Up and Running

OCTOBER 13, 2022

As you find your footing and begin to scale, you might feel ready to hire a formal executive team. What’s right for one company may not make sense for another, but the goal is always the same — to hire talent that will ultimately help the business thrive. When is the right time to hire an executive team?

CTO Hire 163

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Hiring 163

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 23, 2023

Whatever the case, you’ll need to make some big sacrifices and strategic managerial decisions if you want this lean startup budget to work — and it’s definitely possible. If you take your lean startup remote, forgoing a physical office space entirely, you can cut multiple different costs simultaneously.

Lean 158

Lean Technical Review Startup Acquisition 158

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects. You should never hire internal or external staff based solely on what they can do now. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Cost 346

Cost Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 346

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 19, 2017

The lean start-up movement has been based on a single insight – which the purpose of a start-up is to discover a business model that works. In this article we explore the unique challenges of a lean start-up and how Outsourced Product Development (OPD) can be used to overcome them. The Lean Start-Up Environment.

Product Development 153

Product Development Lean Developer Product 153

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects. You should never hire internal or external staff based solely on what they can do now. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Entrepreneur 303

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 303

VC Cafe

MARCH 31, 2025

Focus on increasing average talent with each hire and hire slowly: Your early employees should ideally be smarter and slightly more risk-averse than the founders. Focus on increasing average talent with each hire and hire slowly: Your early employees should ideally be smarter and slightly more risk-averse than the founders.

Cofounder 88

Cofounder Silicon Valley Technical Review PR 88

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

“Lean” is great in the early days but if you discover an attractive market opportunity you need to get “fat” really quickly or somebody else will. And the “stay lean” argument isn’t only good for entrepreneurs, it can be good for VCs, too. It is VC math, like it or not. .”

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2018

Today, I want to introduce a new approach to business planning: Lean Planning. Lean Planning replaces lengthy business plans with a 20-minute planning process that focuses on increasing your chances of success in business. Lean Planning is simpler and faster than writing a traditional business plan. Step 1: Create a Lean Plan.

Lean 134

Lean Forecast Software Review Business Plan 134

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

While the appearance matters, remember you are hiring the development firm primarily for its development skills, not its graphic design skills. However, an overly attractive site could indicate a leaning towards design over development. Quality of Work: The end product should not only look good but function as expected. Avoid them.

Software Development 297

Software Development Software Developers Software Review Software 297

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Who can I hire later? ” She looked at bit puzzled, so I continued to explain… One of the virtues of using the Business Model Canvas as part of a Lean Startup is that it helps you frame each one of your nine critical hypotheses. But what about for us, a consumer hardware hardware company? And what can I outsource?”

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2014

Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects. You should never hire internal or external staff based solely on what they can do now. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Entrepreneur 231

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 231

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Huge structural under-employment in much of the country and full employment in some niche tech markets where it’s impossible to hire developers, designers or sales professionals. If you are interested the Vimeo is here. For others it feels like a two-speed economy, where rules apply to hot tech startups that don’t apply elsewhere.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

— I just watched a very smart company try to manage innovation by hiring a global consulting firm to offload engineering from “distractions.” So, in response the company had hired a global consulting firm to help solve the problem. A shorter version of this post first appeared on the HBR blog. There’s a much better way.

Incubator 319

Incubator Curation Engineer Government 319

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

These processes reduce risk to an overall organization, but each layer of process reduces the ability to be agile and lean and – most importantly – responsive to new opportunities and threats. Process helps ensure that you can deliver solutions that scale without breaking other parts of the organization. Process Versus Product.

Government 322

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 322

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

VCs and Angel investors like to see a startup that is running lean and mean, with no more than three or four of the conventional C-level or VP titles. This is a fancy title for a personnel manager in a large corporation who keeps track of all the hiring and firing, and has a staff to build job descriptions and personnel policy documents.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Follow lean product development strategy (MVP strategy). Lean product development strategy or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) refers to creating a product with core features and offering it to a specific audience to get feedback. Don’t hire full time, outsource your project. If possible, hire a third-party tester.

Cost 158

Cost Developer Azure Churn Rate 158

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

VCs and Angel investors like to see a startup that is running lean and mean, with no more than three or four of the conventional C-level or VP titles. This is a fancy title for a personnel manager in a large corporation who keeps track of all the hiring and firing, and has a staff to build job descriptions and personnel policy documents.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Up and Running

MAY 21, 2020

Do a lean business plan. Develop a lean business plan. Use the lean business plan to test whether you know enough to go further. Don’t just hire a consultant; you need to do this first basic lean business plan by yourself. Maybe this means that your idea just failed the test. Still there? Passing so far?

