CTO, Customer Development and Product Development

Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering.

CTO

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review

Lessons Learned: Customer Development Engineering

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, September 7, 2008 Customer Development Engineering Yesterday, I had the opportunity to guest lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at the Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA program. Its a nice complement on the product engineering side to his customer development methodology.

Customer Development

Customer Development Engineer San Francisco Developer

Lessons Learned: About the author

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

(Maybe youd like to start with The lean startup , How to listen to customers , or What does a startup CTO actually do? ) He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO

Lessons Learned: The lean startup

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. See Customer Development Engineering for my first stab at articulating the theory involved) Ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration, as exemplified by the Customer Development process.

Lean

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment

Thoughts on scientific product development

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 Thoughts on scientific product development I enjoyed reading a post today from Laserlike (Mike Speiser), on Scientific product development. I agree with the less is more product development approach, but for a different reason. Now that is fun.

Product Development

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product

Are You Putting Your Rock Star Customers To Work?

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Talented product developers. Customer content and engagement built rapid growth in the success of Intel ’s social media and Web-based marketing efforts, increasing “customer contacts” by a factor of tenfold and overall page views by 100x. If so, the business world is full of specialists who are all too eager to help.

Customer

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review

Lessons Learned: The one line split-test, or how to A/B all the time

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

I had the opportunity to pioneer this approach to funnel analysis at IMVU, where it became a core part of our customer development process. To promote this metrics discipline, we would present the full funnel to our board (and advisers) at the end of every development cycle. Check your assumptions, what went wrong?

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: A new version of the Joel Test (draft)

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

I am convinced one of Joel Spolskys lasting contributions to the field of managing software teams will turn out to be the Joel Test , a checklist of 12 essential practices that you could use to rate the effectiveness of a software product development team. Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

Software Review

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: SEM on five dollars a day

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Those rates gave us a map that told us a lot about our customers; insights that proved stable even when the company grew orders of magnitude bigger. Only much later did I realize that this was an application of customer development to online marketing. Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

SEM

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: Ideas. Code. Data. Implement. Measure. Learn

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

Its inspired by the classic OODA Loop and is really just a simplified version of that concept, applied specifically to creating a software product development team. There are three stages: We start with ideas about what our product could be. Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

Lessons Learned: Just-In-Time Scalability

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Agile Lean

Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 28, 2010

“Everybody felt the burden of supporting all those transactions every day,&# says Pascal-Louis Perez, kaChing’s CTO. “We had to ignore them, because they weren’t our target audience – and were never likely to become customers.&# That all-hands lasted five minutes. Which is a nice story. says Rachleff.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment SEC

Lessons Learned: The hacker's lament

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Hire a CTO or VP Engineering. A really good technology executive can notice problems like the ones Im talking about today and address them proactively. The trick is to hire a good one - I wrote a little about this in What does a startup CTO actually do? I would love to have an effective CTO or VP of Engineering to manage me.

Software Review

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Part-Time VPE

A Part-Time CTO - In-House or Outsource?

blog.aparttimecto.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

A Part-Time CTO Technology. One of the main challenges of starting a products based company is how do you build your product? This is especially true of web based companies, whose product consists of mainly a web site and very little more. In Plain English. Archive Jun 20th Sun In-House or Outsource?

CTO Hire

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Equity Vesting

Andrew Chen: Growing renewable audiences

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

Audience

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean

He's Only in Field Service

Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

And other startups are in a New Market — creating a market from scratch (like Apple with the iPhone, or iPod/iTunes.) (“Market Type&# radically changes how you sell and market at each step in Customer Development. It’s one of the subtle distinctions that at times gets lost in the process.

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development

How to listen to customers, and not just the loud people

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment

Fear is the mind-killer

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

where an initial bad impression affects a significantly larger percentage of potential customers. Im an ex-Googler, and now a CTO of a small company with lots of talented people ([link] I discovered your site not long ago, and I am learning a lot from it. May 11, 2009 9:42 PM Artem said. Interesting article, Eric.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean

Smarticus — 10 things you could be doing to your code right now

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

Software Review

Software Review San Francisco Technical Review Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

This is a good sign for you! :) I subscribed because I was inspired by the O'Reilly video, and feel I want to go deeper into the customer development field. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? So why you? 4) I would like to see more of what I've seen.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC

On deployment

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

How to get distribution advantage on the iPhone

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

Distribution

Distribution San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: Test-Driven Development as andon cord

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Developer Continuous Deployment DC

Seth Godin: How often should you publish?

