SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. 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. Founder : Ummm. Founder : Umm. what format would you and the developer want that in?

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

Therefore we needed them to think and learn about two parts of a startup; 1) ideation - how to create new ideas and 2) customer development – how do they test the validity of their idea (is it the right product, customer, channel, pricing, etc.). That’s when everything changed.

Lean 335

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

Finally, when everyone else had their turn, the grey-haired VC turned to the founder and said, “If you do what we tell you to do and fail, we’ll fire you. The Customer Development model that I write and teach about is the entrepreneur’s version of Boyds’ OODA loop.). But at least you’d be executing your plan not ours.

Business Model 335

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 335

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 30, 2012

The class teaches founders how to dramatically reduce their failure rate through the combination of business model design, customer development and agile development using the Startup Owners Manual. And you’ll learn about how to build a minimal viable product to get feedback early and often from customers.

Startup 335

Startup Lean Incubator Business Model 335

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2011

Over the last decade we assumed that once we found repeatable methodologies (Agile and Customer Development , Business Model Design) to build early stage ventures, entrepreneurship would become a “science,” and anyone could do it. Founders fit the definition of a creator: they see something no one else does. George Bernard Shaw.

Agile 334

Agile Customer Development Early Stage Business Model 334

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

We think teaching teams a formal methodology around the Lean Framework (Business Model design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) is a natural evolution of how successful incubators/accelerators will build startups. The next customer segment we tried was startup founders. Technology in search of a market.

Lean 322

Lean Customer Development Sales Cycle Business Model 322

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

The Customer Development process is the way startups quickly iterate and test each element of their business model , reducing customer and market risk. The first step of Customer Development is called Customer Discovery. outside the building and test them in front of customers. (I

Burn Rate 252

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston 252

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2010

One of the principles of Customer Development is to get out of the building and understand the smallest feature-set customers will pay for in the first release.). I can’t get more than one of ten potential customers to think that this is something they’d buy.” “Well he didn’t like it either.” Steve, you’re wrong.

Customer Development 313

Customer Development Business Model Developer Search 313

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Either way, the “hurdle” for successful, scalable startups is high, and it gets higher every day as customer acquisition challenges continue to increase. Filed under: Customer Development. The “it” is a physical or web product they’ve often been locked-down, pounding away at, for many weeks.

Startup 334

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 334

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2012

These are with no doubt worthwhile goals, but I’d like to pose an important challenge for founders: Make learning and development your key resolution in 2013. How to Build a Startup (EP245) by Steve Blank: You’ll learn the key steps of the Customer Development process.

Artificial Inteligence 156

Artificial Inteligence Founder Private Equity Ruby 156

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

In both cases, the founder and I brainstormed on ways to shift the product in order to get closer to what I perceived as something that would be great. Neither had done enough customer validation to be able to say the second line that Tristan suggested. Customer Validation 101. Would the consumer one get traction and be viral?

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

One of the fundamental benefits of being so active in building the FoundersPad accelerator (a 12-week, Lean Startup program focused on customer development) is working with the cohort participants on refining their business models. Focus on capital efficient, scalable startups and founders. Valley-sized VC funds don’t work.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2011

The benchmark is not perfect, it may even be flawed, but it is head and shoulders above what we have now – which is nothing – for giving Internet startups founders specific advice on best practices. Filed under: Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan , Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Market Types.

Software Review 300

Software Review Early Stage Technical Review Startup 300

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

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. What should founders do instead? I find that often, founders gravitate quickly towards trying to get evaluative feedback.

Customer Development 120

Customer Development Developer Customer Seed Stage 120

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2010

Business models allow agile and opportunistic founders to keep score of the Pivots in their search for a repeatable business model. For the first time we’d have a competition that closely resembled the reality that founders face, rather than a creative writing exercise. And extra credit for multiple times through the loop.

Business Plan 320

Business Plan Business Model Customer Development Deal Flow 320

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 335

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 335

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Instead the business press dumped on the founders for “selling out.” Many founders mentioned this as a reason not to incorporate or grow their companies in Finland. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Teaching , Venture Capital. Finnish culture makes risk-taking and sharing hard.

Finland 332

Finland Naming Russia Government 332

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

November 23, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Using Outsourcing to Obtain Capital Efficiency Needs to be Thought Through to be Effective - Robert Ochtel , June 7, 2010 Teen Entrepreneur, Brian Wong, Youngest Founder to Receive Angel Funding - teenentrepreneurblog.com , October 28, 2010 Build Your Own Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV. Lean was designed to inform the founders’ vision while they operated frugally at speed. ” Fire, Ready, Aim. He just hired Meg Whitman. The result?

