stanford entrepreneurship week 030211
TRANSCRIPT
The Democratization of
Entrepreneurship
Steve BlankStanford - School of Engineering
www.steveblank.com
Twitter: @sgblank
This Presentation Combines
www.businessmodelgeneration.comwww.steveblank.com
I Write a Blog
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A Few Short Stories
Startup Constraints
High Cost to First Product
Startup Constraints
Buy expensive workstations
Buy expensive development tools
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
Startup Constraints
Use Waterfall Development
First Customer Ship in months/years
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
Slow Customer Adoption
Startup Constraints
Customers – Gov’t/Businesses
# of customers - hundreds/thousands
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
High Startup Failure
Rate
Slow Customer Adoption
Startup Constraints
Startups are small versions of large companies
Focus is on execution of business plan
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
High Startup Failure Rate
Slow Customer Adoption
Limited Number of
Venture Capitalists
Startup Constraints
3000 Sand Hill Road
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
High Startup Failure Rate
Slow Customer Adoption
Limited Number of
Venture Capitalists
Innovation Limited to
a Few Regions
Startup Constraints
3000 Sand Hill RoadMenlo Park, California
Long Time to First Product
High Cost to First Product
High Startup Failure Rate
Slow Customer Adoption
Limited Number of
Venture Capitalists
Innovation Limited to a Few Regions
Startup Constraints
There’s Something Happening
Here, What It Is Ain’t Exactly Clear
Startup ConstraintsEntrepreneurial Explosion
Low Cost to 1st Product
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Develop on inexpensive PC’s/Mac’s
Use Open Source Software
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Use Agile Development
First Customer Ship in weeks/months
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Fast Customer Adoption
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Customers –Consumers
# of customers -millions
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Lower Startup
Failure Rate
Fast Customer Adoption
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Startups arenot small versions of large companies
Focus is on Search for a business model
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Lower Startup Failure Rate
Fast Customer Adoption
Rate
Large Pool of Risk Capital
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Sand Hill Road
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Lower Startup Failure Rate
Global Innovation
Fast Customer Adoption
Rate
Large Pool of Risk Capital
Entrepreneurial
Explosion
Menlo Park, San Francisco New York, Shanghai, Israel, Chile,
Singapore
Short Time to First Product
Low Cost to First Product
Lower Startup
Failure Rate
Global Innovation
Fast Customer Adoption
Rate
Large Pool of Risk Capital
Entrepreneurial
ExplosionThis talk
Not All Startups Are Equal
Small Business
Startup
Small Business Startups
• Serve known customer with
known product
• Feed the family
Small Business
Startup
Exit Criteria
- Business Model found
- Profitable business
- Existing team
< $1M in revenue
Small Business Startups
• known customer
known product
• Feed the family
Small Business
Startup
- Business Model found
- Profitable business
- Existing team
< $10M in revenue
Small Business Startups
• 5.7 million small businesses in the U.S. <500 employees
• 99.7% of all companies
• ~ 50% of total U.S. workershttp://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf
TransitionLarge
CompanyScalableStartup
Sustaining Innovation
• Existing Market / Known customer
•Known product feature needs
Large Company Sustaining Innovation
Large Company Disruptive Innovation
New Division
TransitionLarge
Company
Disruptive Innovation
•New Market
•New tech, customers, channels
Large Company Disruptive Innovation
New Division TransitionLarge Company
Disruptive Innovation•Build
•Acquire
- Talent
- Product
- Customers
- Business
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Scalable Startup
Goal is to solve for:
unknown customer and
unknown features
Search
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Exit Criteria
- Business model found
- Total Available Market > $500m -$1B
- Can grow to $100m/year
Scalable Startup
Search Execute
ScalableStartup
Large Company
-Total Available Market > $500m
- Company can grow to $100m/year
- Business model found
- Focused on execution and process
- Typically requires “risk capital”
Scalable Startup
• In contrast a scalable startup is designed to grow big
• Typically needs risk capital
• What Silicon Valley means when they say “Startup”
Search Execute
ScalableStartup
Large Company
-Business Model found
- i.e. Product/Market fit
- Repeatable sales model
- Managers hired
What’s A Startup?
A Startup is a temporary organization used to search for
a scalable and repeatable business model
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
What VC’s Don’t Tell You:
The Transition
Search Build Execute
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
-Founders depart
- CEO = Operating Exec
- Professional Mgmt
-Process
- Beginning of scale
What VC’s Don’t Tell You:
The Transition – Founders Leave
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
-Business Model found
- i.e. Product/Market fit
- Repeatable sales model
- Managers hired
What’s A Startup?
