SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Will Price , October 11, 2010 Georgians Should Vote No - Force of Good: a blog by Lance Weatherby , October 28, 2010 Free Software for Managing a Lean Startup - Platforms and Networks , January 17, 2010 Purpose Driven Life - Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur , July 26, 2010 Two Decade-Defining Acquisitions?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

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.

Silicon Valley 208

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 208

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

on April 10, 2009 at 6:58 am Said: Amazing blog. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 271

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 271

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. The Adventure of a Lifetime. This means you still need to have a resilient personality, and be agile.

Cofounder 230

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 230

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2009

Lessons Learned No one will tell you to work fewer hours You need to be responsible for your own health and happiness Burnout sneaks up on you Burnout is self-induced. You created it and own it. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 206

Silicon Valley Chad RSS San Francisco 206

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Marketing , SuperMac , Technology | Tagged: Steve Blank , SuperMac « Love/Hate Business Plan Competitions Gravity Will be Turned Off » 17 Responses EricS , on May 11, 2009 at 11:05 am Said: I loved my Spigot. It was fun watching it happen.

Video 190

Video Silicon Valley RSS California 190

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 213

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 213

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Platform selection and technical design - if your business strategy is to create a low-burn, highly iterative lean startup, youd better be using foundational tools that make that easy rather than hard. But I think in a lean startup, the development methodology is too important to be considered "just management." I dont think so.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on? Customer Development and Selling Strategy If you’ve just started your company you are in customer discovery. Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back.

Technology 145

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 145

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Reply Karma in the Lean Startup Era , on January 28, 2010 at 5:26 pm Said: [.] Reply Relentless – The Difference Between Motion And Action « Steve Blank , on November 9, 2009 at 6:02 am Said: [.] to move their applications to our unique machine architecture. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

North Carolina 133

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 133

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

So no post today on entrepreneurship, Secret History of Silicon Valley, Customer Development, Lean Startups, etc. Families gather from across the country to spend time with each other and feast on a traditional turkey dinner. Our friends who run the state park surrounding our ranch will join all of us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley Turkey United States RSS 156

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

But then, because there might be entrenched competitors and your concept is radically new, you still need to invest in the customer development process to learn how to get design wins from companies who may be happy with their existing vendors. For example, complex new semiconductor architectures, (i.e.

Vertical 167

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 167

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 133

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 133

Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. If you’re an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you’ve never heard of.

Silicon Valley 201

Silicon Valley Stealth RSS California 201

Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

And now am leading a startup of my own ( [link] ) where we’re students of you and Eric Ries’ lean startup principles. I ultimately answered that call, joining Sun Microsystems with a 3-digit employee number. Thanks for connecting the historical dots! Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 210

Silicon Valley Technical Review Europe Germany 210

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Reply steveblank , on March 28, 2009 at 7:27 am Said: Denis, Over time the blogs tagged under the “customer development&# category will build up a narrative of illustrative stories of how customer development evolved in practice. What part of this blog should I read if I am also reading the book?

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 161

Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

Facts are the rock on which you build your strategy and tactics In a startup second-hand facts are almost as useless as opinions. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 150

Silicon Valley Customer RSS Philippines 150

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

What is it that’s unique about the market I’m in? We’ll talk about the implications of what vertical market you’re entering in the next few posts. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Vertical 159

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 159

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. Reply 4 Anti-Lean Startup Archetypes at Market By Numbers , on August 4, 2009 at 11:30 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 146

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 146

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

I hate business plan competitions. I Love Business Plan Competitions I had a breakfast with a friend who has founded a few companies in Thailand and started the New Ventures Program at one of their universities. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Business Plan 160

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 160

Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve built my company using the Customer Development Model from Day One. I recently completed the Validation step (less the industry analyst presentations) and am ready to move on to Customer Creation. Can I buy you lunch to share it with you? &# Yes, I’m serious. So the ask is made — shall it be given?

