Steve Blank

Steve Blank (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, educator, author and speaker. He created the customer development method that launched the lean startup movement. His work has influenced modern entrepreneurship through the creation of tools and processes for new ventures which differ from those used in large companies. Between 1978 and 2002, Blank worked at eight different technology startups, founding, or co-founding, four of them. Blank created the Lean Launchpad class and I-Corps curriculum which became the standard for science commercialization for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy. As of 2023, more than 3,051 teams and 1,300 startups have employed Blank's methodologies. Blank is co-creator of the U.S. Department of Defense's Hacking for Defense program, and served on the Defense Business Board and the U.S. Navy's Science and Technological Board. He is co-creator of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University.