Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. get the attention of the market they choose.

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YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 30, 2011

Blackbox , founded by entrepreneurs Bjoern Lasse Herrmann and Max Marmer, in June released its first Startup Genome Report — a 67-page in depth analysis on what makes Silicon Valley startups successful based on profiling over 650 startups. Startup Genome Compass.

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YoungUpstarts

MAY 29, 2011

This week Blackbox , founded by entrepreneurs Bjoern Lasse Herrmann and Max Marmer, released its first Startup Genome Report — a 67-page in depth analysis on what makes Silicon Valley startups successful based on profiling over 650 startups. Here are 14 of the report’s key findings: 1. Founders that learn are more successful.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Alex is a Silicon Valley veteran and Cisco executive, often referred to as the ‘innovation therapist,’ who details his knowledge of many real-world cases and specifics on how to keep up with change and win in the marketplace. Define realistic metrics to keep track of progress. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

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VC Cafe

MARCH 31, 2025

Prioritize growth as the primary metric for fundraising: For Silicon Valley investors, growth is the most important factor, even more so than the team or past experience. Launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) quickly: Aim to get something into users’ hands within two months, regardless of the initial state.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I’m going to link this this and read it weekly Reply Mark Gibson , on April 22, 2010 at 8:27 am Said: Hi Steve, I’ve read Four Steps a couple of times now (loved the Secret History of Silicon Valley) and enjoy your blog-posts…this is on target. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Also, investors from the super-hubs (Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston), won’t assume anyone outside their domain has the savvy and resources to make it happen.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

My own metric is that you need experience >= 1.5 Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. We could for example, find warning signs in popular literature about e.g. finance suggesting rapid maturation in bond trading. Warning sign? Say 40 years = 20 years real direct experience. At best. ~ Is 20 years enough?

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

During my time in Silicon Valley, I was struck by the fact that most successful entrepreneurs seemed to personally know and regularly hear from all the “movers and shakers” who had the investment capital and leadership they needed. Using metrics to measure results and commitments.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

Their firm is one of those that you think of when you think of Silicon Valley. They have some of the best names in the Valley. He called me 15 months later excited to show me his metrics and wanted to talk about his A round. I got a call a few years ago from a well-known investor up North. Why am I so lucky? Fair enough.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Reading the articles and the comments is probably worth it, but I personally think that the NY Times is overstating the advantage of being in Silicon Valley with a couple of exceptions. Of course, thats probably even more true in Silicon Valley. eHarmongy) as an acting CTO.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 17, 2017

He’s spent the last four years in Silicon Valley out of uniform continuing that work. — Problem 1 : Regardless of a high-level understanding that business as usual can’t go on, all agencies are given “guidance and metrics (what they are supposed to do (their “mission”) and how they are supposed to measure success).

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Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

And the results weren’t the traditional PR metrics of number of articles or inches of ink. We were constantly creating metrics to see the effects of different PR messages, channels and audiences on end-user purchases. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. I couldn’t care less about those. Order Here.

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Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

But he left to work on what he told me he came to do - crack the innovation code of Silicon Valley and share it with the rest of the world. Founders that learn are more successful : Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

reminds us that Customer Development is not just collecting web metrics and it’s not about focus groups. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Reply Treat Your Customers Like Children (or your Children like Customers) | Market By Numbers | Marketing Help , on January 9, 2010 at 2:02 pm Said: [.]

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 25, 2011

And, most importantly, the Lean Startup idea is starting to take root in industries and contexts very different from it’s Silicon Valley roots. Brad Smith is the CEO of Intuit, one of the most successful software companies in Silicon Valley. No BS, no vanity metrics, no launches, no PR.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Metrics – Mine is Bigger Than Yours The first thing SuperMac needed to do was to change how our potential color desktop publishing customers viewed our products versus our competitors’ products. As hokey as it is, when confronted with uncertainty or unknowns, human beings like to be reassured by comparative metrics. Order Here.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits. Almost overnight the floodgates opened, and risk capital was available at scale from venture capital investors who rushed their startups toward public offerings.

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Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

This form of planning condensed the business model onto one page and is most useful for high-growth, technically focused startups (think Silicon Valley). Both Silicon Valley startups and Main Street small businesses need to know how they are doing. Step 5: Track your Performance. Are they growing according to plan?

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Also, investors from the super-hubs (Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston), won’t assume anyone outside their domain has the savvy and resources to make it happen.

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Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round).

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

My first job out of school was at one of the early bioinformatics companies in Silicon Valley, working as the head of technical services. Founder Institute is the brain child of Adeo Ressi , a super passionate and successful serial entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley, probably best known for founding TheFunded.com.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

When we looked at the color graphics board market, our competitors had defined the market as one measured by technical metrics: screen resolution, number of bits of color, screen refresh rates, acceleration, etc. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that what we had to do was to tell our story around one key metric performance ?

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

This week, the startup tribe from Harvard Business School is making their annual trek to Silicon Valley. It’s a common refrain around Silicon Valley to disparage the role of MBA’s in entrepreneurship. And for my friends in Silicon Valley, I hope you get excited about this, too. I’ll be honest.

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

As the emeritus Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he still connects government and Silicon Valley. He’ll talk about making a profit and making a difference in a conversation with New Media Ventures’ Christie George. Todd Park convened the team that saved Obamacare.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Some things need to be done whether we like them or not; for example, daily cash-flow analysis and business metrics. That’s why smart investors, like the best ones in Silicon Valley, and the ones on Shark Tank , can tell a lot about the future success of a business, even before results. Learn to like the things that need done.

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Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

You kids have to learn to do it the old fashioned way they did it before they new economy and Silicon Valley. Reply conversationalistOU812 , on November 9, 2009 at 10:31 am Said: Dmitriy is right – we should ban the use of industry buzzwords like “verticals&# , “metrics&# and “horizontals&# altogether.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community. But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy.

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Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

The notion of “Market Type&# is there so startups have a metric of when to spend marketing and sales dollars. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. In this case you spend every sales and marketing dollar you can get your hands on to take market share. Reply Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.

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crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Startup Tip: Four Questions To Ask When Making Decisions Based On Metrics & Statistics – [link]. crowdSPRING Blog podcast: The 3rd Coast- How to be a Startup Outside of Silicon Valley – [link]. The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor – [link]. I hope you enjoy these links!

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

Even geography counts – there is a reason that tech firms cluster in Silicon Valley and financial firms cluster in London and New York. Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. These metrics need the same top management attention as customer retention and sales metrics.

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The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Thomas Clayton has started and run numerous high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. The process of raising money in Asia is very different from raising money in Silicon Valley and, frankly, it’s not nearly as easy. Set your expectations – VCs in Asia are different from the Valley.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

To turn your company’s stock into cash, you engaged a top-notch investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) and/or their Silicon Valley compatriots (Hambrecht & Quist, Montgomery Securities, Robertson Stephens). In the 20th century tech companies and their investors made money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

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The Next Web

MARCH 11, 2014

Their pitch was unpolished, product vision unclear, they had little understanding of their metrics, and traction didn’t stand out from competitors. WhatsApp, recently acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in cash and stock options , challenged traditional Silicon Valley logic. Aileen passed on the deal.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. but rest assured they would be. Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 21, 2013

He gave us a quick rundown on two major growth challenges he’s faced: Challenge #1: Vanity Metrics. The problem of vanity metrics seemed to exacerbate itself as we added more employees. Another Vanity metric I''ve seen is visits—a stat that I''ve rarely seen anyone take action on. Product team velocity is a great example.

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