Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2012

I often get asked about finding cofounders and I usually give the standard list of characteristics of what I look for in a founder. And I emphasize the value of a founding team with complementary skills sets – i.e. the hacker/hustler/designer cofounder archetype for web/mobile apps. So I asked her to write a guest post.

Cofounder 332

Cofounder IPO Early Stage Green 332

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

The concept our Guilds is simple: We want to bring together small groups of Product and Go-to-Market experts to lend their time to support our portfolio company founders and key operators. Pierre Valade, Co-Founder of Sunrise & Mobile Designer at Microsoft. Brian Balfour, Founder & CEO of Reforge. Product Guild.

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Up and Running

AUGUST 18, 2014

In comparison to traditional business ventures, startups are expected to grow rapidly, at a rate of between 5% and 7% per week in their initial stage – Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator. As the cofounder of Y-Combinator – an American seed fund accelerator – he’s a great source of information.

Small Business 154

Small Business Exit Strategy Cofounder Angel Investor 154

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

If a company has reached a level of success, has been around for a few years and you believe the company has potential to break out into a much bigger company then you should let the founders take money off of the table. Founders however are asked to take low salaries and never really get back the time they worked for free.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Kayak Software Corporation. Series A Preferred.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 20, 2014

I’m reproducing in full here because it’s a great explanation of our solo-founder hypothesis and how we work more generally. Are you a solo founder with an idea? Snaptrip started as an idea, an excel spreadsheet and a passionate founder called Matt. THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN FOUNDER AND TEAM. FINDING A COFOUNDER.

Cofounder 95

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 95

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d. And LA is the largest retail & trade employment metropolitan zone in the country.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

Howard Lindzon is Co-Founder and CEO of StockTwits, a social network for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information. Michael was the lead research analyst for the IPOs of Internet companies like UUNET, Yahoo!, He joined Goldman Sachs & Co. which was acquired by Microsoft Corporation in May 2006.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

David Teten

MARCH 5, 2021

(co-written with Katherine Boe Heuck , a MBA candidate at MIT Sloan (class of 2022); past intern at Versatile VC ; and a current intern at Metaprop NYC.). All of the 40 companies’ 92 founders were male. Of the 19 Western Europe/Israel-based founders, all were white. Of the 43 U.S.-based Of course, this dataset is incomplete.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

In the first of a new series talking to tech industry leaders about what shaped them as entrepreneurs and the lessons they’ve learned in their careers, we speak to Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings. You’ve IPOed two companies. Doing an IPO can be a great thing, but there are always consequences.

Swaziland 137

Swaziland Entrepreneur IPO Netherlands 137

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

As of January 20, 2016, based on the “CrunchBase Unicorn Leaderboard,” there are 157 unicorns (companies with $1 billion+ valuations) which have not IPOed or been acquired—and more start-ups reaching unicorn status every day. 38 unicorns, or 1 in 4 (24%), have at least one MBA founder. Key Insights. Red Ventures (HBS, Wharton).

Programming 120

Programming St. Louis Cofounder India 120

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Stephanie is someone that we have known for almost a decade and have respected deeply as a co-investor and collaborator at Uncork. Through all of this, what has been obvious is her hunger to serve founders and desire to work with entrepreneurs to bring about the kind of world changing impact we seek to be a part of at NextView.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder San Francisco Portfolio Limited Partner 156

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Mark Montgomery Founder Kyield Initium VC September 12, 2009 4:21 AM Mark Montgomery said. ► 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. Otherwise it's a great idea.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

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

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 3, 2009

► 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 visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 168

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

This is because these days it’s a trendy word, conjuring up images of youthful exuberance, all-night coding parties, and developing revolutionary apps that transform into mind-boggling IPOs. When Johnny Earle, the founder of Johnny Cupcakes, started in 2001, he didn’t make baked goods; he sold t-shirts about baked goods!

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Montana Startup Seed Capital 100

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

“Do they really expect that the next Facebook will come knocking at their ivory towers with a polished product, proven business model and the only thing missing on the way to an IPO being their Series A investment?”. Co-investments are an industry standard, and entrepreneurs should strive to get as much know-how on board as possible.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Mongolia Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur 124

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2012

Inside the IPO pipeline: It’s all B2B, all of the time | GeekWire – [link]. Five UX Research Pitfalls from cofounder of Meebo – [link]. Five UX Research Pitfalls from cofounder of Meebo – [link]. Customer Service on Twitter: Top Brands Respond To Only 14% Of Tweets | The Realtime Report – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

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. Although I wish I could take credit for these pivots, the reality is that they were not caused by my singular insight or that of my other co-founders.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 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 visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

View from Seed

JULY 24, 2015

The invite-only event was attended by 300 of the area’s best tech leaders, founders, product managers, designers, developers, investors, engineers, salesmen and women, and more, all of whom are hard at work in consumer tech. The other pillar company CEO to speak closed the Summit — Niraj Shah, Co-founder and CEO of Wayfair: .

Boston 120

Boston Cofounder B2C PR 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2015

If you grew up inside of Facebook through its rise, its IPO and it becoming an 800-pound gorilla you will see the world through that lens precisely because you are so powerful that you’re used to getting your way because you’re, well, Facebook. Even big countries must be mindful of Hobbesian forces.

Oauth 150

Oauth Software Review Technical Review IPO 150

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

It was actually my co-founder Will Harvey who taught me to present this data in the simple format weve discussed in this post. ► 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.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 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 visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

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 visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" ► 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. I always assumed I wouldnt manage anybody.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2016

by Andrew Ostashen, co-founder of Vulsec. When are we looking for funding, investors, or going IPO? When an organization is within the startup phase, the first thing on their mind is “How do we get our product to market as fast as possible?” Do we deal with foreign companies that create our product?

Security 100

Security Intellectual Property CTO Hire Offshore 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

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

As start-ups scale, this agility will be lost unless the founders maintain a consistent investment in that discipline. As start-ups scale, this agility will be lost unless the founders maintain a consistent investment in that discipline. Techniques from lean manufacturing can be part of a startups innovation culture.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 28, 2010

Andy Mathieson, a founder and managing member at Fairview Capital , was particularly supportive. Andy Mathieson, a founder and managing member at Fairview Capital , was particularly supportive. The response was surprisingly positive. He was unconcerned about transparency, noting the good have nothing to fear.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment SEC 158

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

The Cinepak codec was written by the engineer who would become my cofounder at Rocket Science Games.) My first IPO at Convergent. There was nothing for the consumer to do. No settings, no buttons – plug your camera or VCR in and it just worked seamlessly. It worked great on the slow CPUs at the time. steve MIchael W. ,

Video 190

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 190

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 15, 2010 Some IPO speculation Inspired by Steve Blank’s post today about the “lost decade&# of IPO’s , I’d like to make some predictions. The fact that IPO’s are disappearing makes intuitive sense to me. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian.

IPO 166

IPO San Francisco Lean Silicon Valley 166

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

► 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 visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment Development Team Review 161

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2023

It’s your job as a founder to find out the specific risk associated with that attribute and to find out if the reason given is the only reason. But if these people are willing to come on without the co-founder title, that’s between them, you and their employment contract. Let’s first talk about the definition of a co-founder.

Cofounder 147

Cofounder Founder IPO Equity 147

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2009

sachinrekhi : "Visionary customers are as smart if not smarter then the founders" #leanstartup Theres no skipping the chasm. My cofounders and I would hash out nuances and details almost every day, re-drawing diagram after diagram on the whiteboard. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 132

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean Agile 132