CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">   <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en-US">  <head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>Steve Blank Innovation and Entrepreneurship December 2023</title> <link rel="pingback" href="https://steveblank.com/xmlrpc.php" /> <meta name='robots' content='max-image-preview:large' /> <style>img:is([sizes="auto" i], [sizes^="auto," i]) { contain-intrinsic-size: 3000px 1500px }</style>  <meta name="google-site-verification" content="NzQX03n5c3BUqAOH2ZZeaOzmFxIKopb99y0xo7ymJ7w" /> <meta name="msvalidate.01" content="77BB8773D8C1446AC1C1A19B8355A369" /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//secure.gravatar.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//stats.wp.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//widgets.wp.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//jetpack.wordpress.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//s0.wp.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//public-api.wordpress.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//0.gravatar.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//1.gravatar.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//2.gravatar.com' /> <link rel='preconnect' href='//i0.wp.com' /> <link rel='preconnect' href='//c0.wp.com' /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Steve Blank » Feed" href="https://steveblank.com/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Steve Blank » Comments Feed" href="https://steveblank.com/comments/feed/" /> <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ window._wpemojiSettings = {"baseUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/","ext":".png","svgUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/svg\/","svgExt":".svg","source":{"concatemoji":"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-emoji-release.min.js?ver=6.7.1"}}; /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(i,n){var o,s,e;function c(e){try{var t={supportTests:e,timestamp:(new Date).valueOf()};sessionStorage.setItem(o,JSON.stringify(t))}catch(e){}}function p(e,t,n){e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(t,0,0);var t=new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data),r=(e.clearRect(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height),e.fillText(n,0,0),new Uint32Array(e.getImageData(0,0,e.canvas.width,e.canvas.height).data));return t.every(function(e,t){return e===r[t]})}function u(e,t,n){switch(t){case"flag":return n(e,"\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f","\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200b\u26a7\ufe0f")?!1:!n(e,"\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3","\ud83c\uddfa\u200b\ud83c\uddf3")&&!n(e,"\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f","\ud83c\udff4\u200b\udb40\udc67\u200b\udb40\udc62\u200b\udb40\udc65\u200b\udb40\udc6e\u200b\udb40\udc67\u200b\udb40\udc7f");case"emoji":return!n(e,"\ud83d\udc26\u200d\u2b1b","\ud83d\udc26\u200b\u2b1b")}return!1}function f(e,t,n){var r="undefined"!=typeof WorkerGlobalScope&&self instanceof WorkerGlobalScope?new OffscreenCanvas(300,150):i.createElement("canvas"),a=r.getContext("2d",{willReadFrequently:!0}),o=(a.textBaseline="top",a.font="600 32px Arial",{});return e.forEach(function(e){o[e]=t(a,e,n)}),o}function t(e){var t=i.createElement("script");t.src=e,t.defer=!0,i.head.appendChild(t)}"undefined"!=typeof Promise&&(o="wpEmojiSettingsSupports",s=["flag","emoji"],n.supports={everything:!0,everythingExceptFlag:!0},e=new Promise(function(e){i.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",e,{once:!0})}),new Promise(function(t){var n=function(){try{var e=JSON.parse(sessionStorage.getItem(o));if("object"==typeof e&&"number"==typeof e.timestamp&&(new Date).valueOf()<e.timestamp+604800&&"object"==typeof e.supportTests)return e.supportTests}catch(e){}return null}();if(!n){if("undefined"!=typeof Worker&&"undefined"!=typeof OffscreenCanvas&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&URL.createObjectURL&&"undefined"!=typeof Blob)try{var e="postMessage("+f.toString()+"("+[JSON.stringify(s),u.toString(),p.toString()].join(",")+"));",r=new Blob([e],{type:"text/javascript"}),a=new Worker(URL.createObjectURL(r),{name:"wpTestEmojiSupports"});return void(a.onmessage=function(e){c(n=e.data),a.terminate(),t(n)})}catch(e){}c(n=f(s,u,p))}t(n)}).then(function(e){for(var t in e)n.supports[t]=e[t],n.supports.everything=n.supports.everything&&n.supports[t],"flag"!==t&&(n.supports.everythingExceptFlag=n.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&n.supports[t]);n.supports.everythingExceptFlag=n.supports.everythingExceptFlag&&!n.supports.flag,n.DOMReady=!1,n.readyCallback=function(){n.DOMReady=!0}}).then(function(){return e}).then(function(){var e;n.supports.everything||(n.readyCallback(),(e=n.source||{}).concatemoji?t(e.concatemoji):e.wpemoji&&e.twemoji&&(t(e.twemoji),t(e.wpemoji)))}))}((window,document),window._wpemojiSettings); /* ]]> */ </script> <link rel='stylesheet' id='all-css-cb7ade03dc0ef7ebc2e1117796e7d27c' href='https://steveblank.com/_static/??-eJydUdtuwyAM/aFRtkVV1YdqnzI5YFEv5iIMivj7kqqV0j5sWV8Qh3PRwZ6TomC4WhRtRLQlKXrkaCbFNGbITUtpjDtPYdcFb/PK8CPaoyVARo+hPIDE0DArRgembXJ3bo3XHhNDWSTl3KmlpHPDrdeTInF1FHo4lgRm0j7aysvfIMcqyFpmSr3XWIN9wX0j1P1ha0AhRqscMGOf6C9oayDT1M9/jUDqKCZTKhTDE9occYaMFqxt1ysF95fzu69bSzQErDi6KA/gvuMvf/o4DO/H437/OVwAUzb8iA==' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='wp-block-library-inline-css'> .has-text-align-justify{text-align:justify;} </style> <style id='wp-emoji-styles-inline-css'> img.wp-smiley, img.emoji { display: inline !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; height: 1em !important; width: 1em !important; margin: 0 0.07em !important; vertical-align: -0.1em !important; background: none !important; padding: 0 !important; } </style> <style id='jetpack-sharing-buttons-style-inline-css'> .jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:0;list-style-type:none;margin:5px;padding:0}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-small-icon-size{font-size:12px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-normal-icon-size{font-size:16px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-large-icon-size{font-size:24px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-huge-icon-size{font-size:36px}@media print{.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:none!important}}.editor-styles-wrapper .wp-block-jetpack-sharing-buttons{gap:0;padding-inline-start:0}ul.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-background{padding:1.25em 2.375em} </style> <style id='classic-theme-styles-inline-css'> /*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} </style> <style id='global-styles-inline-css'> :root{--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--square: 1;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--4-3: 4/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-4: 3/4;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-2: 3/2;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--2-3: 2/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--16-9: 16/9;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--9-16: 9/16;--wp--preset--color--black: #000000;--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray: #abb8c3;--wp--preset--color--white: #ffffff;--wp--preset--color--pale-pink: #f78da7;--wp--preset--color--vivid-red: #cf2e2e;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange: #ff6900;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber: #fcb900;--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan: #7bdcb5;--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan: #00d084;--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue: #8ed1fc;--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue: #0693e3;--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple: #9b51e0;--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(6,147,227,1) 0%,rgb(155,81,224) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(122,220,180) 0%,rgb(0,208,130) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(252,185,0,1) 0%,rgba(255,105,0,1) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(255,105,0,1) 0%,rgb(207,46,46) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(238,238,238) 0%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(74,234,220) 0%,rgb(151,120,209) 20%,rgb(207,42,186) 40%,rgb(238,44,130) 60%,rgb(251,105,98) 80%,rgb(254,248,76) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,206,236) 0%,rgb(152,150,240) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(254,205,165) 0%,rgb(254,45,45) 50%,rgb(107,0,62) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,203,112) 0%,rgb(199,81,192) 50%,rgb(65,88,208) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,245,203) 0%,rgb(182,227,212) 50%,rgb(51,167,181) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(202,248,128) 0%,rgb(113,206,126) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--midnight: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(2,3,129) 0%,rgb(40,116,252) 100%);--wp--preset--font-size--small: 13px;--wp--preset--font-size--medium: 20px;--wp--preset--font-size--large: 36px;--wp--preset--font-size--x-large: 42px;--wp--preset--font-family--albert-sans: 'Albert Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--alegreya: Alegreya, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--arvo: Arvo, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--bodoni-moda: 'Bodoni Moda', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--bricolage-grotesque: 'Bricolage Grotesque', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--cabin: Cabin, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--chivo: Chivo, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--commissioner: Commissioner, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--cormorant: Cormorant, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--courier-prime: 'Courier Prime', monospace;--wp--preset--font-family--crimson-pro: 'Crimson Pro', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--dm-mono: 'DM Mono', monospace;--wp--preset--font-family--dm-sans: 'DM Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--dm-serif-display: 'DM Serif Display', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--domine: Domine, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--eb-garamond: 'EB Garamond', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--epilogue: Epilogue, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--fahkwang: Fahkwang, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--figtree: Figtree, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--fira-sans: 'Fira Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--fjalla-one: 'Fjalla One', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--fraunces: Fraunces, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--gabarito: Gabarito, system-ui;--wp--preset--font-family--ibm-plex-mono: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;--wp--preset--font-family--ibm-plex-sans: 'IBM Plex Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--ibarra-real-nova: 'Ibarra Real Nova', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--instrument-serif: 'Instrument Serif', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--inter: Inter, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--josefin-sans: 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--jost: Jost, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--libre-baskerville: 'Libre Baskerville', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--libre-franklin: 'Libre Franklin', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--literata: Literata, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--lora: Lora, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--merriweather: Merriweather, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--montserrat: Montserrat, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--newsreader: Newsreader, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--noto-sans-mono: 'Noto Sans Mono', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--nunito: Nunito, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--open-sans: 'Open Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--overpass: Overpass, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--pt-serif: 'PT Serif', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--petrona: Petrona, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--piazzolla: Piazzolla, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--playfair-display: 'Playfair Display', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--plus-jakarta-sans: 'Plus Jakarta Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--poppins: Poppins, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--raleway: Raleway, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--roboto: Roboto, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--roboto-slab: 'Roboto Slab', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--rubik: Rubik, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--rufina: Rufina, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--sora: Sora, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--source-sans-3: 'Source Sans 3', sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--source-serif-4: 'Source Serif 4', serif;--wp--preset--font-family--space-mono: 'Space Mono', monospace;--wp--preset--font-family--syne: Syne, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--texturina: Texturina, serif;--wp--preset--font-family--urbanist: Urbanist, sans-serif;--wp--preset--font-family--work-sans: 'Work Sans', sans-serif;--wp--preset--spacing--20: 0.44rem;--wp--preset--spacing--30: 0.67rem;--wp--preset--spacing--40: 1rem;--wp--preset--spacing--50: 1.5rem;--wp--preset--spacing--60: 2.25rem;--wp--preset--spacing--70: 3.38rem;--wp--preset--spacing--80: 5.06rem;--wp--preset--shadow--natural: 6px 6px 9px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);--wp--preset--shadow--deep: 12px 12px 50px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);--wp--preset--shadow--sharp: 6px 6px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);--wp--preset--shadow--outlined: 6px 6px 0px -3px rgba(255, 255, 255, 1), 6px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);--wp--preset--shadow--crisp: 6px 6px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);}:where(.is-layout-flex){gap: 0.5em;}:where(.is-layout-grid){gap: 0.5em;}body .is-layout-flex{display: flex;}.is-layout-flex{flex-wrap: wrap;align-items: center;}.is-layout-flex > :is(*, div){margin: 0;}body .is-layout-grid{display: grid;}.is-layout-grid > :is(*, div){margin: 0;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-flex){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-grid){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-flex){gap: 