Lean 186

Lean Business Plan Software Review Angel Investor 186

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2018

Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects. You should never hire internal or external staff based solely on what they can do now. Contractors and freelancers, like any other business, manage their own internal processes, but they can’t manage your business.

Philippines 181

Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder Affiliate 181

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

You may have a strong product development background, but typically have minimal experience in hiring and leading team members and groups, or managing financials. You likely have hired a few helpers, such as an assistant, a social media coordinator, and a bookkeeper. Build a lean team to complement your strengths.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 31, 2019

Start Lean. As tempting as it can be to do everything at once, be patient and start lean. . Building a lean business with lean products ensures you don’t pigeon-hole yourself into a situation where you’re unable to back your way out. Hire the Right People. Most startups fail. This is a fact.

Burn Rate 176

Burn Rate Startup Lean Early Stage 176

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

I reminded her that all the Lean tools she learned in class–Customer Discovery, business model and value proposition canvases– contained her answer. Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. Hiring a PR agency too early is a sign that the CEO is treating this as someone else’s problem.

Marketing 318

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 318

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

o Early on they hired 3 people from ACT software at once (more team hiring) on staff and supplement it with Agency (in LA worked with First Communications – good). Lean startup: o It’s situational so some businesses are operationally/people intensive, high LTV (lifetime value) means you can spend more upfront.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. I will quote one portfolio company CEO who said about his office manager, “Mark, this is the most important hire we made last year. Hire a part-time accounting clerk to do the data entry and prepare the monthly books.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

You don’t have to hire as many sales people because much can be sold online. Staying “lean&# is not an option. But those of you who do get funded will build stronger businesses, make better returns, hire better & more committed employees. You don’t need to buy hardware – there’s Amazon AWS.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 17, 2017

In the 21st century you need a scorecard to keep track of the threats: Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, ISIS in Yemen/Libya/Philippines, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, hackers for hire, etc. The Lean Innovation process is a self-regulating, evidence-based innovation pipeline. That approach doesn’t work anymore.

Community 244

Community Silicon Valley Technical Review Incubator 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

Thus I was happy to see a new book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

Frustrated by the FDA’s 20 th century processes for 21 st century technology, companies hired lobbyists to force a change in the laws that guide the FDA regulations. It’s close to de-facto adopting a Lean decision-making process and rapid clearances for things that minimally affect health.

China 67

China Technical Review Software Review Algorithm 67

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 24, 2020

Before hiring one, what are the benefits you should know? The Benefits of Hiring a Third-Party Business Analyst for Your Workflow. To improve the workflow systems, one must be able to understand the various management theories such as Six Sigma , Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering, and Lean Management.

Technical Review 190

Technical Review Hiring Lean Management 190

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Being able to hire talented professionals remains a difficult proposition in the current job market, especially when sourcing experienced developers, designers, and project managers. For example, Lean Startup offers many benefits to emerging organizations, especially considering its focus on crafting a minimum viable product (MVP).

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Hiring an agency can make sense for companies that don’t have the time or resources to build an in-house team. On the other hand, hiring a CRO agency isn’t always the best fit either. The two options aren’t mutually exclusive: If you hire an agency, you can lean on them to help you build and run (or speed up) an in-house CRO program.

Hiring 94

Hiring Analytics Framework Non-disclosure Agreement 94

Up and Running

AUGUST 20, 2018

Most of us need just a Lean Business Plan, for internal use, with just bullet point lists and important projections. Good businesses always keep their Lean Plan up to date. The lean business plan is great news because it makes the planning process much less daunting. More on that in the section on the Lean Plan.

Business Plan 119

Business Plan Technical Review Lean Forecast 119

Steve Blank

AUGUST 25, 2015

I’ve spent this year working with corporations and government agencies that are adopting and adapting Lean Methodologies. Several pockets of innovation in his agency have begun to look to startups and have tried to adopt lean methods. —– What Have We Lost? Yet today at dinner his frustration just spilled out.

Lean 120

Lean Entrepreneur Business Model Silicon Valley 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2013

It’s been fun watching a 20th Century entrepreneur learn new tricks as he builds his next startup, FindTheBest using Lean Methodology. Lean Start-up Connection: Business Model Canvas. By leaning on our technology, we knew we could build cheaply, we just didn’t know how cheaply. Lean Start-up Connection: Agile Development.

Lean 302

Lean Agile Customer Development SEO 302

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

In 2012 I got together with Alexander Osterwalder , Henry Chesbrough and Andre Marquis to think about the Lean and the future of corporate innovation. It didn’t take us very long to connect the dots between exponential growth, business model innovation and the “Lean Startup” movement. to find, attract and retain “starters.”.

Lean 331

Lean Nepal Cofounder Customer Development 331