Steve Blank Podcast
Steve Blank, eight-time entrepreneur and now a business school professor at Stanford, Columbia and Berkeley, shares his hard-won wisdom as he pioneers entrepreneurship as a management science, combining Customer Development, Business Model Design and Agile Development. The conclusion? Startups are simply not small versions of large companies! Startups are actually temporary organizations designed to search for a scalable and repeatable business model.
Latest episodes
May 27, 2025 • 15min
How the United States Gave Up Being a Science Superpower
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 economic growth.
May 18, 2025 • 11min
The Endless Frontier: U.S. Science and National Industrial Policy: Part 6a The Secret History of Silicon Valley
The U.S. has spent the last 70 years making massive investments in basic and applied research. Government funding of research started in World War II driven by the needs of the military for weapon systems to defeat Germany and Japan. Post WWII the responsibility for investing in research split between agencies focused on weapons development and space exploration (being completely customer-driven) and other agencies charted to fund basic and applied research in science and medicine (being driven by peer-review.)
May 12, 2025 • 16min
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.
May 6, 2025 • 6min
An MVP is not a Cheaper Product, It’s about Smart Learning
A minimum viable product (MVP) is not always a smaller/cheaper version of your final product. Defining the goal for a MVP can save you tons of time, money and grief.
Apr 29, 2025 • 5min
The Elves Leave Middle Earth – Sodas Are No Longer Free
Sometimes financial decisions that are seemingly rational on their face can precipitate mass exodus of your best engineers.
Apr 24, 2025 • 5min
How to get meetings with people too busy to see you
Discover the art of requesting meetings with busy professionals without sounding desperate. Learn how to offer genuine value instead of favors. Explore the cultural nuances of networking in Silicon Valley through engaging personal experiences. Gain insights on enhancing professional interactions by emphasizing mutual benefit, making your request stand out in a crowded inbox.
Apr 19, 2025 • 7min
Lying on your resume
It’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the coverup.
Apr 15, 2025 • 7min
Careers Start by Peeling Potatoes
Listening to my the family talk about dividing up the cooking chores for this Thanksgiving dinner, including who would peel the potatoes, reminded me that most careers start by peeling potatoes.
Apr 13, 2025 • 10min
Nuke’em ‘Till They Glow – Quitting My First Job
I started working when I was 14 (I lied about my age) and counting four years in the Air Force I’ve worked in 12 jobs. I left each one of them when I was bored, ready to move on, got fired, or learned as much as I can. There was only one job that I quit when I feared for my life.
Apr 7, 2025 • 8min
Agile Opportunism – Entrepreneurial DNA
Entrepreneurs tend to view adversity as opportunity.