1.25em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-grid){gap: 1.25em;}.has-black-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red) !important;}.has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-cool-to-warm-spectrum-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum) !important;}.has-blush-light-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple) !important;}.has-blush-bordeaux-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux) !important;}.has-luminous-dusk-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk) !important;}.has-pale-ocean-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean) !important;}.has-electric-grass-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass) !important;}.has-midnight-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--midnight) !important;}.has-small-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--small) !important;}.has-medium-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--medium) !important;}.has-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--large) !important;}.has-x-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--x-large) !important;}.has-albert-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--albert-sans) !important;}.has-alegreya-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--alegreya) !important;}.has-arvo-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--arvo) !important;}.has-bodoni-moda-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--bodoni-moda) !important;}.has-bricolage-grotesque-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--bricolage-grotesque) !important;}.has-cabin-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--cabin) !important;}.has-chivo-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--chivo) !important;}.has-commissioner-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--commissioner) !important;}.has-cormorant-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--cormorant) !important;}.has-courier-prime-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--courier-prime) !important;}.has-crimson-pro-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--crimson-pro) !important;}.has-dm-mono-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--dm-mono) !important;}.has-dm-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--dm-sans) !important;}.has-dm-serif-display-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--dm-serif-display) !important;}.has-domine-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--domine) !important;}.has-eb-garamond-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--eb-garamond) !important;}.has-epilogue-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--epilogue) !important;}.has-fahkwang-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--fahkwang) !important;}.has-figtree-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--figtree) !important;}.has-fira-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--fira-sans) !important;}.has-fjalla-one-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--fjalla-one) !important;}.has-fraunces-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--fraunces) !important;}.has-gabarito-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--gabarito) !important;}.has-ibm-plex-mono-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--ibm-plex-mono) !important;}.has-ibm-plex-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--ibm-plex-sans) !important;}.has-ibarra-real-nova-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--ibarra-real-nova) !important;}.has-instrument-serif-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--instrument-serif) !important;}.has-inter-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--inter) !important;}.has-josefin-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--josefin-sans) !important;}.has-jost-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--jost) !important;}.has-libre-baskerville-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--libre-baskerville) !important;}.has-libre-franklin-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--libre-franklin) !important;}.has-literata-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--literata) !important;}.has-lora-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--lora) !important;}.has-merriweather-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--merriweather) !important;}.has-montserrat-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--montserrat) !important;}.has-newsreader-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--newsreader) !important;}.has-noto-sans-mono-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--noto-sans-mono) !important;}.has-nunito-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--nunito) !important;}.has-open-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--open-sans) !important;}.has-overpass-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--overpass) !important;}.has-pt-serif-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--pt-serif) !important;}.has-petrona-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--petrona) !important;}.has-piazzolla-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--piazzolla) !important;}.has-playfair-display-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--playfair-display) !important;}.has-plus-jakarta-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--plus-jakarta-sans) !important;}.has-poppins-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--poppins) !important;}.has-raleway-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--raleway) !important;}.has-roboto-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--roboto) !important;}.has-roboto-slab-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--roboto-slab) !important;}.has-rubik-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--rubik) !important;}.has-rufina-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--rufina) !important;}.has-sora-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--sora) !important;}.has-source-sans-3-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--source-sans-3) !important;}.has-source-serif-4-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--source-serif-4) !important;}.has-space-mono-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--space-mono) !important;}.has-syne-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--syne) !important;}.has-texturina-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--texturina) !important;}.has-urbanist-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--urbanist) !important;}.has-work-sans-font-family{font-family: var(--wp--preset--font-family--work-sans) !important;} :where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-flex){gap: 1.25em;}:where(.wp-block-post-template.is-layout-grid){gap: 1.25em;} :where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-flex){gap: 2em;}:where(.wp-block-columns.is-layout-grid){gap: 2em;} :root :where(.wp-block-pullquote){font-size: 1.5em;line-height: 1.6;} </style> <style id='jetpack-global-styles-frontend-style-inline-css'> :root { --font-headings: unset; --font-base: unset; --font-headings-default: -apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; --font-base-default: -apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;} </style> <script type="text/javascript" id="jetpack-mu-wpcom-settings-js-before"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var JETPACK_MU_WPCOM_SETTINGS = {"assetsUrl":"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/wp-content\/mu-plugins\/wpcomsh\/vendor\/automattic\/jetpack-mu-wpcom\/src\/build\/"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <link rel="https://api.w.org/" href="https://steveblank.com/wp-json/" /><link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="https://steveblank.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" /> <style>img#wpstats{display:none}</style> <meta name="description" content="1 post published by steve blank during December 2023" /> <style type="text/css"> #header h1 a, #header h1 a:hover, #header .description { color: #eb221e; } </style>   <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Steve Blank Innovation and Entrepreneurship December 2023" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Steve Blank" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://s0.wp.com/i/blank.jpg" /> <meta property="og:image:alt" content="" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US" />  <link rel="icon" href="https://s0.wp.com/i/webclip.png" sizes="32x32" /> <link rel="icon" href="https://s0.wp.com/i/webclip.png" sizes="192x192" /> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://s0.wp.com/i/webclip.png" /> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://s0.wp.com/i/webclip.png" />  <script type='text/javascript'> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-85363375-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' === document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script>  </head> <body class="archive date"><div id="container"> <div id="header"> <div id="menu"> <ul id="menu-menu" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-12086" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-home menu-item-12086"><a href="http://steveblank.com">Home</a></li> <li id="menu-item-12085" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12085"><a href="https://steveblank.com/about/">About Steve</a></li> <li id="menu-item-12083" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12083"><a href="https://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/">Startup Books</a></li> <li id="menu-item-12080" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12080"><a href="https://steveblank.com/slides/">Slides/Videos</a></li> <li id="menu-item-25611" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-25611"><a href="https://steveblank.com/raising-money/">Fund Raising</a></li> <li id="menu-item-12082" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12082"><a href="https://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/">Tools!</a></li> <li id="menu-item-12084" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12084"><a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="header-box"> <div id="header-image"> <img src="https://steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/cropped-100_3947-ks-far-away-download10.jpg" alt="" /> </div> <div id="header-overlay"> <img src="https://steveblank.com/wp-content/themes/digg3/images/bg_header_overlay.png" alt="" /> </div> <div id="pagetitle"> <h1><a href="https://steveblank.com/" title="Steve Blank">Steve Blank</a></h1> </div> <div id="syndication"> <a href="https://steveblank.com/feed/" title="Syndicate this site using RSS" class="feed">Entries <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a> | <a href="https://steveblank.com/comments/feed/" title="Syndicate comments using RSS">Comments RSS</a> </div> <div id="searchbox"> <form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://steveblank.com/"> <div> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="pagewrapper"><div id="page">  <div class="obar"> <ul> <li id="blog_subscription-3" class="widget widget_blog_subscription jetpack_subscription_widget"><h2 class="widgettitle">Email Subscription</h2> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__container"> <form action="#" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" id="subscribe-blog-blog_subscription-3" data-blog="6599589" data-post_access_level="everybody" > <div id="subscribe-text"><p>Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.</p> </div> <p id="subscribe-email"> <label id="jetpack-subscribe-label" class="screen-reader-text" for="subscribe-field-blog_subscription-3"> Email Address </label> <input type="email" name="email" required="required" value="" id="subscribe-field-blog_subscription-3" placeholder="Email Address" /> </p> <p id="subscribe-submit" > <input type="hidden" name="action" value="subscribe"/> <input type="hidden" name="source" value="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/"/> <input type="hidden" name="sub-type" value="widget"/> <input type="hidden" name="redirect_fragment" value="subscribe-blog-blog_subscription-3"/> <input type="hidden" id="_wpnonce" name="_wpnonce" value="e26999e3e3" /><input type="hidden" name="_wp_http_referer" value="/2023/12/" /> <button type="submit" class="wp-block-button__link" name="jetpack_subscriptions_widget" > Sign me up! </button> </p> </form> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__subscount"> Join 55.5K other subscribers </div> </div> </li> <li id="categories-356180491" class="widget widget_categories"><h2 class="widgettitle">Categories</h2> <ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-64203016"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/2-minute-lessons/">2 Minute Lessons</a> (15) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-2450"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/air-force/">Air Force</a> (19) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1457175"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/ardent/">Ardent</a> (9) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-45014641"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/business-model-versus-business-plan/">Business Model versus Business Plan</a> (64) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4787488"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/california-coastal-commission/">California Coastal Commission</a> (9) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1470"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/china/">China</a> (9) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-6987201"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/commencement-speeches/">Commencement Speeches</a> (9) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-23993"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/conservation/">Conservation</a> (4) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-3075385"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/convergent-technologies/">Convergent Technologies</a> (4) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-635806586"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/corporate-govt-innovation/">Corporate/Gov't Innovation</a> (131) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697702677"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/covid-19-recovery/">Covid-19/Recovery</a> (10) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1874987"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/">Customer Development</a> (323) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-25337102"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/customer-development-manifesto/">Customer Development