20VC: Steve Blank on Why The Startup Ecosystem is Partially A Ponzi Scheme, 3 Things That Determine Startup Survival in a COVID World & Facebook: Platform vs Publisher and Where Does Their Responsibility Lie?
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2020
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
Steve Blank is one of the leading luminaries of Silicon Valley, credited with being foundational to the creation of The Lean Startup movement and having spent the last 9 years at Stanford University as a professor and the last 8 as a Senior Fellow @ Columbia University. Steve is the author of "The Four Steps To The Epiphany" and "The Startup Owner's Manual". Prior to joining the world of academics and writing Steve spent over 20 years in the world of entrepreneurship as part of, or co-founded eight Silicon Valley startups ranging from semiconductors, video games, personal computers, and supercomputers. If that was not enough, Steve is also on the Defense Business Board for the United States Department of Defence.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Steve made his way into the world of startups and Silicon Valley and how that led to his creation of "The Lean Startup Movement"?
2.) Why does Steve vehemently disagree with Adam's Smith's "Invisible Hand" theory when it comes to government intervention? Why is this proven to have failed? How does this only help the rich become richer? As a result, what needs to change in the mechanics of the economy?
3.) Why does Steve not believe that there is accountability placed on investors and founders for projects they create and invest in? Why does Steve believe for the majority of investors today, they have no social conscience? How could this be changed and improved?
4.) How did seeing the booms and busts of the dot com and 2008 impact Steve's operating mentality? What are the 3 core traits that will ensure success for founders in a post COVID world? How should founders change their decision-making process post-COVID? Why does Steve believe in "benign dictatorship"?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Steve’s Fave Book: Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to The 20-minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and what a show we have in store for you today, |
| 0:04.3 | one of the leading luminaries of the Valley, and one I remember studying and reading all of their work, |
| 0:08.7 | so ferociously in my more foundational years. And so I'm thrilled to welcome Steve Blank, |
| 0:13.1 | the man credited with being foundational to the creation of the Lean Startup Movement, |
| 0:17.2 | and having spent the last nine years at Stanford University as a professor, and the last |
| 0:20.8 | eight is a senior fellow at Columbia University. Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany, |
| 0:25.6 | my personal favourite, and also the startup owner's manual, which is also fantastic, and prior to joining |
| 0:30.6 | the world of academics and writing, Steve spent over 20 years in the world of entrepreneurship, |
| 0:34.7 | as part of, or co--founding eight Silicon Valley startups, |
| 0:38.4 | ranging from semiconductors to video games to personal computers to supercomputers. And if that wasn't |
| 0:43.8 | enough, Steve is also on the defense business board for the United States Department of Defense. |
| 0:48.5 | But before we move into the show state, I'm sure you've heard about it, but my word, this is a product I love, |
| 0:53.2 | Carter. Carter simplifies how startups and investors manage equity, track cap tables, and get valuations. |
| 0:59.3 | Go to carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. |
| 1:03.1 | More than 800,000 employees and shareholders. |
| 1:05.9 | Use Carter to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity, |
| 1:08.9 | and Carter now offers fund administration. |
| 1:10.7 | So you can see in real time, data in the Carter equity, and Carter now offers fund administration, |
| 1:16.0 | so you can see in real time data in the Carter platform and work with Carter's team of experienced fund accountants. Again, go to carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. And speaking of amazing |
| 1:22.4 | products you've heard about with Carter there, last month I had Jeff Seiber and Wayne Chang on the show |
| 1:26.7 | from Digis. Simply put, they're two of the best founders that I've Jeff Seiber and Wayne Chang on the show from Digges. |
| 1:31.3 | Simply put, they're two of the best founders that I've ever met, and they're creating the most intuitive financial software that you've ever seen or used, automatically analyzing your |
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