Clik here to view.
Founders Need to Be Ruthless When Chasing Deals
One of the most exciting things a startup CEO in a business-to-business market can hear from a potential customer is, “We’re excited. When can you come back and show us a prototype?” This can be the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Secret History of Polaroid CEO Edwin Land – part 1
The connections between the world of national security and commercial companies still has surprises. December 1976 – Vandenberg Air Force Base, U.S. military space port on the coast of California As a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Secret History – When Kodak Went to War with Polaroid
This part 2 of the Secret History of Polaroid and Edwin Land. Read part 1 for context. Kodak and Polaroid, the two most famous camera companies of the 20th century, had a great partnership for 20+...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Venture Mindset – Worth A Read
Ilya Strebulaev at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Director of the Stanford Venture Capital Initiative just came out with a book that should be on your reading list – The Venture Mindset....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gordon Bell R.I.P.
Gordon Bell passed on this month. I was a latecomer in Gordon Bell’s life. But he made a lasting impact on mine. The first time I laid eyes on Gordon Bell was in 1984 outside a restaurant in a Boston...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You’re Invited: Hacking for Defense and Lean LaunchPad Final Presentations
Join us for the final presentations of our two Stanford classes this Tuesday June 4th and Wednesday June 5th. Tuesday = Hacking for Defense Wednesday = Lean Launchpad The presentations just get better...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2024 – Lessons Learned Presentations
We just finished our 9th annual Hacking for Defense class at Stanford. What a year. Hacking for Defense, now in 60 universities, has teams of students working to understand and help solve national...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lean LaunchPad @Stanford 2024 – 8 Teams In, 8 Companies Out
This post previously appeared in Poets and Quants. We just finished the 14th annual Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford. The class had gotten so popular that in 2021 we started teaching it in both the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Large Organizations Struggle With Disruption, and What to Do About It
Seemingly overnight, disruption has allowed challengers to threaten the dominance of companies and government agencies as many of their existing systems have now been leapfrogged. How an organization...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Security Clearances at the Speed of Startups
Imagine you got a job offer from a company but weren’t allowed to start work – or get paid – for almost a year. And if you can’t pass a security clearance your offer is rescinded. Or you get offered an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Find Your Customer In the Dept of Defense – The Directory of DoD...
Finding a customer for your product in the Department of Defense is hard: Who should you talk to? How do you get their attention? Looking for DoD customers How do you know if they have money to spend...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Does Product Market Fit Sound Like? This.
I got a call from an ex-student asking me “how do you know when you found product market fit?” There’s been lots of words written about it, but no actual recordings of the moment. I remembered I had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Saboteurs Threaten Innovation–and What to Do About It
This article first appeared in First Round Review. “Only the Paranoid Survive” Andy Grove – Intel CEO 1987-1998 I just had an urgent “can we meet today?” coffee with Rohan, an ex-student. His...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Quantum Computing – An Update
In March 2022 I wrote a description of the Quantum Technology Ecosystem. I thought this would be a good time to check in on the progress of building a quantum computer and explain more of the basics....
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the U.S. Became A Science Superpower
Prior to WWII the U.S was a distant second in science and engineering. By the time the war was over, U.S. science and engineering had blown past the British, and led the world for 85 years. It happened...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the United States Gave Up Being a Science Superpower
This article previously appeared in Nature. US global dominance in science was no accident, but a product of a far-seeing partnership between public and private sectors to boost innovation and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Teaching National Security Policy with AI
The videos embedded in this post are best viewed on steveblank.com International Policy students will be spending their careers in an AI-enabled world. We wanted our students to be prepared for it....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2025 – Lessons Learned Presentations
The videos and PowerPoints embedded in this post are best viewed on steveblank.com We just finished our 10th annual Hacking for Defense class at Stanford. What a year. Hacking for Defense, now in 70...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lean Launchpad at Stanford – 2025
The PowerPoints embedded in this post are best viewed on steveblank.com We just finished the 15th<>annual Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford. The class had gotten so popular that in 2021 we started...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Investors Don’t Care About Your Business
Founders with great businesses are often frustrated that they can’t raise money. Here’s why. I’ve been having coffee with lots of frustrated founders (my students and others) bemoaning most VCs won’t...
View Article