Manifesto</a> (34) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16840"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/epiphany/">E.piphany</a> (13) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967638"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/educators-summit/">Educators Summit</a> (7) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967634"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/esl/">ESL</a> (8) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-64567312"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/familycareerculture/">Family/Career/Culture</a> (81) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967641"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/gordian-knot-center-for-national-security-innovation/">Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation</a> (11) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-479441927"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/hacking-for-defense/">Hacking For Defense</a> (41) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-526158618"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/hacking-for-diplomacy/">Hacking for Diplomacy</a> (10) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967637"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/hacking-for-recovery/">Hacking for Recovery</a> (5) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-105397"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/harvard-business-review/">Harvard Business Review</a> (12) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-684268037"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/innovation-doctrine/">Innovation Doctrine</a> (3) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-340390495"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/innovation-outposts/">Innovation Outposts</a> (4) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-217160777"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/investment-readiness-level/">Investment Readiness Level</a> (6) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-53169179"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/">Lean LaunchPad</a> (117) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-261983049"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/life-sciences-nih/">Life Sciences (NIH)</a> (26) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16879037"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/market-types/">Market Types</a> (15) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-175"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/marketing/">Marketing</a> (27) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-28276971"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/mips-computers/">MIPS Computers</a> (2) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967640"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/national-security/">National Security</a> (40) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-2064"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/navy/">Navy</a> (6) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-34826422"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/nih-national-institutes-of-health/">NIH (National Institutes of Health)</a> (17) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16770755"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/nsf-national-science-foundation/">NSF (National Science Foundation)</a> (18) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16848661"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/rocket-science-games/">Rocket Science Games</a> (10) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-137272104"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/science-and-industrial-policy/">Science and Industrial Policy</a> (27) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16849552"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/">Secret History of Silicon Valley</a> (26) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-50184180"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/siriusxm-radio-show/">SiriusXM Radio Show</a> (50) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-235742"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/supermac/">SuperMac</a> (12) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1591"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/teaching/">Teaching</a> (178) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-6"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/technology/">Technology</a> (86) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967636"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/technology-innovation-and-modern-war/">Technology Innovation and Great Power Competition</a> (17) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-697967642"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/technology-innovation-and-modern-war-2/">Technology Innovation and Modern War</a> (20) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-429989"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/tesla/">Tesla</a> (5) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/uncategorized/">Uncategorized</a> (8) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-202"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/venture-capital/">Venture Capital</a> (82) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-1087649"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/vertical-markets/">Vertical Markets</a> (5) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-715437"><a href="https://steveblank.com/category/zilog/">Zilog</a> (5) </li> </ul> </li> <li id="rss_links-3" class="widget widget_rss_links"><h2 class="widgettitle">Get Steve Blank via your RSS Feed</h2> <ul><li><a target="_self" href="https://steveblank.com/feed/" title="Subscribe to posts">RSS - Posts</a></li><li><a target="_self" href="https://steveblank.com/comments/feed/" title="Subscribe to comments">RSS - Comments</a></li></ul> </li> <li id="recent-posts-2" class="widget widget_recent_entries"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Recent Posts</h2> <ul> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/10/22/quantum-computing-an-update/">Quantum Computing – An Update</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/10/08/how-saboteurs-threaten-innovation-and-what-to-do-about-it/">How Saboteurs Threaten Innovation–and What to Do About It</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/10/05/what-does-product-market-fit-sound-like-this/">What Does Product Market Fit Sound Like? This.</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/">How To Find Your Customer In the Dept of Defense – The Directory of DoD Program Executive Offices</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/08/13/security-clearances-at-the-speed-of-startups/">Security Clearances at the Speed of Startups</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/">Why Large Organizations Struggle With Disruption, and What to Do About It</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/06/27/lean-launchpad-stanford-2024-8-teams-in-8-companies-out/">Lean LaunchPad @Stanford 2024 – 8 Teams In, 8 Companies Out</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/06/24/hacking-for-defense-stanford-2024-lessons-learned-presentations/">Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2024 – Lessons Learned Presentations</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/06/03/youre-invited-hacking-for-defense-and-lean-launchpad-final-presentations/">You’re Invited: Hacking for Defense and Lean LaunchPad Final Presentations</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/26/gordon-bell-r-i-p/">Gordon Bell R.I.P.</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="search-2" class="widget widget_search"><form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://steveblank.com/"> <div> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form></li> <li id="archives-2" class="widget widget_archive"><h2 class="widgettitle">Archives</h2> <ul> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/10/'>October 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/09/'>September 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/08/'>August 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/07/'>July 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/06/'>June 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/05/'>May 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/04/'>April 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/03/'>March 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/02/'>February 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2024/01/'>January 2024</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/12/' aria-current="page">December 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/11/'>November 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/10/'>October 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/09/'>September 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/08/'>August 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/07/'>July 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/04/'>April 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/02/'>February 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2023/01/'>January 2023</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/11/'>November 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/10/'>October 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/09/'>September 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/06/'>June 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/05/'>May 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/04/'>April 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/03/'>March 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2022/01/'>January 2022</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/12/'>December 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/11/'>November 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/10/'>October 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/09/'>September 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/08/'>August 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/07/'>July 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/06/'>June 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/05/'>May 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/04/'>April 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/03/'>March 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/02/'>February 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2021/01/'>January 2021</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/12/'>December 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/11/'>November 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/10/'>October 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/09/'>September 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/08/'>August 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/07/'>July 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/06/'>June 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/05/'>May 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/04/'>April 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/03/'>March 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/02/'>February 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2020/01/'>January 2020</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/12/'>December 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/11/'>November 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/10/'>October 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/09/'>September 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/06/'>June 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/05/'>May 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/04/'>April 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/03/'>March 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2019/01/'>January 2019</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/12/'>December 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/11/'>November 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/10/'>October 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/09/'>September 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/08/'>August 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/07/'>July 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/06/'>June 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/04/'>April 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/03/'>March 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/02/'>February 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2018/01/'>January 2018</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/11/'>November 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/10/'>October 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/09/'>September 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/08/'>August 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/07/'>July 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/06/'>June 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/05/'>May 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/04/'>April 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/03/'>March 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/02/'>February 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2017/01/'>January 2017</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/12/'>December 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/11/'>November 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/10/'>October 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/09/'>September 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/08/'>August 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/07/'>July 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/06/'>June 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/05/'>May 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/04/'>April 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/03/'>March 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/02/'>February 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2016/01/'>January 2016</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/12/'>December 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/11/'>November 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/10/'>October 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/09/'>September 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/08/'>August 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/07/'>July 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/06/'>June 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/05/'>May 