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2011

I just had lunch (at my favorite Greek restaurant in Palo Alto forgetting it looked like a VC meetup) with a friend who was technical founder of his company and is now its chairman. Filed under: Customer Development , Technology , Venture Capital. It Seems Logical. He hired an operating exec as the CEO a few years ago.

Part-Time VPE 325

Part-Time VPE Agile Engineer Startup 325

Steve Blank

JANUARY 27, 2011

This startup search process is the business model / customer development / agile development solution stack. When founders discover their assumptions are wrong, as they inevitably will, the result isn’t a crisis , it’s a learning event called a pivot — and an opportunity to update the business model.

Business Model 285

Business Model Utah Intellectual Property Agile 285

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc. It is the key to “customer development” that Steve Blank talks about. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2010

If you’ve been reading my book on Customer Development and follow my work on Market Type , this type of innovation is best for adding new products to existing markets. In fact the people a large firm needs for this kind of innovation looks suspiciously like startup founders and the processes needed look like Customer Development.

Search 251

Search Agile Customer Development Technical Review 251

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

This is often a tough concept for engineering founders who believe that if we just tell customers about the features that make their product faster, cheaper, etc. Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. Filed under: Customer Development , Marketing. they’ll win.). The question is when ?”

Marketing 318

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 318

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

PS1- I run a small software startup in Brazil and just found out about Customer Development and your blog (I’ve been reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on online, like Venturehacks and Ries’ blog). You can get away with effective behavior in a large company. Thank you for sharing this.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 332

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Commercialization of therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health all require the Principal Investigators / founders outside their building talking to customers, partners, regulators. Only the Principal Investigators / founders have the authority and insight to pivot when their hypotheses are incorrect.

Lean 266

Lean Customer Business Model Customer Development 266

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

For example: Mitch Kapor was a founder of Lotus. He’s a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Facebook, Skype, Jawbone, and dozens of other companies whose products you use. And the whole site was developed in just 9 weeks. Now he’s a leader in social impact investing and equality in education.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 9, 2013

It was a lifelong lesson that taught me to never start a business where you hate your customers. You don’t want to do Customer Development with them. So you and your team need to feel comfortable being in this business with these customers. It never goes well. You don’t want to talk to them.

Cofounder 330

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Liquidity Event Lean 330

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2009

The founders coming out of the DEC ( Digital Equipment Corporation ) and Intel culture of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. As an early employee I worked all hours of the day, never hesitated to jump on a “ red-eye ” plane to see a customer at the drop of a hat, and did what was necessary to make the company a winner.

Entrepreneur 295

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS 295

Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2012

When Bob Dorf and I wrote the Startup Owners Manual we listed a series of Customer Development principles. Pair Customer Development with Agile Development. Success Begins with Buy-In from Investors and Co-Founders. No Business Plan Survives First Contact with Customers. Not All Startups Are Alike.

Customer Development 331

Customer Development Developer Customer Cofounder 331

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 11, 2016

How to recognize when it’s time to pull the plug on your startup idea, and why founders can’t operate afford to operate in a vacuum were the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Dan Miller , co-founder of Level Therapy , provider of mobile therapy sessions. Dan Miller. Brian Zuercher. Where did this company miss?

Columbus 249

Columbus Entrepreneur Cofounder Ohio 249

Steve Blank

APRIL 19, 2010

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, Jason Calacanis , founder of Mahlo.com, and Mark Suster of GRP Partners, have all weighed in on the nature side – you’re born being an entrepreneur or your not. Filed under: Customer Development , Venture Capital. Tags: Customer Development Venture Capital. Taking Sides.

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley Venture Capital China New York 235

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. In a startup, that’s your job as founder, and it’s a job you can’t afford to delegate. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales).

CTO Hire 227

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 227

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 11, 2022

In addition to our dollars, we are eager to help founders with the construction of their cap table, not just generically with the highest profile folks available, but more specifically where they might get some help along the way. What expertise do the founders personally have? Founders Often Don’t Come From These Backgrounds….

Seed Stage 115

Seed Stage Cap Table Founder Marketing 115

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. In a startup, that’s your job as founder, and it’s a job you can’t afford to delegate. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales).

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Steve Blank

JULY 24, 2012

I Know A Great Customer. A year later my co-founders and I had formed Epiphany. Back at Epiphany I convinced my co-founders that integrating the two systems was worth the effort and they dove in. Filed under: Customer Development , E.piphany , Marketing. But I didn’t realize that at the time.

Seattle 265

Seattle Cofounder Engineer Sales 265