Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

It has replaced how to write a business plan with hands-on Lean Startup methods. Over my career as a serial entrepreneur I observed that since the late 1990s, no early-stage Silicon Valley investor had used business plans to screen investments. The Lean LaunchPad was unlike any class I’d ever seen. Today the U.C.

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Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Market Risk vs. Invention Risk - Click to Enlarge For companies building web-based products, product development may be difficult, but with enough time and iteration engineering will eventually converge on a solution and ship a functional product - i t’s engineering, not invention.

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Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. So, I’ll explain my reasoning through the story of ASC, a fictitious company that has a combination of characteristics I’ve seen across a number of early stage companies.

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Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 153

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

In a way, you can think of BD as “sales when you don’t know what the product is yet.” It’s basically working with potential outside partners to reach your business goals--which could be revenue, distribution, financing, product development, awareness, etc.

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PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 160

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Two conditions that do matter to your startup’s out-year viability are the cost and length of its product development cycle. Startup founders counting the days until break-even or actively seeking outside capital must focus on streamlining their development cycles. Focus on Your Minimum Viable Product. Stay Lean and Low.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 133

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Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

Next, you have to deal with the daily crisis of product development and acquiring early customers. And here’s where life gets really interesting, as the reality of product development and customer input collide, the facts change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant.

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Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 312

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors. So their management teams were insisting that they OEM (buy from someone else) these products. Convergent Technologies was one of those OEM suppliers.

Technology 145

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 145

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. And even more importantly, was there any way to reduce risk in early stage ventures? familiar with Customer Development you should be.

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Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

Filed under: Marketing , Technology , Venture Capital | Tagged: Steve Blank , Venture Capital , Entrepreneurs , Early Stage Startup , Tips for Startups « Customer Analytics – From Those Who Should Know SuperMac War Story 10: The Video Spigot » 14 Responses Michael F.

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Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 160

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

This philosophy comes from The Lean Startup methodology , which relies on testing hypotheses to better understand your customers’ pain points and goals. It outlines four major growth strategies: market penetration , market development , product development , and diversification. Product development.

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Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. Sometimes founders misapply lean startup methodology.

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Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Last May, I shared the news that long-time Lean Startup advocates Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits were working on a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur featuring illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. LitMotors approach to using Lean Startup to create a new vehicle category. That new book is about to hit bookstores everywhere.

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Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Step 1: Start with a lean plan. It’s the fastest way to get your idea onto paper, and it’s the very first step in the lean planning process, which is much easier and more iterative than traditional business planning methods. Introducing Lean Planning: How to Plan Less and Grow Faster. How to Write a Traditional Business Plan.

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Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. Analytics spark more questions and discussion than almost any other aspect of the Lean Startup method. Alistair and Ben, co-authors of the book Lean Analytics, will help you sort it out in our next webcast, Lean Analytics for Non-tech Companies.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 21, 2013

Lean Analytics is the latest addition to the Lean Series. Matrix Partners' David Skok agrees with the 5% churn threshold, but only for early stage companies, and says that you have to see a clear path to getting churn below 2% if you want to scale significantly. “In You can order Lean Analytics today.

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Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup.

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Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 271

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.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 255

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

I recently joined CoVenture , an early-stage venture capital firm that develops products and invests cash in exchange for equity. My comments here relate mostly to new or early-stage startups, as I’ve spent most of my career investing in those companies and it’s what we do at CoVenture.

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Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Are you in the “lean&# phase? I’m a very big believer in the “Lean Startup&# principles as espoused by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. million and you’re an early stage business this is probably a fair deal. So here’s my framework. So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5

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A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

Pivotability Nowadays everyone agrees that it’s both likely and healthy for an early-stage startup to be on the lookout for an intelligent pivot. They’re more worried about the problems which don’t naturally get corrected over time. They probably have a correspondingly large amount of website traffic to mine.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Yet the processes that early-stage companies were using were identical to that of large corporations. In hindsight it appeared clear that startups that survive the first few tough years do not follow the traditional product-centric launch model espoused by product managers or the venture capital community.

Silicon Valley 135

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital California 135

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Eighty some pages later I realized that a) I had some great war stories as a good marketeer and failed CEO, b) I’d have to pay my wife and kids to read them, c) the three of them were probably the entire total available market, and d) when I looked at what I had done and what other entrepreneurs had done at their startups, that there was a pattern.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 22, 2015

A massive rain storm blew through San Francisco in the middle of last year’s Lean Startup Conference. Why You Should Join Us in 2015 Since 2011, The Lean Startup has helped countless ventures transform ideas into thriving businesses. We woke up to a city-wide power outage, and Day Two of the conference had stopped before it started.

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Austin Startup

OCTOBER 13, 2017

4 This is important and highly encouraged along every step of the way in your product development process. If your product does not work, do not try to make it work, because you aren’t in control: the market is. Keep pivoting until you have a product that works, then you can scale. and Simpson, T. Carlson, L.

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BeyondVC

DECEMBER 10, 2009

Financial models for startups are important from a big picture perspective, but I never like to get mired in the full details as things always change in the early stages. While many SAAS companies may collect cash monthly or quarterly, some collect annual fees by offering discounts by paying upfront.

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Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 112

OnlyOnce

MAY 13, 2013

But in my line of work, that acronym has come to mean something entirely different: Minimum Viable Product. The book includes several lists of checklists that walk you through how to test each box on the Lean Canvas. Usually, when we hear the term MVP, we think Most Valuable Player.

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Lean Early Stage Agile Business Plan 79

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. To learn more secrets and tips, subscribe to my newsletter.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. To learn more secrets and tips, subscribe to my newsletter.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Investors, particularly those investing in early-stage startups, want to understand your vision. Executive summary and/or Lean Plan. Your cover letter may generate a request for additional information and this is where a solid executive summary or lean business plan comes in handy. A vision for the future.

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Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Exit Strategy 138

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

1x hacker in charge of product/development. 1x hipster working with both product and growth. Lean marketing. Especially in the early stages, keeping a relationship with your customers can be paid off exponentially, not only in overall engagement but with extremely valuable word of mouth marketing.

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Revenue Channel Acquisition Campaign 60

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

In an early stage startup, instead of sales being up front, the point departments are likely to be product development and customer development. Later on in this same company’s life, sales will become the pointy end and product development moves to a supporting role. No one was confused after that.

Silicon Valley 133

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 133

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 26, 2015

This week, the Lean Startup took over the blog on Intuit Labs with original stories centered around experimentation as a method for investigating all parts of a business or product idea. We also posted Lean Startup 101 , in case you’re looking for a refresher or an explainer to send to friends or colleagues.

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BeyondVC

DECEMBER 9, 2009

.  Financial models for startups are important from a big picture perspective, but I never like to get mired in the full details as things always change in the early stages.    While many SAAS companies may collect cash monthly or quarterly, some collect annual fees by offering discounts by paying upfront. 

Churn Rate 78

Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 78

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? But all things are never equal.

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Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

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techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. Love the guest post TechCrunch!

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Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84