You fail if you stay a startup
Why Startups Are Not Small
Versions of A Large Company
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Business Model found by founders
- customer needs/product features found
i.e. Product/Market fit
- Repeatable sales model
- Managers hired
The Search for the Business Model
Startups Search and Pivot
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
-Business Model found
- Product/Market fit
- Repeatable sales model
- Managers hired
- Cash-flow breakeven
- Profitable
- Rapid scale
- New Senior Mgmt
~ 150 people
The Search for the Business Model The Execution of the Business Model
Startups Search, Companies Execute
ScalableStartup
LargeCompany
Transition
Traditional Accounting
-Balance Sheet
- Cash Flow Statement
- Income Statement
The Execution of the Business Model
Metrics Versus Accounting
ScalableStartup
LargeCompany
Transition
Startup Metrics
- Customer Acquisition Cost
- Viral coefficient
- Customer Lifetime Value
- Average Selling Price/Order Size
- Monthly burn rate
- etc.
Traditional Accounting
- Balance Sheet
- Cash Flow Statement
- Income Statement
The Search for the Business Model The Execution of the Business Model
Metrics Versus Accounting
ScalableStartup
LargeCompany
Transition
Sales
-Sales Organization
- Scalable
- Price List/Data Sheets
- Revenue Plan
The Execution of the Business Model
Customer Validation Versus Sales
ScalableStartup
LargeCompany
Transition
Customer Validation
- Early Adopters
- Pricing/Feature unstable
- Not yet repeatable
-“One-off’s”
Sales
- Sales Organization
- Scalable
- Price List/Data Sheets
- Revenue Plan
The Search for the Business Model The Execution of the Business Model
Customer Validation Versus Sales
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
The Execution of the Business Model
Engineering Versus
Agile Development
Engineering
- Requirements Docs.
- Waterfall Development
- QA
- Tech Pubs
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Agile Development
- Continuous Deployment
- Continuous Learning
- Self Organizing Teams
- Minimum Feature Set
- Pivots
The Search for the Business Model The Execution of the Business Model
Engineering Versus
Agile Development
Engineering
- Requirements Docs.
- Waterfall Development
- QA
- Tech Pubs
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Business Plan
- describes “knowns”
- features
- customers/markets
- business model
The Execution of the Business Model
Startups Model, Companies Plan
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
-Business Model
- describes “unknowns”
-customer needs
- feature set
- business model
- found by iteration
The Search for the Business Model
Startups Model, Companies Plan
The Execution of the Business Model
-Plan describes “knowns”
- Known features for line extensions
- Known customers/markets
- Known business model
How Do Startups Search For A
Business Model?
• The Search is called Customer Development
• The Implementation is called Agile Development
Customer
Development
Why Startups Fail
More startups fail from
a lack of customers than from a
failure of product development
Product Introduction Model:Two Implicit Assumptions
Customer Problem: known
Product Features: known
Concept/Seed Round
Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
Tradition – Hire Marketing
Concept/Seed Round
Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
- Create Marcom Materials
- Create Positioning
- Hire PR Agency- Early Buzz
- Create Demand- Launch Event- “Branding”
Marketing
Tradition – Hire Sales
Concept/Seed Round
Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
- Create Marcom Materials
- Create Positioning
- Hire PR Agency- Early Buzz
- Create Demand- Launch Event- “Branding”
• Build Sales Organization
Marketing
Sales • Hire Sales VP• Hire 1st Sales Staff
Tradition – Hire Bus Development
Concept Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
- Create Marcom Materials
- Create Positioning
- Hire PR Agency- Early Buzz
- Create Demand- Launch Event- “Branding”
• Hire Sales VP• Pick distribution Channel
• Build Sales Channel / Distribution
Marketing
Sales
• Hire FirstBus Dev
• Do deals for FCSBusiness
Development
Tradition – Hire Engineering
Concept Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
- Create Marcom Materials
- Create Positioning
- Hire PR Agency- Early Buzz
- Create Demand- Launch Event- “Branding”
• Hire Sales VP• Pick distribution Channel
• Build Sales Channel / Distribution
Marketing
Sales
• Hire FirstBus Dev
• Do deals for FCSBusiness
Development
Engineering • Write MRD • Waterfall • Q/A •Tech Pubs
How Startups Succeed
Customer Development
Get Out of the Building
The founders
^
Customer Development
Concept/Bus. Plan
Product Dev.