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/03/'>March 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/02/'>February 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2015/01/'>January 2015</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/12/'>December 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/11/'>November 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/10/'>October 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/09/'>September 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/08/'>August 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/07/'>July 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/06/'>June 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/05/'>May 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/04/'>April 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/03/'>March 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/02/'>February 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2014/01/'>January 2014</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/12/'>December 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/11/'>November 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/10/'>October 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/09/'>September 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/08/'>August 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/07/'>July 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/06/'>June 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/05/'>May 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/04/'>April 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/03/'>March 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/02/'>February 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2013/01/'>January 2013</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/12/'>December 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/11/'>November 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/10/'>October 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/09/'>September 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/08/'>August 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/07/'>July 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/06/'>June 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/05/'>May 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/04/'>April 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/03/'>March 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/02/'>February 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2012/01/'>January 2012</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/12/'>December 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/11/'>November 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/10/'>October 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/09/'>September 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/08/'>August 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/07/'>July 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/06/'>June 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/05/'>May 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/04/'>April 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/03/'>March 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/02/'>February 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/01/'>January 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/12/'>December 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/11/'>November 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/10/'>October 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/09/'>September 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/08/'>August 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/07/'>July 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/06/'>June 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/05/'>May 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/04/'>April 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/03/'>March 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/02/'>February 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/01/'>January 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/12/'>December 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/11/'>November 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/10/'>October 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/09/'>September 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/08/'>August 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/07/'>July 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/06/'>June 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/05/'>May 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/04/'>April 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/03/'>March 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/02/'>February 2009</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="pages-2" class="widget widget_pages"><h2 class="widgettitle">Other Stuff</h2> <ul> <li class="page_item page-item-2"><a href="https://steveblank.com/about/">About Steve</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-22"><a href="https://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/">Startup Tools</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-62"><a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-68"><a href="https://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/">Books for Startups</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-11025"><a href="https://steveblank.com/slides/">Slides/Videos</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-25609"><a href="https://steveblank.com/raising-money/">Raising Money</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div>  <div class="narrowcolumnwrapper"><div class="narrowcolumn"> <div id="content" class="content"> <div class="post-30190 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-national-security category-navy category-secret-history-of-silicon-valley" id="post-30190"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" rel="bookmark">The Secret History of Minnesota Part 1: Engineering Research Associates</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">December 11, 2023</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p>This post is the latest in the “<a href="http://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/">Secret History Series</a>.” They’ll make much more sense if you watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo">video</a> or read some of the <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>earlier posts</u></a> for context. See the <a href="http://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History bibliography</a> for sources and supplemental reading.</p> <hr /> <div id="attachment_2394" style="width: 196px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2394" data-attachment-id="2394" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2009/06/22/2392/hp-letter/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=2012%2C2210&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2012,2210" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS 40D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1245094324","copyright":"","focal_length":"56","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":""}" data-image-title="HP Letter" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=273%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=468%2C514&ssl=1" class="wp-image-2394" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?resize=186%2C204&ssl=1" alt="" width="186" height="204" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-2394" class="wp-caption-text">No Knowledge of Computers</p></div> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Silicon Valley emerged from work in World War II led by Stanford professor Fred Terman developing microwave and electronics for Electronic Warfare systems. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, spurred on by Terman, Silicon Valley was selling microwave components and systems to the Defense Department, and the first fledging chip companies (Shockley, Fairchild, National, Rheem, Signetics…) were in their infancy. <em>But there were no computer companies</em>. Silicon Valley wouldn’t have a computer company until 1966 when Hewlett Packard shipped the <a href="https://computerhistory.org/blog/50th-anniversary-of-the-hp-2116-minicomputer/">HP 2116 minicomputer</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Meanwhile the biggest and fastest <em>scientific</em> computer companies were in Minnesota. And by 1966 they had been delivering computers for 16 years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Minneapolis/St. Paul area companies ERA, Control Data and Cray would dominate the world of scientific computing and be an innovation cluster for computing until the mid-1980s. And then they were gone.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Why?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Just as Silicon Valley’s roots can be traced to innovation in World War II so can Minneapolis/St. Paul’s. The story starts with a company you probably never heard of – Engineering Research Associates.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>It Started With Code Breaking<br /> </strong>For thousands of years, every nation has tried to keep its diplomatic and military communications secret. They do that by <a href="https://cloud.google.com/learn/what-is-encryption" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encrypting</a> (protecting the information by using a cipher/code) to scramble the messages. Other nations try to read those messages by attempting to break those codes.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During the 1930s the U.S. Army and Navy each had their own small code breaking groups. The Navy’s was called CSAW (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OP-20-G" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Communications Supplemental Activity Washington</a>) also known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OP-20-G">OPS-20-G</a>. The Army codebreaking group was the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Events/Article-View/Article/2740643/signal-intelligence-service/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Signal Intelligence Service</a> (SIS) at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_Hall">Arlington Hall</a><u>.</u></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Army focused on decrypting (breaking/decoding) Japan’s diplomatic and Army codes while the Navy worked on breaking Japan’s Naval codes. This was not a harmonious arrangement. The competition between the Army and Navy code breaking groups was so contentious <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jun/29/2002751422/-1/-1/0/ORIGINS_OF_NSA.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that in 1940 they agreed</a> that the Army would decode and translate Japanese diplomatic code on the even days of the month and the Navy would decode and translate the messages on the odd days of the month. This arrangement lasted until Dec. 7, 1941.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">At the start of WWII the Army and Navy code breaking groups each had few hundred people mainly focused on breaking Japanese codes. By the end of WWII, with the U.S. now fighting Germany, and the Soviet Union looming as a potential adversary U.S. code breaking would grow to 20,000 people working on breaking the codes of Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The two groups would merge in 1949 as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency#:~:text=History-,Formation,known%20as%20the%20Cipher%20Bureau." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Armed Forces Security Agency and then become the National Security Agency</a> (NSA) in 1952.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Rise of the Machines in Cryptography<br /> </strong>Prior to 1932 practically all code breaking by the Army and Navy was done by hand. That year they began using commercial <em>mechanical </em>accounting equipment – the IBM <a href="https://pattonhq.com/ibm.html">keypunch</a>, <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/sorters.html">card sorters</a>, reproducers and <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/tabulator.html">tabulators</a>. The Army and Navy each had their own approach to automating cryptography. The Navy had a Rapid Analytical Machines project with hopes to build machines to integrate optics, microfilm and electronics into cryptanalytic tools. (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zpjpvxpJzMMp2BTsxx2PObH7IJopoq-u/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vannevar Bush at MIT was trying to build one for the Navy</a>.) As WWII loomed, the advanced Rapid Machines projects were put on hold, and the Army and Navy used hundreds of specially modified <em>commercial </em>IBM electromechanical systems to decrypt codes.</p> <div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Read the sidebars for more detailed information</em></p> <blockquote> <div> <div> <h3><b>Electromechanical Cryptologic Systems in WWII</b></h3> </div> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By the spring 1941, the Army built the first special-purpose cryptologic attachment to the IBM punched card equipment – the <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/02/2002755855/-1/-1/0/FAMOUS-FIRST-FACTS.PDF">GeeWhizzer</a> using relays and rotary switches to help break the <a href="http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-japanese-j-19-fuji-code_1.html">Japanese diplomatic code</a>s. That same year, the Navy received the first in a series of <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/02/2002755855/-1/-1/0/FAMOUS-FIRST-FACTS.PDF">13 electro-mechanical IBM Navy Change Machines</a> to automate decrypting cipher systems used by the Japanese Navy. The Navy attachments were extensive modifications of IBM’s standard <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/sorters.html">card sorters</a>, reproducers and <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/tabulator.html">tabulators</a>. Some could be manually reconfigured via <a href="https://www.glennsmuseum.com/items/ibm_card/">plugboards</a> to do different tasks.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During the war the Army and Navy built ~75 of these electro-mechanical and optical systems. Some were standalone units the size of a room.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">However, the bulk of the cryptoanalysis was done with IBM punch cards, sorters and tabulators, along with special <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781119061601.app3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">microfilm comparators from Eastman Kodak</a>. By the end of the War the Army and Navy had <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_154/41745979078521.pdf">750 IBM machines</a> using several million punch cards every day.