Too often we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the journey. Unknown Entrepreneurs hear that VC pitches ought to be short, 10-20 slides. What most don’t know is that there is no way they can deliver a presentation that short by just “writing” the slide deck. You Got to be Kidding An entrepreneur [...]
Filed under: Venture Capital | 12 Comments »
When It’s Darkest Men See the Stars Ralph Waldo Emerson This Thanksgiving it might seem that there’s a lot less to be thankful for. One out of ten of Americans is out of work. The common wisdom says that the chickens have all come home to roost from a disastrous series of economic decisions including [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto, Venture Capital | 79 Comments »
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) and being continually surprised when it didn’t. That’s the definition of insanity. Luckily most startups now realize there is a better [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto | 11 Comments »
In previous posts I’ve talked about what the combination of Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Methodologies mean to startups and intrapreneurs in large companies; it’s the beginning of entrepreneurship as a science with its own rules and methodologies. Alexander Osterwalder, who authored the Business Model Generation book, put together a slidedeck on his [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development | 13 Comments »
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. Albert Einstein Entrepreneurship As A Management Science Those of you who have been reading my blog already know that I have been talking about a new approach to entrepreneurship education called “E-School” or the Durant School of Entrepreneurship. I believe that we have now [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development, Teaching | 19 Comments »
Describing your product as “new and “never been done before” instead of “we’re just like those others guys, but better” could cost your company billions. RIM and TiVo are two examples of getting it right and wrong. Research in Motion (RIM) By 1992 Research in Motion (RIM) had been in business for eight years, had [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, Market Types | 24 Comments »
At $5.2-billion Iridium was one of the largest, boldest and audacious startup bets ever made. Conceived in 1987 by Motorola and spun out in 1990 as a separate company, Iridium planned to build a mobile telephone system that would work anywhere on earth. It would cover every city, town and square inch of the earth from [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development | 37 Comments »
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