “Two-Pizza Rule” — a team should be no larger than can be fed by two pizzas. Its unconventional strategy was to ask Judy Estrin, a young Silicon Valley technologist, to join its board. Consider the approach taken by Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized Bicycles. Is this fair?

Silicon Valley 164

Silicon Valley Technical Review Cofounder Lean 164

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Funding challenges and other issues founders face in the early days of starting up were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Will Zell , co-founder and CEO of Nikola Labs wireless power company.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of VC funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. cities (outside of Silicon Valley and the East Coast), to build your startup.

United States 113

United States Las Vegas San Francisco Denver 113

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2012

Don’t hire them | Pando Daily – [link]. In Silicon Valley, Hardware Is Hot Again | Businessweek – [link]. Don’t hire them | Pando Daily – [link]. Five UX Research Pitfalls from cofounder of Meebo – [link]. Five UX Research Pitfalls from cofounder of Meebo – [link]. Losers exist.

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

Instead, we do everything possible to validate the founders belief. Most people cant sustain more than a few of these iterations, and the founders rarely get to be involved in the later tries. In order to do this, we have our customer development team work hard to find a market, any market, for the product as currently specified.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Jeremy Johnson , founder of Andela , which embeds talented software engineers on the African continent into top engineering organizations worldwide. Jeremy Johnson.

Cofounder 147

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 147

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 28, 2011

But if you are a competent engineer, sales executive, online marketer or general manager in Silicon Valley, NYC, Boston or other start-up hotspots, the unemployment rate is 0%. CNN recently reported that 40% of the 130,000 job openings in Silicon Valley are for software engineers. 2) Hiring Inexperience.

Hiring 44

Hiring Software Review Silicon Valley Due Diligence 44

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

Our co-host for the program was TiE Midwest, based in Chicago. Jobseekers, therefore, need help cleaning up their social media profiles so that objectionable material does not find its way to these background check scenarios, disrupting their chances of getting hired. You can register for the next roundtable here.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

On the heels of our research on HBS entrepreneurs , NextView’s Dimitri Dadiomov (HBS ’15) interviewed several top founders on the early stages of their companies. Matt Prince , Co-Founder and CEO, CloudFlare (Web performance and security to protect and accelerate websites; $72.1

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Id like to call special attention to Kurt Carr s perspective (lets hope he finishes his five-part series): Now that I’m back in Ohio (I was one of the token foreigners in a room full of Silicon Valley residents), I have found myself reliving and rethinking much of what I saw there.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

David Teten

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Michael Smith, leader of the Social Innovation team at the Case Foundation , introduced the Foundation as a non-profit started in 1997 by Steve Case (AOL co-founder) and his wife, Jean Case. The real goal is growth; no one else hires. • We’re not just focused on NY/Boston/Silicon Valley. There are 1.4m-1.6m

America 144

America DC Startup Aggregator 144

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. I never hire job hoppers. Look at some of the uber-successful icons of Silicon Valley / Technology: Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry/Sergey, Eric Schmidt, Andy Groves, John Doerr. I’m sure of that.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392