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">IBM’s other mechanical contribution to cryptanalysts was the <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/cxco/index.htm">Letterwriter</a>, (codenamed CXCO) a desktop machine that tied together electric typewriters to teletype, automatic tape and card punches, microfilm and eventually to film-processing machines.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30197" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/ibm-letterwritter/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=719%2C361&ssl=1" data-orig-size="719,361" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IBM Letterwritter" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=300%2C151&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=468%2C235&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30197 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=229%2C115&ssl=1" alt="" width="229" height="115" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?w=719&ssl=1 719w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=300%2C151&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=150%2C75&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px" /></a> By adding plug-boards they could automate some analysis steps. Hundreds of these were bought.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Navy’s most advanced cryptographic machine work in WWII was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">building 125 U.S. versions</a> of the British code breaking machine called the <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/">BOMBE</a>. These electromechanical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe">BOMBES</a> were used to crack the ENIGMA, the cipher machine used by the Germans.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30198" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/ncr-bombe/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=681%2C536&ssl=1" data-orig-size="681,536" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="NCR Bombe" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=300%2C236&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=468%2C368&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30198 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=242%2C191&ssl=1" alt="" width="242" height="191" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?w=681&ssl=1 681w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=300%2C236&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=150%2C118&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px" /></a>Designed by the Navy’s OPS-20-G team and <a href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/bombe_us.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">built at National Cash Register</a> (NCR) in Dayton, <a href="https://daytoncodebreakers.org/depth/wenger/">this same Computing Machine Lab would build ~25 other types of electromechanical and optical machines</a>, some the size of a room with <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/150065">3,500 tubes</a>, to assist in breaking Japanese and German codes. By the end of the war the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">Naval Computing Machine Lab</a> was arguably building the most sophisticated electronic machines in the U.S. However, none of these machines were computers. They had no memory, and both were “‘hard-wired” to perform just one task.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">(Meanwhile in England the British code breaking group in <a href="https://bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/75-years-since-colossus-arrived-at-bletchley/">Bletchley Park</a> built <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer">Colossus</a>, arguably the first digital computer. At the end of the War the British offered the Navy OPS-20-G code breaking group a Colossus but the Navy turned it down.)</p> </blockquote> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Dual-Use Technology<br /> </strong>As the war was winding down, the leadership of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">Navy Computing Machine Lab</a> in OPS-20-G was thinking about how they could permanently link commercial, academic and military computing science and innovation to the Navy. After discovering that no commercial company was willing to continue their wartime work of building the specialized hardware for codebreaking, the Navy realized they needed a new company. The decided that the best way to do that was to encourage a private for-profit company to spin out and build advanced crypto-computing systems.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Secretary of the Navy gave his OK and three officers in the Navy’s code breaking group (Commander Howard Engstrom, who had been a math professor at Yale; Lieutenant Commander William “Bill” Norris, an electrical engineer; and their contracting officer Captain Ralph Meader,) agreed to start a civilian company to continue building specialized systems to help break codes. While unique for the time, this public-private partnership was in-line with the wartime experiment of Vannevar Bush’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Scientific_Research_and_Development">OSRD</a> – using civilians in universities to develop military weapons.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Why Minneapolis/St. Paul?<br /> </strong>While it seemed like a good idea and had the Navy’s backing, the founders got turned down for funding by companies, investment bankers and everyone, until they talked to John Parker.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Serendipity came to Minneapolis-St. Paul when the Navy team met <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107593/oh099jep.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Parker</a>. Parker was a ex Naval Academy graduate and a Minneapolis businessman who owned a glider manufacturing company and was well connected in Washington. Parker agreed to invest. In January 1946, they founded Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Parker became President, and got 50% of the company’s equity for a $20,000 investment (equal to $315K today) and guaranteed a $200,000 line of credit (equal to $3M today). The professional staff owned the other 50%. The new company moved into Parker’s glider hanger. Norris became the VP of Engineering, Engstrom the VP of Research, and Meader VP of Manufacturing.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The company hit the ground running. 41 of the best and brightest ex-Navy technical team members of the Naval Computing Machine Lab in Dayton moved and became the initial technical staff of ERA. When the Navy added their own staff from the Dayton Laboratory the ERA facility was designated a Naval Reserve Base and armed guards were posted at the entrance. The company took on any engineering work that came their way but were kept in business developing new code-breaking machines for the Navy. Most of the machines were custom-built to crack a specific code, and increasingly used a new ERA invention – the magnetic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_memory">drum memory</a> to process and analyze the coded texts.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA’s headcount grew rapidly. Within a year the company had 145 people. A year later, 420. And by 1949, 652 employees and by 1955, <a href="https://www.vipclubmn.org/Articles/1971Paper.pdf">1400</a>. Sales in their first fiscal year were $1.5 million ($22 million in today’s dollars).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During World War II the demands of war industries caused millions more Americans to move to where most defense plants located. Post-war era Americans were equally mobile, willing to move where the opportunities were. And if you were an engineer who wanted to work on the cutting edge of electronics, and electromechanical systems, ERA in Minneapolis-St. Paul was the place to be. (Applicants were told that ERA was doing electronics work for government and industry. Those who wanted more detail were given a number of cover stories. Many were told that ERA was working on airline seat reservation systems.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>How Did ERA Grow So Quickly?<br /> </strong>The Navy thought of ERA as its “captive corporation.” From the first day <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107551/oh116wcn.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">ERA started with contracts from the Navy</a> OPS-20-G codebreaking group. ERA built the most advanced electronic systems of the time. Unfortunately for the company they couldn’t tell anyone as their customer was the most secret government agency in the country – the National Security Agency.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERAs systems were designed to solve problems defined by their Navy code-breaking customer. They fell into two categories: some projects were designed to automate existing workflows of decoding known ciphers; others were used to discover breaks into new ciphers. And with the start of the Cold War, that meant Soviet cryptosystems. ERAs cryptanalytic devices were most often designed to break only one particular foreign cipher machine (which kept a stream of new contracts coming.) The specific purpose and target of each of these systems with colorful codenames are still classified.</p> <blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30228" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-help-wanted-ad-2-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=384%2C392&ssl=1" data-orig-size="384,392" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA help wanted ad 2 photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=294%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=384%2C392&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30228" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=156%2C159&ssl=1" alt="" width="156" height="159" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?w=384&ssl=1 384w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=294%2C300&ssl=1 294w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=147%2C150&ssl=1 147w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 156px) 100vw, 156px" /></a><strong>What Did ERA Build For the National Security Agency (NSA)?</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By the end of ERA’s first year, ERA had contracts for a digital device called Alcatraz which used thousands of vacuum tubes and relays. A contract for a system named O’Malley followed. Then two “exhaustive trial” systems called <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/hecate/index.htm">Hecate</a> for $250,000 ($3.2 million in today’s dollars) and the follow-on system, <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/warlock/index.htm">Warlock </a>($500,000 – $6.4 million today.) Warlock was so large that it was kept at the ERA factory and operated as a remote operations center.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Next were the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_107/41743419078275.pdf">Robin machines, a photoelectric comparator</a>, used to attack the Soviet Albatross code. The first two were delivered in the end of 1950. Thirteen more were delivered to NSA over the next two years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA Disk Drives<br /> </em><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the problems code breakers had was the difficulty of being able to store and operate on large sets of data. To do so, cryptanalysts used thousands of punched cards, miles of paper tapes and microfilm. ERA was the pioneer in the development of an early form of disk drives called magnetic drum memories.</span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30207" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-drum-memory-photos-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=966%2C774&ssl=1" data-orig-size="966,774" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Drum Memory photos" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=468%2C375&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30207 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=163%2C130&ssl=1" alt="" width="163" height="130" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?w=966&ssl=1 966w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=768%2C615&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 163px) 100vw, 163px" /></a>ERA used these magnetic drums in the special systems they built for NSA and later in their Atlas computers. They also sold them as </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.magnetic-storage-systems.ca1958.102646316.pdf">peripherals to other computer companies</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/goldberg_and_demon.html">Goldberg</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> which followed, was another room-sized special purpose machine – a comparator with statistical capabilities – that took photoelectric sensing and paper tape scanning to new heights. </span><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30211" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-goldberg-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=897%2C585&ssl=1" data-orig-size="897,585" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Goldberg" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=468%2C305&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30211 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=205%2C134&ssl=1" alt="" width="205" height="134" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=150%2C98&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=768%2C501&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?w=897&ssl=1 897w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Costing $250,000 ($3.2 million in today’s dollars), it had 7,000 tubes and was one of the first Agency machines to use a magnetic drum to store and handle data.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Another similarly sized system, <a href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/goldberg_and_demon.html">Demon</a>, followed. It was a dictionary machine designed to crack a Soviet code. It also used 34-inch-diameter magnetic drum to perform a specialized version of table lookup. Three of these large systems were delivered.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA engineers operated at the same relentless and exhausting pace as they had done in war time – similar to how Silicon Valley silicon and computer companies would operate three decades later.