Steve Blank Quotes

Once you understand business models you can then start prototyping business models just like you prototype products.

If you really stay focused on what your beliefs are and what your customer wants, you'll find the right markets.

When looking at trends I always ask myself basic and timeless questions about business, and the one I seem to always come back to is, 'How is this different than anything else in the marketplace?'

You can learn everything that there is to know about the industry or the player from the company that is performing better or worse.

First, you must have entrepreneurs who fully grasp their customers. They understand their product so well because they themselves are customers. The second thing is having an awesome value proposition.

We recognize the need to adapt to a changing competitive environment.

Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.

I learnt the hard way about positioning in business, about catering to the right segments.

You need to understand the market, know how you can differentiate yourself in it, and grasp the price and the functional differentiation competitive points that are going to allow you to be disruptive.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

We need to reengineer companies to focus on figuring out who the customer is, what's the market and what kind of product you should build.

Whatever business you're in - it doesn't matter - it's going to commoditize over time. It's going to devalue. You've got to keep moving it to a higher value.

... whatever business you're in, it doesn't matter, it's going to commoditize over time, it's going to devalue, you've got to keep moving it to a higher value. Keep going to a higher value in whatever it is that you do and force yourself and force the organization to always do it ahead of time

What we need to do is run our business. We need to come up with a value prop that is so compelling that customers have to go for it.

If you haven't created the time as an owner to understand why people are choosing your model over your competition, then you are only managing the business that comes in the door, not actively seeking it out.

Traditional businesses can say, 'We're going to sell widgets to people, and it will make X amount of profit.' But new business models are hard.

Successful strategic vision lay in the fact that we visualized the retail business to be much bigger, ahead of what others thought it to be.

Giving up your core business in search of a phantom audience is not wise.

I think every business is definitely different. There are certain businesses where execution is everything.

To thrive, all businesses must focus on the art of self-disruption. Rather than wait for the competition to steal your business, every founder and employee needs to be willing to cannibalize their existing revenue streams in order to create new ones. All disruption starts with introspection.

Business comes and goes and we make a strategic decision that could lead you to whole new place.

It's not a matter of being first, it's being there at the right time, being first in volume to market, and knowing what trends to stay away from.

We really don't look at our competitors. The market is big. If you focus too much on competitors, you can lose focus on the customer. If we make our customers happier, we are going to win.

The marketplace is absolutely mercurial. But what I love about our company is that we create a vision, and then we go all in.

Visionary CEOs are product- and business-model-centric and extremely customer focused.