Growing The Next Big Idea

What We’ve Learned About Startups
What Have We Learned?
What Have We Learned?

Lesson 1: Types of Startups
Lesson 2: Ecosystem
Lesson 3: How to Fail Less
Lesson 4: Can we Teach Entrepreneurship?
Lesson 1:
Types of Startups
Lifestyle Startups
Work to Live their Passion
Lifestyle Startups
               Work to Live their Passion




     Startup




• Serve known customer with
  known product
• Work for their passion
Social Entrepreneurship Startups
Social Entrepreneurship Startups



      Social                            Large
     Startup                          Non-Profit



• Solve pressing social problems
• Social Enterprise: Profitable
• Social Innovation: New Strategies
Small Business Startups
  Work to Feed the Family
Small Business Startups
               Work to Feed the Family



                                          Small
     Startup
                                         Business



• Serve known customer with
  known product
• Feed the family
Small Business Startups
                    Work to Feed the Family



                                                 Small
      Startup
                                                Business


                       Exit Criteria
• known customer       - Business Model found
  known product
                       - Profitable business
• Feed the family
                       - Existing team
                       < $500K in revenue
Small Business Startups



                                            Small
    Startup
                                           Business




• 5.7 million small businesses in the U.S. <500 employees
• 99.7% of all companies
• ~ 50% of total U.S. workers


                                             http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf
Scalable Startup
Scalable Startup

      Search                                    Execute

     Scalable                                     Large
     Startup                                    Company




• In contrast a scalable startup is designed to grow big
• Typically needs risk capital
• What Silicon Valley means when they say “Startup”
Scalable Startup

    Search

    Scalable                        Large
    Startup                       Company



Goal is to solve for:
 unknown customer and
 unknown features
Scalable Startup
                Born to Be Big

Search                                    Execute

Scalable                                    Large
Startup                                   Company


       Exit Criteria
       - Business model found
       - Total Available Market > $500M
       - Can grow to $100M/year
Buyable Startup
   Born to Sell
Buyable Startup
                      Born to Sell

     Search                             Sell
     Scalable                        $5 to 50M
     Startup                         Acquisition




Typically:
 Internet, Mobile, Gaming Apps
Buyable Startup

      Search                              Sell
     Scalable                          $5 to 50M
     Startup                           Acquisition




Goal is to solve for:           Sell to larger company
 Internet and Mobile Apps
Large Company Sustaining Innovation
            Innovate or Evaporate

                             Sustaining Innovation
 Scalable                              Large
                Transition
 Startup                             Company




                   • Existing Market / Known customer
                   •Known product feature needs
Large Company Disruptive Innovation




     New                                   Large
                       Transition
    Division                             Company


                 Disruptive Innovation
•New Market
•New tech, customers, channels
Large Company Disruptive Innovation


    New                                  Large
                     Transition
   Division                            Company


               Disruptive Innovation
  •Build
  •Partner
  •Acquire
      - IP
  - Talent
      - Product
      - Customers
      - Business
Large Company Disruptive Innovation


     New                                           Large
                          Transition
    Division                                     Company


                Disruptive Innovation
  • Build
  • Partner
  •Acquire     = an internal corporate startup
Summary Lesson 1:
  Multiple Types of Startups

  Policies, Funding and Tactics Differ
Techniques to build them are the same
Lesson 2:
History of a Startup Ecosystem
Silicon Valley Was a Series of
 Unintended Consequences
Outward-Facing Research University
    Building Weapons System

     1946 – 1968   WWII/Cold War
Massive Government R&D
Investment in Weapons Systems

     1956 – 1980’s Cold War
One Professor Changes The System

1925 – 1965   University/Military/Industry
Sputnik Launches
Venture Investing

1958 – SBIC Program
Regulatory Change Accelerates
       Venture Capital

    1979 – Change in Employee
   Retirement Income Security Act
        Pension Funds Pile In
Culture Embraced
      Technology Risk

         1958 – Today
Recognized that 90% of startups fail
Culture Embraced
 Financial Risk
      1968 – Today
   Experienced Advice
   Tolerance For Risk
Long Term Interest Aligned
So What Lessons Can We Learn
    To Build Innovation?