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For the next decade ERA would continue to deliver a stream of special-purpose code breaking electronic systems and subsystems for the Navy cryptologic community. (These NSA documents give a hint at the number and variety of encryption and decryption equipment at NSA in the early 1950’s: <a href="https://cryptomuseum.com/cam/files/NSA_19520613_CAM.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_107/41743419078275.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here,</a> <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_154/41745979078521.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_106/41743689078291.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/patent-equipment/FOLDER_425/41774259081336.pdf">here</a>.)</p> </blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA was undercapitalized and always looking for other products to sell. At the same time ERA was building systems for the NSA they pursued other lines of businesses; <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA952695.pdf">research studies on liquid fueled rockets</a>, <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/couplers.html">aircraft antenna couplers</a> (which turned into a profitable product line,) a Doppler Miss Distance Indicator, <a href="https://crosleyautoclub.com/GasPorter/GasPorter.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ground Support Equipment</a> (GSE) for airlines, and Project Boom to produce instrumentation for what would become underground nuclear tests. A 1950 study for the Office of Naval Research called <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/era/High_Speed_Computing_Devices_1950.pdf">High-Speed Computing Devices</a> – a survey of all computers then existent in the U.S. As there was no single source of information about what was happening in the rapidly growing computer field, this ERA report became the bible of early U.S. computers.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Holy Grail – A Digital Computer for Cryptography?<br /> </strong>As complicated as the ERA machines were, they were still single function machines, not general purpose computers. But up until 1946 no one had built a general purpose computer.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With the war over what the Navy OP-20-G’s and Army SIS computing wizards really wanted was to create a single machine that could perform all the major cryptanalytic functions. The most important of the crypto techniques were based upon either locating repeated patterns, tallying massive numbers of letter patterns, and recognizing plain text, or performing some form of “exhaustive searching.”</p> <blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>How the NSA Got Their First Computers</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Their idea was to put each of these major cryptanalytic functions in separate, dedicated, single-function hardware boxes and connect them through a central switching mechanism. That would allow cryptanalysts to tie them together in any configuration; and hook it all to free-standing input/output mechanisms. With a stock of these specialized boxes the agencies believed they could create any desired cryptanalytic engine.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Just as the consensus for this type of architecture was coalescing, a new idea emerged in 1946 – the concept of a general purpose digital computer with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture">von Neumann architecture</a>. In contrast to having many separate hardwired functions, a general purpose computer would have just the four basic arithmetic ones (add, subtract, multiple and divide) along with a few that allowed movement of data between the input-output components, memory, and a single central processor. In theory, one piece of hardware could be made to imitate any machine through an inexpensive and easily changed set of instructions.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Opponents to the project believed that a von Neumann design would always be too slow because it had only a single processor to do everything. (This debate between dedicated special purpose hardware versus general purpose computers continues to this day.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The tipping point in this debate happened <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/3106067/Document-01.pdf">in 1946 when an OPS-20-G engineer went to the Moore School’s 1946 summer course on computers</a>. The Moore School’s computer group had just completed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC">ENIAC</a>, arguably the first programmable digital computer, and they were beginning to sketch the outlines of their own new computer, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I#:~:text=The%20UNIVAC%20I%20(Universal%20Automatic,the%20inventors%20of%20the%20ENIAC.">UNIVAC</a> the first computer for business applications. The engineer came back to the Navy computing group an advocate for building a general-purpose digital computer for codebreaking having convinced himself that most cryptanalysis could be performed through digital methods. He prepared a report to show that his device would be useful to everyone at OP-20-G. The report remained Top Secret for decades.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The report detailed how a general-purpose machine could have successfully attacked the <a href="https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.857/2019/project/24-Lami-Kallco-Guo-Shi.pdf">Japanese Purple codes</a> as well as German <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine">Enigma</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_(cryptography)">Fish</a> systems, and how it would be usefully against the current Soviet and <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/hagelin/index.htm">Hagelin</a> systems.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This changed everything for the NSA. They were now in the computer business.</p> </blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA’s ATLAS<br /> </em>In 1948 the Navy gave ERA the contract to produce its first digital computer called ATLAS to be used by OPS-20-G for codebreaking.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30209" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-ad-for-engineers-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=1110%2C576&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1110,576" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Ad for Engineers" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=300%2C156&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=468%2C243&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30209" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers-300x156.jpg?resize=208%2C108&ssl=1" alt="" width="208" height="108" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=1024%2C531&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=150%2C78&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=768%2C399&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?w=1110&ssl=1 1110w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Twenty four months later, ERA delivered the first of two 24-bit ATLAS I computers. <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/Documents/Sperry%20UNIVAC%20-%20The%20First%20Computer%20Company%20-%20Chapter%203%20ERA%20by%20George%20Champine%20-%201979.pdf">The Atlas was 45’ wide and 9’ long. It weighed 16,000 pounds</a> and was water cooled. Each ATLAS I cost the NSA $1.3 million ($16 million in today’s dollars).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In hindsight, the NSA <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crossed the Rubicon</a> when the ATLAS I arrived. Today, an intelligence agency without computers is unimaginable. Its purchase showed incredible foresight and initiated a new era of cryptanalysis at the NSA. It was one of the handful of general purpose, binary computers anywhere. Ten<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYd_QS4cONmf9YGO39aHJEf-hY8HglCV/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> years later the NSA would have 53 computers</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30215" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-atlas-console-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=800%2C640&ssl=1" data-orig-size="800,640" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="ERA Atlas console photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=468%2C374&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30215" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=200%2C160&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="160" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?w=800&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=768%2C614&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a>ERA asked the NSA for permission to offer the computer for commercial sale. The NSA required ERA to <a href="https://vaibhavsagar.com/blog/2019/09/08/popcount/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remove instructions that made the computer efficient for cryptography</a>, and that became the commercial version – the <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.1101.1951.102646300.pdf">ERA 1101</a> announced in December 1951. It had no operating or programming manual and its input/output facilities was a typewriter, a paper tape reader, and a paper tape punch. At the time, no programming languages existed.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30218" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-1101-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=1226%2C828&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1226,828" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA 1101 photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=300%2C203&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=468%2C316&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-30218" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=200%2C135&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="135" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C692&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=150%2C101&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=768%2C519&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?w=1226&ssl=1 1226w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA had delivered a breakthrough computer without having an understanding of its potential application or what a customer might have to do to use the machine. In search of commercial customers, ERA set up a ERA 1101 computer in Washington and offered it to companies as a <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.computation-center.1950.102646301.pdf">remote computing center</a>. As far as the commercial world knew ERA was a startup with no real computing expertise and this was their first offering. In addition, the only people with experience in writing applications for the 1101 were hidden away at NSA, and ERA was unable to staff the Arlington office to create programs for customers. Finally, ERA’s penchant for extreme secrecy left them unschooled in the art of marketing, sales, and Public Relations. When they couldn’t find any customers they donated the <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.1101.1951.102646300.pdf">ERA 1101</a> to Georgia Tech.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With their hands on their first ever general purpose digital computer, the Navy and ERA rapidly learned what needed to be improved. ERA’s follow-on computer, the ATLAS II was a 32-bit system with additional instruction extensions for cryptography. Two were delivered to NSA between 1953 and 1954. ATLAS II cost the NSA $2.3 million ($35 million today.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Late in 1952, a year before the ATLAS II was delivered to the NSA, ERA told <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Remington Rand</a> (who now owned the company) the ATLAS II computer existed (and the government had paid for its R&D costs) and it was competitive with the newly announced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_701" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBM 701</a>. When the ATLAS II was delivered to the NSA in 1953 they again asked for permission to sell it commercially (and again had to remove some instructions) which turned the Atlas II into the commercial <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_1103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ERA/Univac 1103</a>. (see its 1956 reference manual <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/1103/Univac_Scientific_1103A_Reference_Manual_1956.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30220" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-1103-configuration-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=1570%2C962&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1570,962" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA 1103 configuration photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=300%2C184&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=468%2C287&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30220" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=200%2C123&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="123" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C627&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=300%2C184&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=150%2C92&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=768%2C471&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=1536%2C941&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=1570&ssl=1 1570w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a>This time with Remington Rand’s experience in sales and marketing, the computer was a commercial success with about twenty 1103s sold.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA’s Bogart<br /> </em><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 1953, with the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ATLAS </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">computers in hand, the Navy realized that a smaller digital computer could be used for data conversion and editing, and to “clean up” raw data for input to larger computers. