SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

He wanted to get input from me on what he's doing, and he wants to begin to ask developers what it would take to build his product. I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? Founder : Umm.

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 22, 2021

There are dozens of free website builders that make it easy for any entrepreneur to create a new website from a template, even with no website building experience – but it may be better to custom develop a site from scratch. . What are the advantages of custom development, and is it the right move for every startup? .

Customer Development 146

Customer Development Developer Customer Web Development 146

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. Set up the Lean LaunchLab or a WordPress blog to document your Customer Development progress. Size the market opportunity.

Lean 334

Lean Web Coder Business Model 334

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

I was having breakfast with Radhika, an ex-grad student of mine who wanted to share her Customer Discovery progress for her consumer hardware startup. She started by sketching her business model canvas on a napkin, but somehow the conversation quickly shifted to what was really on her mind. Filed under: Customer Development.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Extra Lucrative Conversion Advice. Conversion Optimization Services. Conversion Research. It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. I feel like “conversion rate optimization” is in 2013 what “social media marketing” was in 2009.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This reminded me of a conversation with one of my direct reports years before my daughter was born. Our conversation went like this: Me: Jim, how are we doing with getting Ansys ported? When I explained this to him, the conversation got heated. I realized that my daughter had confused motion with action.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 332

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Do you really want to spent $100k building a product to discover through Customer Development that the market is too small? Let’s start with how much value you think you’ll create for your customer if they use your product in terms of hours saved, costs avoided, extra sales, better conversion rates or whatever.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." " Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). Customer Validation 101. billion dollar mistake.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

Lean 263

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 263

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

“ I have too little traffic to test; hence, I can’t do conversion optimization. You can do conversion optimization on any website – even on sites that have so little traffic that a split test would take 2 years to run until statistical significance is reached. Talk to your customers or prospects. B t , I say.

Conversion 124

Conversion Framework Technical Review Analytics 124

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Customer development” has become its own skill and body of knowledge, and there are some crucial nuances to understand up front before beginning your customer dev discussions. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resources/. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resources/.

Customer Development 120

Customer Development Developer Customer Seed Stage 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 20, 2011

No, the conversation was about to get more interesting. We taught them the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. This methodology forces rapid hypothesis testing and Customer Development by getting out of the building while building the product. billion U.S.

Incubator 310

Incubator Government Silicon Valley Lean 310

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. The first class was an introduction to the concepts of business model design and customer development. The Adventure Begins.

Lean 307

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 307

ConversionXL

JUNE 12, 2014

When you think about optimizing your website to increase conversions, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Like Ott had mentioned in the Mastering The Call To Action a study of Visual Website Optimizer’s customers shows most people are testing: CTA Buttons – 30%. How Microcopy Can Improve UX & Conversions.

Conversion 112

Conversion eCommerce Software Review Green 112

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

Berkeley Haas Business School was courageous enough to give me a forum teach the Customer Development Methodology. The most extreme case (and my personal favorite) was by Armstrong who managed to create a full single conversion superheterodyne receiver all using a single vacuum tube! Armstrong was a god!

Silicon Valley 302

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review 302

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Grade A Entrepreneurs , September 5, 2010 Why Krispy Kreme failed in Australia - Start Up Blog , November 3, 2010 Mellow Johnny’s: Retail Stores as Community Hubs - IDDICTIVE.COM , July 14, 2010 Is crowdfunding an option for my business?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

ConversionXL

JUNE 12, 2014

When you think about optimizing your website to increase conversions, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Like Ott had mentioned in the Mastering The Call To Action a study of Visual Website Optimizer’s customers shows most people are testing: CTA Buttons – 30%. How Microcopy Can Improve UX & Conversions.

Conversion 105

Conversion eCommerce Software Review Green 105

Steve Blank

APRIL 19, 2010

One of the best ways to get a debate going into the entrepreneurial world is to throw the “Nature versus Nurture” hand-grenade into a conversation. The conversation then goes into making the case whether these can be taught or you’re born with them. Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital. Taking Sides.

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley Venture Capital China New York 235

ConversionXL

JUNE 12, 2014

When you think about optimizing your website to increase conversions, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Like Ott had mentioned in the Mastering The Call To Action article, a study of Visual Website Optimizer’s customers shows most people are testing: CTA Buttons – 30%. Headlines – 20%. Copy – 8%.

Conversion 101

Conversion eCommerce Software Review Green 101

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

At times, you may have to communicate what the company stands for before a customer is ready to listen to you talk about product messages. For example, to outflank a competitor who had faster products, Intel moved the conversation about microprocessors away from speed and technology to create a valued brand.

