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Holding A Cat By The Tail: Lessons from an Entrepreneurial Life
"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way"
-Mark Twain
The collective wisdom of Steve Blank now in one comprehensive volume, by Silicon Valley's leading startup expert. In this collection, you'll find war stories, lessons, and big ideas covering everything from customer development to pitching venture capitalists.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Entrepreneurship Is An Art
Chapter 2: Startups Are Not Small Versions Of Large Companies
Chapter 3: The Customer Development Manifesto--A Startup's Guiding Light
Chapter 4: Corporate Innovation--Making Elephants Dance
Chapter 5: Startup Culture
Chapter 6: On-The-Job Training--The Best Way To Learn
Chapter 7: An Entrepreneur In The Family
Chapter 8: VC Confidential
Chapter 9: Steve's Favorite Posts
-Mark Twain
The collective wisdom of Steve Blank now in one comprehensive volume, by Silicon Valley's leading startup expert. In this collection, you'll find war stories, lessons, and big ideas covering everything from customer development to pitching venture capitalists.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Entrepreneurship Is An Art
Chapter 2: Startups Are Not Small Versions Of Large Companies
Chapter 3: The Customer Development Manifesto--A Startup's Guiding Light
Chapter 4: Corporate Innovation--Making Elephants Dance
Chapter 5: Startup Culture
Chapter 6: On-The-Job Training--The Best Way To Learn
Chapter 7: An Entrepreneur In The Family
Chapter 8: VC Confidential
Chapter 9: Steve's Favorite Posts
- GenresBusiness
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2013
10 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Steve Blank
13Ìýbooks377ÌýfollowersPut to a vote, I might have been chosen “least likely to succeedâ€� in my New York City high school class. My path has taken me from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War, to spook stuff in undisclosed location(s), and I was lucky enough to arrive at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978.
After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, I retired in 1999. I started my last company, E.piphany, in my living room in 1996. My other startups include two semiconductor companies, Zilog and MIPS Computers, a workstation company Convergent Technologies, a consulting stint for a graphics hardware/software spinout Pixar, a supercomputer firm, Ardent, a computer peripheral supplier, SuperMac, a military intelligence systems supplier, ESL and a video game company, Rocket Science Games.
Total score: two large craters (Rocket Science and Ardent), one dot.com bubble home run (E.piphany) and several base hits.
After I retired, I took some time to reflect on my experience and wrote a book (actually my class text) about building early stage companies called Four Steps to the Epiphany.
I moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University and the Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. The “Customer Development� model that I developed in my book is one of the core themes in these classes. In 2009, I was awarded the Stanford University Undergraduate Teaching Award in the department of Management Science and Engineering. The same year, the San Jose Mercury News listed me as one of the 10 Influencers in Silicon Valley.
I also followed my curiosity about why entrepreneurship blossomed in Silicon Valley and was stillborn elsewhere. It has led to several talks on The Secret History of Silicon Valley.
In 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed me to serve on the California Coastal Commission, the public body which regulates land use and public access on the California coast.
I am on the board of Audubon California (and its past chair) and spent several years on the Audubon National Board. I’m also a board member of Peninsula Open Space Land Trust (POST). In 2009 I became a trustee of U.C. Santa Cruz and joined the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV).
After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, I retired in 1999. I started my last company, E.piphany, in my living room in 1996. My other startups include two semiconductor companies, Zilog and MIPS Computers, a workstation company Convergent Technologies, a consulting stint for a graphics hardware/software spinout Pixar, a supercomputer firm, Ardent, a computer peripheral supplier, SuperMac, a military intelligence systems supplier, ESL and a video game company, Rocket Science Games.
Total score: two large craters (Rocket Science and Ardent), one dot.com bubble home run (E.piphany) and several base hits.
After I retired, I took some time to reflect on my experience and wrote a book (actually my class text) about building early stage companies called Four Steps to the Epiphany.
I moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University and the Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. The “Customer Development� model that I developed in my book is one of the core themes in these classes. In 2009, I was awarded the Stanford University Undergraduate Teaching Award in the department of Management Science and Engineering. The same year, the San Jose Mercury News listed me as one of the 10 Influencers in Silicon Valley.
I also followed my curiosity about why entrepreneurship blossomed in Silicon Valley and was stillborn elsewhere. It has led to several talks on The Secret History of Silicon Valley.
In 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed me to serve on the California Coastal Commission, the public body which regulates land use and public access on the California coast.
I am on the board of Audubon California (and its past chair) and spent several years on the Audubon National Board. I’m also a board member of Peninsula Open Space Land Trust (POST). In 2009 I became a trustee of U.C. Santa Cruz and joined the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2018
A very interesting and informative read
I had known beforehand the articles in this book are from the author's blog. Still I decided to buy this book to be able to read it offline. Steve Blank presents great startup theories and principles in this book. He also writes the lessons he learned from his many years of involvement in the startup community.
I had known beforehand the articles in this book are from the author's blog. Still I decided to buy this book to be able to read it offline. Steve Blank presents great startup theories and principles in this book. He also writes the lessons he learned from his many years of involvement in the startup community.
February 11, 2023
This book is chocked full of insightful stories which illustrate how starting a company is completely different than running a company. The former is all about discovering a business model that works to solve customer problems whereas the latter is about sustaining a known business model with known customers and adapting to their changing needs.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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