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was the </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.silogic.com/Athena/Bogart.html">Bogart</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30221" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-bogart-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=1244%2C866&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1244,866" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Bogart Photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=300%2C209&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=468%2C326&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30221" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=200%2C139&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="139" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C713&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=300%2C209&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=150%2C104&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=768%2C535&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?w=1244&ssl=1 1244w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Physically </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.silogic.com/Athena/Bogart.html">Bogart </a><span style="font-weight: 400;">was a “small, compact” (compared to the ATLAS) computer that weighed 3,000 pounds and covered 20 square feet of floor space. To get a feel of how insanely difficult it was to program a 1950’s computer take a look at the 1957 Bogart programming manual <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/BitsBakUp/BOGART%20Programmers%20Manual%20(July%201957).pdf">here</a>.) The Bogart design team was headed by <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/history-today-articles/10%202018/05OCT2018%20SEYMOUR%20CRAY%20and%20NSA.pdf?ver=P3xsKeHprvcBBChHKi77Gw%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seymour Cray</a>. E</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">RA delivered five Bogart machines to NSA. </span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Seymour Cray would reuse features of the Bogart logic design when he designed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Tactical_Data_System" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Navy Tactical Data System computers</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/USQ-17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNIVAC 490</a> and the Control Data Corporation’s <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/october/16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC 1604</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_160_series" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC 160</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By 1953, 40% of the University of Minnesota electrical engineering graduates – including Cray – were working for ERA.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The End of an ERA<br /> </strong>By 1952, the mainframe computer industry was beginning to take shape with office machine and electronics companies such as Remington Rand, Burroughs, National Cash Register, Raytheon, RCA and IBM. Parker, still the CEO, realized that the frantic chase of government contracts was unsustainable. (The relationship with the NSA’s procurement offices now run by Army staff, had become so strained that the Navy Computing Lab was unable to get an official letter of thanks sent to ERA for having developed the ATLAS.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Parker calculated that ERA needed $5 million to $10 million ($75 to $150 million in today’s dollars) to grow and compete with the existing companies in the commercial computing market. Even after the NSA took over the cryptologic work of OPS-20-G the formal contracts with ERA were done through the Navy’s Bureau of Ships. NSA was known as No Such Agency and on paper its relationship with ERA didn’t exist. As far as the public knew, ERA’s products were for “the Navy.” Given that ERA’s extraordinary technical work was unknown to anyone other than the NSA, Parker didn’t think he could raise the money via a public offering (venture capital as we know it didn’t exist.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Instead, in 1952, Parker sold ERA to Remington Rand (best known for producing typewriters) for $1.7M (about $12M in today’s dollars.) A year earlier, Remington Rand had bought <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckert%E2%80%93Mauchly_Computer_Corporation">Eckert-Mauchly</a> – one of the first U.S. <em>commercial </em>computer companies – and its line of UNIVAC computers. They wanted ERA to get its government customers. ERA remained a standalone division. The ERA 1101 and 1103 became a part of the UNIVAC product line.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30225" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-history-picture-edited/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=455%2C277&ssl=1" data-orig-size="455,277" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="era history picture edited" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=300%2C183&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=455%2C277&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30225" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=455%2C277&ssl=1" alt="" width="455" height="277" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?w=455&ssl=1 455w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=300%2C183&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=150%2C91&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Parker became head of sales of the merged computer division. He left in 1956 and years later he became chairman of the Teleregister Corporation, the predecessor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Ramo">Bunker-Ramo</a>. He went on to become a director of several companies, including Northwest Airlines and Martin Marietta.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Remington Rand itself would be acquired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperry_Corporation">Sperry</a> in 1955 and both ERA and Eckert–Mauchly were folded into a computer division called Sperry-UNIVAC. Much of ERA’s work was dropped, while their drum technology was used in newer UNIVAC machines. In 1986 Sperry merged with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Corporation">Burroughs</a> to form <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys">Unisys</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Epilogue<br /> </strong>For the next 60 years the NSA would have the largest collection of commercial computers and computing horsepower in the world. They would continue to supplement those with dedicated special purpose hardware.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The reorganization of American Signals Intelligence, leading to the creation of the <a href="https://cryptologicfoundation.org/community/bytes/this_day_in_history_calendar.html/event/2023/05/20/1684558800/1949-armed-forces-security-agency-created-/96271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Armed Forces Signals Agency (AFSA)</a> in 1949, then <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-spectrum/early_history_nsa.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NSA in 1952</a>, contributed to the demise of the special relationship between ERA and the code- breakers. The integration of the Army and Navy brought a shift in who made decisions about computer purchasing. NSA inherited a computer staff from the Army side of technical SIGINT. They had different ties and orientations than the few remaining old Navy hands. As a result, the new core NSA group did not protest when the special group that integrated Agency and ERA work was disbanded. The 1954 termination of the Navy Computing Machine Lab in St. Paul went almost unnoticed.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But the era of Minnesota’s role as a scientific computing and innovation cluster wasn’t over. In fact, it was just getting started. In 1957 ERA co-founder William Norris, and Sperry-Univac engineers Seymour Cray, Willis Drake, and ERA’s treasurer Arnold Ryden, along with a half dozen others, left Sperry-Univac and teamed up with three investors to form a new Minneapolis-based computer company: Control Data Corporation (CDC). For the next two decades Control Data would build the fastest scientific computers in the world.</p> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <hr /> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1720156728&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Minnesota%20Part%201%3A%20Engineering%20Research%20Associates&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F12%2F11%2Fthe-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself." data-email-share-nonce="a7e0d14556" data-email-share-track-url="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/?share=email"><span>Email</span></a></li><li class="share-facebook"><div class="fb-share-button" data-href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" data-layout="button_count"></div></li><li class="share-twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" data-text="The Secret History of Minnesota Part 1: Engineering Research Associates" >Tweet</a></li><li class="share-linkedin"><div class="linkedin_button"><script type="in/share" data-url="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" data-counter="right"></script></div></li><li class="share-reddit"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-reddit sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/?share=reddit" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Reddit" ><span>Reddit</span></a></li><li class="share-jetpack-whatsapp"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-jetpack-whatsapp sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/?share=jetpack-whatsapp" target="_blank" title="Click to share on WhatsApp" ><span>WhatsApp</span></a></li><li class="share-pinterest"><div class="pinterest_button"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F12%2F11%2Fthe-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates%2F&media=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F12%2FERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg&description=The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Minnesota%20Part%201%3A%20Engineering%20Research%20Associates" data-pin-do="buttonPin" data-pin-config="beside"><img data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://i0.wp.com/assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pinit_fg_en_rect_gray_20.png?w=468" /></a></div></li><li class="share-telegram"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-telegram sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/?share=telegram" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Telegram" ><span>Telegram</span></a></li><li class="share-tumblr"><a class="tumblr-share-button" target="_blank" href="https://www.tumblr.com/share" data-title="The Secret History of Minnesota Part 1: Engineering Research Associates" data-content="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" title="Share on Tumblr"data-posttype="link">Share on Tumblr</a></li><li class="share-pocket"><div class="pocket_button"><a href="https://getpocket.com/save" class="pocket-btn" data-lang="en" data-save-url="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" data-pocket-count="horizontal" >Pocket</a></div></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div><div class='sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded' id='like-post-wrapper-6599589-30190-674743bfaf4f3' data-src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/?ver=14.1-a.7#blog_id=6599589&post_id=30190&origin=steveblank.com&obj_id=6599589-30190-674743bfaf4f3&n=1' data-name='like-post-frame-6599589-30190-674743bfaf4f3' data-title='Like or Reblog'><h3 class="sd-title">Like this:</h3><div class='likes-widget-placeholder post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height: 55px;'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading">Loading...</span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a class='sd-link-color'></a></div> <p class="postinfo"> Filed under: <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/corporate-govt-innovation/" rel="category tag">Corporate/Gov't Innovation</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/national-security/" rel="category tag">National Security</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/navy/" rel="category tag">Navy</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/" rel="category tag">Secret History of Silicon Valley</a> | <a href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/#respond">Leave a comment »</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="browse"></div> </div> </div></div> <div class="sidebar"> <ul> <li><h2>Calendar</h2> <ul> <li><table id="wp-calendar" class="wp-calendar-table"> <caption>December 2023</caption> <thead> <tr> <th scope="col" title="Monday">M</th> <th scope="col" title="Tuesday">T</th> <th scope="col" title="Wednesday">W</th> <th scope="col" title="Thursday">T</th> <th scope="col" title="Friday">F</th> <th scope="col" title="Saturday">S</th> <th scope="col" title="Sunday">S</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="4" class="pad"> </td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>10</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/" aria-label="Posts published on December 11, 2023">11</a></td><td>12</td><td>13</td><td>14</td><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>17</td> </tr> <tr> <td>18</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>21</td><td>22</td><td>23</td><td>24</td> </tr> <tr> <td>25</td><td>26</td><td>27</td><td>28</td><td>29</td><td>30</td><td>31</td> </tr> </tbody> </table><nav aria-label="Previous and next months" class="wp-calendar-nav"> <span class="wp-calendar-nav-prev"><a href="https://steveblank.com/2023/11/">« Nov</a></span> <span class="pad"> </span> <span class="wp-calendar-nav-next"><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/">Jan »</a></span> </nav></li> </ul> </li> <li id="linkcat-697967627" class="linkcat"><h2>Customer Development</h2> <ul class='xoxo blogroll'> <li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/sblank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Customer Development Methodology – slides</a></li> <li><a href="http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/search?q=%22customer+development%22" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Eric Ries on Customer Development</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/0976470705" rel="noopener" title="My book about Customer Development and more" target="_blank">Four Steps to the Epiphany – the book</a></li> <li><a href="http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2048" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Stanford Entrepreneurial Leadership Talks by Steve Blank</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/startuplessonslearned/lean-startup-presentation-to-maples-investments-by-steve-blank-and-eric-ries-presentation" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Lean Startup by Eric Ries & Steve Blank – slides</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="linkcat-697967628" class="linkcat"><h2>Secret History of Silicon Valley</h2> <ul class='xoxo blogroll'> <li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/sblank/secret-history-of-silicon-valley-rev-4-dec-09" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Secret History of Silicon Valley – Dec 2009 slides</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo" rel="noopener" title="Recorded at the Computer History Museum Nov. 20, 2008" target="_blank">The Secret History of Silicon Valley – video</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <p><a href="https://wordpress.com/?ref=footer_custom_powered">Powered by WordPress.com</a>. WP Designer.