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

Marc Prensky's Weblog: Cell Phones in Class

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC Lean

Waves of technology platforms

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Technology Continuous Deployment Lean

Lessons Learned: Greasemonkey compiler

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

How to Usability Test your Site for Free

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

Not crossing the chasm

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC

You don't need as many tools as you think

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment

Lessons Learned: Q&A with an actual reader

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC

The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Software Company

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Another great way to test your idea is to create a minimum viable product, or MVP. This is the simplest version of your product minus the frills and frosting. It’s a particularly popular strategy in the world of product development and is used to quickly and quantitatively test a product or a product feature.

Software Review

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast

Top 57 Online Startups Meets Technology Meets Product Posts for November 2010

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Today, brands are hiring social media specialists for customer support, crowdsourced product development, promotions and even leads generation.

Technical Review

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire

Lessons Learned: The three drivers of growth for your business.

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? But a Viral company who is focused there is probably going out of business. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire

Pivot, don't jump to a new vision

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

Each has its own iterative process: customer development and agile development respectively. The more work youve sunk into a product or vision, the harder it is to let it go. As the CTO/VP Engineering, I was the worst offender. Thats why its so essential to have a co-equal problem team.

San Francisco

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile

Lessons Learned: Great open source scalability tools from Danga

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

Open Source

Open Source San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean

Lessons Learned: The lean startup comes to Stanford

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 28, 2008

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

Lean

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment

What is the perfect startup team?

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

are just emerging for business people (customer development, business model generation,). Distribution/sales guy-Has an awesome understanding of the industry and product and can sell the vision and problem you are solving to investors, users, and potential partners. (he Colin Hayhurst , CTO co-founder then CEO of start-up b.

Technical Review

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder

Should You Co-Found Your Company With a Software Development Shop (2 of 2)?

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Customer development would be reduced to a single person exercise that could be repeated in parallel dozens of times over, ultimately yielding 30+ companies a year. Second, the company must eventually own the product development and maintenance functions in-house. Our model at Casual Corp.

Software Developers

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder

Where is the best place to find a rockstar developer to bring it to life?

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

" => I have not bothered to put up a landing page, survey to test customer demand, or done any customer development whatsoever. "Where is the best place to find a rockstar developer to bring it to life?" Developer, engineer, CTO, or technical co-founder? Rockstar v.

Developer

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder

From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Everything Seth said is absolutely spot on, except I’d encourage founders to make sure they do some customer development (even in the consumer space) in parallel to cranking out the first product. Will be looking forward to seeing the next piece that you do. Andrew Holt I love these kinds of articles.

Technical Review

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review

Lessons Learned: Why PHP won

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2009

In my role as a CTO, Ive always tried to choose the right tool for the right job. I am CTO of a SaaS vendor, and we use PHP. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Given that startups depend on superstars to survive, why stick with PHP? I certainly dont.

PHP

PHP Software Review Ruby San Francisco

Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

Lessons Learned: Customer Development Engineering

Trending Sources

Lessons Learned: About the author

Lessons Learned: The lean startup

Thoughts on scientific product development

Are You Putting Your Rock Star Customers To Work?

Lessons Learned: The one line split-test, or how to A/B all the time

Lessons Learned: A new version of the Joel Test (draft)

Lessons Learned: SEM on five dollars a day

Lessons Learned: Ideas. Code. Data. Implement. Measure. Learn

Lessons Learned: Just-In-Time Scalability

Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot

Lessons Learned: The hacker's lament

A Part-Time CTO - In-House or Outsource?

Andrew Chen: Growing renewable audiences

He's Only in Field Service

How to listen to customers, and not just the loud people

Fear is the mind-killer

Smarticus — 10 things you could be doing to your code right now

Lessons Learned: Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

On deployment

How to get distribution advantage on the iPhone

Lessons Learned: Test-Driven Development as andon cord

Seth Godin: How often should you publish?

Marc Prensky's Weblog: Cell Phones in Class

Waves of technology platforms

Lessons Learned: Greasemonkey compiler

How to Usability Test your Site for Free

Not crossing the chasm

You don't need as many tools as you think

Lessons Learned: Q&A with an actual reader

The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Software Company

Top 57 Online Startups Meets Technology Meets Product Posts for November 2010

Lessons Learned: The three drivers of growth for your business.

Pivot, don't jump to a new vision

Lessons Learned: Great open source scalability tools from Danga

Lessons Learned: The lean startup comes to Stanford

What is the perfect startup team?

Should You Co-Found Your Company With a Software Development Shop (2 of 2)?

Where is the best place to find a rockstar developer to bring it to life?

From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.

Lessons Learned: Why PHP won

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