Marketing 318

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 318

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 17, 2010

Of the 3,204,523 pub conversations where someone said "Have you heard him speak ?" Or do you think I'm wrong and it really is better to have $1/hour people protect you from those inane customers? Leave a comment and join the conversation. It's like Kermit the Frog got kicked in the balls. (Oh,

Technical Review 245

Technical Review Sales Turkey Software Review 245

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

He’ll talk about making a profit and making a difference in a conversation with New Media Ventures’ Christie George. Ben Horowitz ’s book The Hard Thing About Hard Things is driving the conversation around startup management this year. For example: Mitch Kapor was a founder of Lotus. Todd Park convened the team that saved Obamacare.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

ConversionXL

JUNE 12, 2014

When you think about optimizing your website to increase conversions, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Like Ott had mentioned in the Mastering The Call To Action a study of Visual Website Optimizer’s customers shows most people are testing: CTA Buttons – 30%. How Microcopy Can Improve UX & Conversions.

Conversion 84

Conversion eCommerce Software Review Green 84

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

(There is a huge difference between the Chinese who have never left and those who went to school abroad, even for a few months – at least a difference in their ability to relate to me and have a conversation on the same wavelength. Filed under: China , Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 328

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

In previous posts I’ve talked about what the combination of Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Methodologies mean to startups and intrapreneurs in large companies; it’s the beginning of entrepreneurship as a science with its own rules and methodologies. She posted her notes from the talk here.)

Customer Development 278

Customer Development Business Model Developer Design 278

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. It’s what my textbook on Customer Development describes. I was an idiot. Berkeley and at Stanford.

Silicon Valley 208

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 208

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

As the conversation progressed, we agreed about the ways to manage projects using a few operating principles of Lean/Agile project management (without ever mentioning the words Lean or Agile.). More importantly we decided that he would focus these conversations on outcomes rather than reports. They just want to see the paperwork.).

Agile 65

Agile Lean Leadership Conversion 65

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

The Customer is a Genius Then instead of talking about our products he segued the conversation into their products. And soon the conversation were about architectural tradeoffs and then how customers didn’t appreciate the elegant designs and how the world was going to hell in a handbasket because of these commodity microprocessors.

Technology 145

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 145

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

When growing your online presence, be sure to join in on the conversations that those in your industry are having. Reach out to your loyal customers and offer incentives for them to write reviews and rank services. Professionalisms business financing business growth customer development Jake Dacillo sales'

Customer 168

Customer PPC Software Review Finance 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 16, 2013

On Customer Development in a growing company, Wyatt offered the following advice: Wyatt: We''ve employed a number of systems in the organization that keep all of us close to the customer. There are 5-10 customers in our office (or remote) per week for developers, product owners and marketers to speak to and validate learning.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Software Engineering Agile 167

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , ESL , Technology | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , ESL « Convergent Technologies: War Story 1 – Selling with Sports Scores A Wilderness of Mirrors » 17 Responses Michael F. 2 weeks in they had outsourced my job, which lead to an awkward conversation.

Agile 269

Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 269

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

It was always a welcome change of pace to leave the brown of the unchanging desert and travel into town and have dinner with them and have a non-technical conversation about books, theater, politics, travel, etc. Her husband would look at me out the corner of his eyes and then we’d segue the conversation to some other topic.

Silicon Valley 215

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 215

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2021

The key to understanding value propositions is in building interviews that are based on a set of hypotheses (about the problem, the stakeholder and potential solutions to be explored) and data to be captured while using minimum viable products (just enough “product” to increase the efficacy of a conversation and increase the speed of learning).

Curation 353

Curation Technical Review Lean Australia 353

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. You need to be a part of that conversation which means a real sales force, sales materials, impressive logos, case studies, and referenceable customers. You will be compared to alternatives and weighed.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 24, 2022

Either way, social media provides you with an opportunity to build a rapport with your target audience, which can eventually lead to conversions. You should also consider running social media ads, as they can be very effective in reaching out to potential customers. Develop a Strong Online Presence.

Social Media 157

Social Media Startup Audience Web Development 157

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Oh we had a happy, fun conversation over a couple of beers, but we did not sit down and say, ‘Hey wait, where’s everyone want to go with their life?”. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show. We had never discussed everyone’s expectations when we founded the company. Tune in Thursday, Oct.

Columbus 249

Columbus Entrepreneur Cofounder Ohio 249

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

The lunch conversation was an interesting data point to add to a hypothesis I’ve had. Great founders live for these moments. Creating the Entrepreneurial Personality – A Thought Experiment Fast forward three decades back to today. Let me know what you think. Does any of this match your experience or people you know?

Founder 312

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 312