#280You’ll Be Dead Soon – Carpe DiemRemembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to hel... more30 Mar 202507 MINS07:0330 Mar 2025
#279Lies Entrepreneurs Tell ThemselvesWhen I was in my 20’s I worked at Convergent Technologies, a company that was proud to be ... more28 Mar 202506 MINS06:0028 Mar 2025
#278Entrepreneurship is hard but you can’t dieWe Sleep Peaceably In Our Beds At Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready To Do Violence ... more23 Mar 202506 MINS06:5623 Mar 2025
#277Balloon Wars: Part 16 of the Secret History of Silicon ValleyIn 2023 China flying a “spy balloon” over the U.S. created an international incident. It t... more20 Mar 202509 MINS09:0320 Mar 2025
#276Vertical Markets 3: Reducing Risk in StartupsReducing Risk – Simulation versus Customer Development If you remember the first part of t... more Popular18 Mar 202504 MINS04:0218 Mar 2025
#275Faith-Based versus Fact-Based Decision MakingI’ve screwed up a lot of startups on faith. One of the key tenets of entrepreneurship is t... more14 Mar 202502 MINS02:3814 Mar 2025
#274Going to Trade Shows Like it Matters – Part 2I wrote this “Going to Trade Shows Like it Matters” memo as a board member after I saw our... more12 Mar 202509 MINS09:4812 Mar 2025
#273Founders and dysfunctional familiesI was having lunch with a friend who is a retired venture capitalist and we drifted into a... more Popular09 Mar 202509 MINS09:5109 Mar 2025
#272Vertical Markets 2: Customer/Market Risk versus Invention RiskOne day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. “Steve,” he ... more08 Mar 202503 MINS03:3608 Mar 2025
#271Vertical Markets 1: Bad Advice – All Startups are the SameIn the past entrepreneurship was viewed (and taught) as a single process, with a single ap... more06 Mar 202504 MINS04:4406 Mar 2025
#270Going to Trade Shows Like it Matters – Part 1Ignore This Post If you’re selling via the web and trade shows are something your grandfat... more05 Mar 202510 MINS10:1505 Mar 2025
#269Story Behind “The Secret History” Part IV: Library Hours at an Undisclosed LocationIt was 1978. Here I was, a very junior employee of ESL, a company with its hands in the he... more02 Mar 202512 MINS12:4502 Mar 2025
#268Story Behind “The Secret History” Part III: The Most Important Company You Never Heard Of1978. Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of care... more27 Feb 202511 MINS11:1227 Feb 2025
#267Love/Hate Business Plan CompetitionsI love business plan competitions. I hate business plan competitions. Popular25 Feb 202504 MINS04:0725 Feb 2025
#266Preparing for Chaos – the Life of a StartupI just finished reading Donovan Campbell’s eye-opening book, “Joker One“, about his harrow... more24 Feb 202502 MINS02:1324 Feb 2025
#265Killing Innovation with Corner Cases and ConsensusI was visiting a friend whose company teaches executives how to communicate effectively. H... more21 Feb 202504 MINS04:0321 Feb 2025
#264Change We Can Believe In – Reinventing the US Auto Industry: Open Source the Chevy VoltThis article in the NY Times about China’s thinking strategically about electric cars was ... more Popular20 Feb 202503 MINS03:5320 Feb 2025
#263The “Good” StudentI saw an article in the New York Times about Google’s hiring practices that reminded me of... more18 Feb 202502 MINS02:1718 Feb 2025
#262Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential?Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential? by Steve Blank 17 Feb 202503 MINS03:3917 Feb 2025
#261The Curse of a New BuildingThe Curse of a New Building by Steve Blank 15 Feb 202506 MINS06:1115 Feb 2025