Steve Blank is an American entrepreneur, educator and author whose work focuses on how new ventures differ from established companies. His books include The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual, the latter written with Bob Dorf. Blank created the customer development method that helped launch the lean startup movement, and the Lean Launchpad class he built became a standard for science commercialization at federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation. He also co-created the Hacking for Defense program and the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford.