   Without Cold War Funding
Technology Ecosystem: Infrastructure

                                                         Venture
                               Entrepreneurs
                                                         Finance



 Motivation                         Crisis                   Profit



 Management              Customer                 Agile               Business Model
    Tools               Development            Development                Design



 Culture         Risk Taking           Entrepreneurial
                                                               Outward-Facing          Free flow of
                                                              Tech Universities        People/Info



Infrastructure       Research                     Predictable            Stable
                                                                                       24/7 Utilities
                    Universities               Economic System        Legal System
Technology Ecosystem: Culture

                                                        Venture
                           Entrepreneurs
                                                        Finance



 Motivation                     Crisis                       Profit



 Management              Customer                 Agile                 Business Model
    Tools               Development            Development                  Design




Culture                               Accelerators,            Outward-Facing                  Free flow of
                 Risk Taking
                                       Incubators             Tech Universities                People/Info



Infrastructure    Research               Predictable            Stable
                                                                                  24/7 Utilities
                 Universities         Economic System        Legal System
Technology Ecosystem: Tools

                            Entrepreneurs                Risk Capital




Motivation                          Crisis                   Profit



Management            Customer                    Agile                     Business Model
   Tools             Development               Development                      Design


 Culture                              Accelerators,            Outward-Facing                  Free flow of
                  Risk Taking          Incubators             Tech Universities                People/Info



 Infrastructure       Research            Predictable           Stable
                                                                                  24/7 Utilities
                     Universities      Economic System       Legal System
Technology Ecosystem: Motivation

                           Entrepreneurs                Risk Capital




Motivation                         Crisis                    Profit


Management               Customer               Agile                   Business Model
   Tools                Development          Development                    Design



Culture                               Accelerators,             Outward-Facing                  Free flow of
                 Risk Taking           Incubators              Tech Universities                People/Info



Infrastructure       Research            Predictable             Stable
                                                                                   24/7 Utilities
                    Universities      Economic System         Legal System
Technology Ecosystem

                               Entrepreneurs              Risk Capital




Motivation                           Crisis                   Profit



Management               Customer                 Agile                  Business Model
   Tools                Development            Development                   Design



Culture          Risk Taking
                                        Accelerators,            Outward-Facing                  Free flow of
                                         Incubators             Tech Universities                People/Info



Infrastructure        Research             Predictable           Stable
                                                                                    24/7 Utilities
                     Universities       Economic System       Legal System
Lesson 3:
Making Startups Fail Less

Lessons From Silicon Valley
 and the National Science
       Foundation
After 50 years of Silicon Valley

We Now Know How To Build Startups
More startups fail from
a lack of customers than from a
failure of product development
What We Used to Believe
Startups are Smaller Versions of
       Large Companies
What We Now Know
Startups are Not Smaller Versions
       of Large Companies
Startups Search
Large Companies Execute
What We Used to Believe
All I Need to Do is Execute the Plan
Actual Photo of What Happens When
            Plan Meets
   First Contact With Customers
All I Need is the 5- Year Forecast
Previous
5-Year Plans
What We Now Know
No Business Plan Survives
      First Contact
    With Customers
Searching comes before the plan
What’s A Startup?
A temporary organization
      designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable
       business model
A temporary organization
      designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable
       business model
A temporary organization
      designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable
       business model
A temporary organization
      designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable
       business model
© 2012 Steve Blank
But,
Realize They’re Hypotheses
Customer Development is
how you search for the model
Summary Lesson 3:
Making Startups Fail Less

1. Startups Are Not Smaller Versions
   Of Large Companies
2. Customer Development & Business
   Models – Replace Business Plans
Lesson 4:
Can We Teach This?
Can We Teach This?

 Lean LaunchPad Class



8 Weeks, 100 Customer Calls
Can We Teach This?

         Lean LaunchPad Class




National Science Foundation
The Data Says
 Yes You Can
Knowledge about Startups?
    Coming Into the Class
Knowledge About Startups?
       After the Class
The Data Says
It Will Create New Companies
Knowledge About Building a Company
       Coming Into the Class
Knowledge About Building a Company
          After the Class
What About the Other 99%

Will this Work on Main Street?
Small businesses are being built with
  business tools from the 1950’s
These Techniques Now Can Help
   Small Business Fail Less
In Closing:

So What Can States Do?
Recommendation 1

EncourageFail Fast and
  Move Fast Culture
Recommendation 2

Encourage Incubators / Accelerators
Recommendation 3

   Incent Risk Capital to Locate
Next to Your Entrepreneurial Centers
Recommendation 4

Encourage Your Universities to build
           21st Century
   Entrepreneurship Curriculum


             +
Recommendation 5

           Encourage
    Small Business Initiatives
to Adopt these Same Techniques
I’ve open-sourced all this material

               Happy to share it


               www.steveblank.com
               sblank@kandsranch.com



  Curriculum, Syllabus, Slides, Teaching Guide and On-line Courses
              all available for free www.steveblank.com

National governors association july 2012