Alpha/Beta Test
Launch/1st Ship
Product Development
CustomerDevelopment
CompanyBuilding
CustomerDiscovery
CustomerValidation
Customer Creation
+
Pivot
• Test yourbusiness model hypotheses
• Continuous Discovery
• Done by founders
Customer Discovery
CustomerDiscovery
CustomerValidation
CompanyBuilding
CustomerCreation
No Business Plan survives first
contact with customers
So Search for a Business Model
The Business Model:
Any company can be described in 9 building blocks
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
which customers and users are you serving?
which jobs do they really want to get done?
VALUE PROPOSITIONS
what are you offering them? what is that
getting done for them? do they care?
CHANNELS
how does each customer segment want to be reached?
through which interaction points?
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
what relationships are you establishing with each segment?
personal? automated? acquisitive? retentive?
REVENUE STREAMS
what are customers really willing to pay for? how?
are you generating transactional or recurring revenues?
KEY RESOURCES
which resources underpin your business model? which
assets are essential?
82
KEY ACTIVITIES
which activities do you need to perform well in your
business model? what is crucial?
KEY PARTNERS
which partners and suppliers leverage your model?
who do you need to rely on?
COST STRUCTURE
what is the resulting cost structure?
which key elements drive your costs?
85images by JAM
customer
segments
key
partners
cost
structure
revenue
streams
channels
customer
relationships
key activities
key
resources
value
proposition
Test
Hypotheses:
•Product
• Market Type
• Competition
Turning Hypotheses to Facts
Test
Hypotheses:
•Problem
• Customer
• User
• Payer
Test Hypotheses:
•Channel
Test
Hypotheses:
•Problem
• Customer
• User
• Payer
Test
Hypotheses:
•Demand
Creation
Test Hypotheses:
•Channel
Test
Hypotheses:
•Product
• Market Type
• Competitive
Test Hypotheses:
•Pricing Model / Pricing
Test Hypotheses:
•Size of Opportunity/Market
• Validate Business Model
Test
Hypotheses:
•Channel
• (Customer)
• (Problem)
Test
Hypotheses:
•Problem
• Customer
• User
• Payer
Test
Hypotheses:
•Demand
Creation
Test Hypotheses:
•Channel
Test
Hypotheses:
•Product
• Market Type
• Competitive
Test Hypotheses:
•Pricing Model / Pricing
Test Hypotheses:
•Size of Opportunity/Market
• Validate Business Model
Test
Hypotheses:
•Channel
• (Customer)
• (Problem)Customer
Development
Team
Agile
Development
Test
Hypotheses:
•Problem
• Customer
• User
• Payer
Test
Hypotheses:
•Demand
Creation
Test Hypotheses:
•Channel
Test
Hypotheses:
•Product
• Market Type
• Competitive
Test Hypotheses:
•Pricing Model / Pricing
Test Hypotheses:
•Size of Opportunity/Market
• Validate Business Model
Test
Hypotheses:
•Channel
• (Customer)
• (Problem)Customer
Development
Team
Agile
Development
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• Smallest feature set that gets you the most …
orders, learning, feedback, failure…
•MVP + Customer are the first two you need to nail
• MVP is just 1 of the 9 parts of your model
The Pivot
•The heart of Customer Development
•Iteration without crisis
•Fast, agile and opportunistic
Wrap Up
• Startup are not small versions of large companies
• Traditional big company planning tools fail
• Startups are built on hypotheses
– You need to test each one of them
– Business Models help you keep score
– Customer Development is how you test hypotheses
Why Startups Aren’t Run By
Accountants
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Inventor of the Modern Corporation
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Inventor of the Modern Corporation
Alfred P. Sloan
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Alfred P. Sloan
General Motors, President/Chairman
- Cost Accounting
- MIT Sloan School
- Sloan Foundation
- etc.
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Founder of General Motors
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Founder of General Motors
Billy Durant
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Billy Durant
- Leader in horse-drawn buggy’s
-Fired by board, starts Chevrolet
- Regains control of GM
-Fired by board, GM ~$3.6 billion*
* GM Net sales in 1921 $304.5M = $3.6 Billion today
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
Durant Versus Sloan
Durant Versus Sloan
•Dies, rich, honored and famous
Durant Versus Sloan
• Dies, rich, honored and famous•Dies managing a bowling alley
Durant Versus Sloan
• Dies, rich, honored and famous•Dies managing a bowling alley
Accountant
ScalableStartup
Large Company
Transition
You are here
Thanks
www.steveblank.com