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review California 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The Times Square Strategy discussion I had with Eric Ries , was still top of mind, so instead of my standard Customer Development lecture , I offered my thoughts on: the origin of Customer Development, where we are today, and where does Customer Development go, and how you can help get it there.

Customer Development 229

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 229

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Not being able to hear negative customer input is an extremely bad idea. Out of the Ashes A few of the key tenets of Customer Development , came from the ashes. era&# , but really interested in your take on these “free&# models through the prism of Customer Development. We all know how that ends up.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 255

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 255

Steve Blank

MAY 1, 2009

The Customer Development talk can be seen here. If you’ve never seen Eric’s Lean Startup presentation, take a few minutes to at least watch his part. That said I will be giving a Customer Development talk at TIECON , Saturday May 16th, 1:30 thanks for asking. steve Customer Development is Hard.

Customer Development 158

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 158

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2009

From the king of customer development, Steve Blank: [.] You don’t get grades for having resiliency, curiosity, agility, resourcefulness, pattern recognition and tenacity. You just get successful. Sometimes they just drop out and do their own thing. No one has to tell them to do that.

Silicon Valley 333

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 333

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

Customer Development This strategy of starting on faith, and quickly turning them into facts is the core of the Customer Development process. Employ customer development. I talk about this in my book and there is always a discussion at the Lean Startup Group at [link]. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 236

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 236

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2009

Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 280

Silicon Valley RSS California Washington 280

Steve Blank

AUGUST 20, 2009

Resegmentation means these startups are trying to lure some of the current or potential customers away from incumbents by either offering a lower cost product, or by offering features that appealed to a specific niche or subset of the existing users. Do you know the archetype of their customers? Me – “Have you used Company x’s product?

Silicon Valley 210

Silicon Valley Startup RSS Customer Development 210

Steve Blank

APRIL 22, 2009

Customer Development.) Unlike large corporations, startup meetings are not about achieving consensus for every objection raised. They are about forward motion, momentum and feedback loops (i.e. For a startup “No Corner Cases&# needs to be an integral part of your corporate DNA.

Silicon Valley 208

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 208

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

That’s in stark contrast to the traditional Product Development Model where it’s expected a customer is already there and waiting and it’s simply a matter of [.] Reply Best books for the lean product managers — Justin Gibbs , on April 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm Said: [.]

Product Development 163

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 163

Steve Blank

MARCH 22, 2009

And you’d like me to do my talk on Customer Development and startups?” “No, we’re the other CIA.” Steve my name is Donald xx, and I’m the head of external affairs of the CIA’s venture capital firm and we’d like you to keynote our conference.” Do you mean the Culinary Institute of America?

Silicon Valley 270

Silicon Valley Thailand RSS Venture Capital 270

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Filed under: Customer Development « Requiem For A Roommate 2 Responses steve , on October 21, 2010 at 7:05 am Said: what did Carl say at 1:12 ? BTW, the definition of entrepreneurship I describe at 2:50 into the video is described in detail in the post “ You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur.&#

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley RSS United States Entrepreneur 161

Steve Blank

JUNE 18, 2009

My ideas about Customer Development started evolving around these concepts. Eric Ries’s astute observations about engineering and Lean Startups make the same point. However, I think if I had understood the basics of Customer Development I might have done 5-6 startups rather than 8 to get to retirement.

Entrepreneur 334

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley RSS Customer Development 334

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2009

I can’t get this one out of my head. ———— The VENONA Project One of the most interesting (declassified) stories of cryptography is the deciphering of Soviet communications to their diplomatic missions in the U.S during World War II. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

Silicon Valley 145

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 145

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers?

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Steve Blank

MARCH 28, 2009

Sure the rest of the stories diverge though… can’t really imagine a Soviet counterpart to the Customer Development method. Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System Posted on March 29, 2009 by steveblank This is post II of how I came to write “ The Secret History of Silicon Valley “ 1974.

Silicon Valley 231

Silicon Valley Thailand RSS Michigan 231