</p> </div> </div> </div>  <script defer id="bilmur" data-customproperties="{"woo_active":"0"}" data-provider="wordpress.com" data-service="atomic" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/js/bilmur.min.js?m=202448"></script> <div id="jp-carousel-loading-overlay"> <div id="jp-carousel-loading-wrapper"> <span id="jp-carousel-library-loading"> </span> </div> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-overlay" style="display: none;"> <div class="jp-carousel-container">  <div class="jp-carousel-wrap swiper-container jp-carousel-swiper-container jp-carousel-transitions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageGallery"> <div class="jp-carousel swiper-wrapper"></div> <div class="jp-swiper-button-prev swiper-button-prev"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="maskPrev" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="8" y="6" width="9" height="12"> <path d="M16.2072 16.59L11.6496 12L16.2072 7.41L14.8041 6L8.8335 12L14.8041 18L16.2072 16.59Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#maskPrev)"> <rect x="0.579102" width="23.8823" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> </div> <div class="jp-swiper-button-next swiper-button-next"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="maskNext" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="8" y="6" width="8" height="12"> <path d="M8.59814 16.59L13.1557 12L8.59814 7.41L10.0012 6L15.9718 12L10.0012 18L8.59814 16.59Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#maskNext)"> <rect x="0.34375" width="23.8822" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> </div> </div>  <div class="jp-carousel-close-hint"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="maskClose" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="5" y="5" width="15" height="14"> <path d="M19.3166 6.41L17.9135 5L12.3509 10.59L6.78834 5L5.38525 6.41L10.9478 12L5.38525 17.59L6.78834 19L12.3509 13.41L17.9135 19L19.3166 17.59L13.754 12L19.3166 6.41Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#maskClose)"> <rect x="0.409668" width="23.8823" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> </div>  <div class="jp-carousel-info"> <div class="jp-carousel-info-footer"> <div class="jp-carousel-pagination-container"> <div class="jp-swiper-pagination swiper-pagination"></div> <div class="jp-carousel-pagination"></div> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-photo-title-container"> <h2 class="jp-carousel-photo-caption"></h2> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-photo-icons-container"> <a href="#" class="jp-carousel-icon-btn jp-carousel-icon-info" aria-label="Toggle photo metadata visibility"> <span class="jp-carousel-icon"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="maskInfo" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="2" y="2" width="21" height="20"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M12.7537 2C7.26076 2 2.80273 6.48 2.80273 12C2.80273 17.52 7.26076 22 12.7537 22C18.2466 22 22.7046 17.52 22.7046 12C22.7046 6.48 18.2466 2 12.7537 2ZM11.7586 7V9H13.7488V7H11.7586ZM11.7586 11V17H13.7488V11H11.7586ZM4.79292 12C4.79292 16.41 8.36531 20 12.7537 20C17.142 20 20.7144 16.41 20.7144 12C20.7144 7.59 17.142 4 12.7537 4C8.36531 4 4.79292 7.59 4.79292 12Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#maskInfo)"> <rect x="0.8125" width="23.8823" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> </span> </a> <a href="#" class="jp-carousel-icon-btn jp-carousel-icon-comments" aria-label="Toggle photo comments visibility"> <span class="jp-carousel-icon"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="maskComments" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="2" y="2" width="21" height="20"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M4.3271 2H20.2486C21.3432 2 22.2388 2.9 22.2388 4V16C22.2388 17.1 21.3432 18 20.2486 18H6.31729L2.33691 22V4C2.33691 2.9 3.2325 2 4.3271 2ZM6.31729 16H20.2486V4H4.3271V18L6.31729 16Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#maskComments)"> <rect x="0.34668" width="23.8823" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> <span class="jp-carousel-has-comments-indicator" aria-label="This image has comments."></span> </span> </a> </div> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-info-extra"> <div class="jp-carousel-info-content-wrapper"> <div class="jp-carousel-photo-title-container"> <h2 class="jp-carousel-photo-title"></h2> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-comments-wrapper"> <div id="jp-carousel-comments-loading"> <span>Loading Comments...</span> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-comments"></div> <div id="jp-carousel-comment-form-container"> <span id="jp-carousel-comment-form-spinner"> </span> <div id="jp-carousel-comment-post-results"></div> <form id="jp-carousel-comment-form"> <label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-comment-field" class="screen-reader-text">Write a Comment...</label> <textarea name="comment" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-textarea" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-comment-field" placeholder="Write a Comment..." ></textarea> <div id="jp-carousel-comment-form-submit-and-info-wrapper"> <div id="jp-carousel-comment-form-commenting-as"> <fieldset> <label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-email-field">Email</label> <input type="text" name="email" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-email-field" /> </fieldset> <fieldset> <label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-author-field">Name</label> <input type="text" name="author" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-author-field" /> </fieldset> <fieldset> <label for="jp-carousel-comment-form-url-field">Website</label> <input type="text" name="url" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-field jp-carousel-comment-form-text-field" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-url-field" /> </fieldset> </div> <input type="submit" name="submit" class="jp-carousel-comment-form-button" id="jp-carousel-comment-form-button-submit" value="Post Comment" /> </div> </form> </div> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-image-meta"> <div class="jp-carousel-title-and-caption"> <div class="jp-carousel-photo-info"> <h3 class="jp-carousel-caption" itemprop="caption description"></h3> </div> <div class="jp-carousel-photo-description"></div> </div> <ul class="jp-carousel-image-exif" style="display: none;"></ul> <a class="jp-carousel-image-download" href="#" target="_blank" style="display: none;"> <svg width="25" height="24" viewBox="0 0 25 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <mask id="mask0" mask-type="alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="3" y="3" width="19" height="18"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M5.84615 5V19H19.7775V12H21.7677V19C21.7677 20.1 20.8721 21 19.7775 21H5.84615C4.74159 21 3.85596 20.1 3.85596 19V5C3.85596 3.9 4.74159 3 5.84615 3H12.8118V5H5.84615ZM14.802 5V3H21.7677V10H19.7775V6.41L9.99569 16.24L8.59261 14.83L18.3744 5H14.802Z" fill="white"/> </mask> <g mask="url(#mask0)"> <rect x="0.870605" width="23.8823" height="24" fill="#FFFFFF"/> </g> </svg> <span class="jp-carousel-download-text"></span> </a> <div class="jp-carousel-image-map" style="display: none;"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> window.WPCOM_sharing_counts = {"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/2023\/12\/11\/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates\/":30190}; </script> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=249643311490&version=v2.3'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <script> document.body.addEventListener( 'is.post-load', function() { if ( 'undefined' !== typeof FB ) { FB.XFBML.parse(); } } ); </script> <script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function () { var currentScript = document.currentScript; // Helper function to load an external script. function loadScript( url, cb ) { var script = document.createElement( 'script' ); var prev = currentScript || document.getElementsByTagName( 'script' )[ 0 ]; script.setAttribute( 'async', true ); script.setAttribute( 'src', url ); prev.parentNode.insertBefore( script, prev ); script.addEventListener( 'load', cb ); } function init() { loadScript( 'https://platform.linkedin.com/in.js?async=true', function () { if ( typeof IN !== 'undefined' ) { IN.init(); } } ); } if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) { document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', init ); } else { init(); } document.body.addEventListener( 'is.post-load', function() { if ( typeof IN !== 'undefined' ) { IN.parse(); } } ); } )(); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function () { // Pinterest shared resources var s = document.createElement( 'script' ); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.setAttribute( 'data-pin-hover', true ); s.src = window.location.protocol + '//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js'; var x = document.getElementsByTagName( 'script' )[ 0 ]; x.parentNode.insertBefore(s, x); // if 'Pin it' button has 'counts' make container wider function init() { var shares = document.querySelectorAll( 'li.share-pinterest' ); for ( var i = 0; i < shares.length; i++ ) { var share = shares[ i ]; var countElement = share.querySelector( 'a span' ); if (countElement) { var countComputedStyle = window.getComputedStyle(countElement); if ( countComputedStyle.display === 'block' ) { var countWidth = parseInt( countComputedStyle.width, 10 ); share.style.marginRight = countWidth + 11 + 'px'; } } } } if ( document.readyState !== 'complete' ) { document.addEventListener( 'load', init ); } else { init(); } } )(); </script> <script id="tumblr-js" type="text/javascript" src="https://assets.tumblr.com/share-button.js"></script> <script> ( function () { var currentScript = document.currentScript; // Don't use Pocket's default JS as it we need to force init new Pocket share buttons loaded via JS. function jetpack_sharing_pocket_init() { var script = document.createElement( 'script' ); var prev = currentScript || document.getElementsByTagName( 'script' )[ 0 ]; script.setAttribute( 'async', true ); script.setAttribute( 'src', 'https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1' ); prev.parentNode.insertBefore( script, prev ); } if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) { document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', jetpack_sharing_pocket_init ); } else { jetpack_sharing_pocket_init(); } document.body.addEventListener( 'is.post-load', jetpack_sharing_pocket_init ); } )(); </script> <script type="text/javascript" id="jetpack-carousel-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var jetpackSwiperLibraryPath = {"url":"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/jetpack\/_inc\/build\/carousel\/swiper-bundle.min.js"}; var jetpackCarouselStrings = {"widths":[370,700,1000,1200,1400,2000],"is_logged_in":"","lang":"en","ajaxurl":"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","nonce":"079005958d","display_exif":"1","display_comments":"1","single_image_gallery":"1","single_image_gallery_media_file":"","background_color":"black","comment":"Comment","post_comment":"Post Comment","write_comment":"Write a Comment...","loading_comments":"Loading Comments...","image_label":"Open image in full-screen.","download_original":"View full size <span class=\"photo-size\">{0}<span class=\"photo-size-times\">\u00d7<\/span>{1}<\/span>","no_comment_text":"Please be sure to submit some text with your comment.","no_comment_email":"Please provide an email address to comment.","no_comment_author":"Please provide your name to comment.","comment_post_error":"Sorry, but there was an error posting your comment. Please try again later.","comment_approved":"Your comment was approved.","comment_unapproved":"Your comment is in moderation.","camera":"Camera","aperture":"Aperture","shutter_speed":"Shutter Speed","focal_length":"Focal Length","copyright":"Copyright","comment_registration":"0","require_name_email":"0","login_url":"https:\/\/steveblank.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F12%2F11%2Fthe-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates%2F","blog_id":"1","meta_data":["camera","aperture","shutter_speed","focal_length","copyright"]}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://steveblank.com/_static/??-eJyVzM0OgjAQBOAXsmwVf07GRzGl3eC2y1JpN4S3h4NcjR5nJvPN2fhRKkqFzNqTFIhYs/MJniQeOiUO4N00akHeN7MXzUDSxHKYf2IqMQbTO2aclm/pP5YpYYG3ouLLSdiAz/8x3I+31p7s9XK2KyLnV3k='></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://stats.wp.com/e-202448.js" id="jetpack-stats-js" data-wp-strategy="defer"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="jetpack-stats-js-after"> /* <![CDATA[ */ _stq = window._stq || []; _stq.push([ "view", JSON.parse("{\"v\":\"ext\",\"blog\":\"6599589\",\"post\":\"0\",\"tz\":\"-8\",\"srv\":\"steveblank.com\",\"hp\":\"atomic\",\"ac\":\"2\",\"amp\":\"0\",\"j\":\"1:14.1-a.7\"}") ]); _stq.push([ "clickTrackerInit", "6599589", "0" ]); /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" id="sharing-js-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var sharing_js_options = {"lang":"en","counts":"1","is_stats_active":"1"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://steveblank.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/_inc/build/sharedaddy/sharing.min.js?ver=14.1-a.7" id="sharing-js-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="sharing-js-js-after"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var windowOpen; ( function () { function matches( el, sel ) { return !! ( el.matches && el.matches( sel ) || el.msMatchesSelector && el.msMatchesSelector( sel ) ); } document.body.addEventListener( 'click', function ( event ) { if ( ! event.target ) { return; } var el; if ( matches( event.target, 'a.share-facebook' ) ) { el = event.target; } else if ( event.target.parentNode && matches( event.target.parentNode, 'a.share-facebook' ) ) { el = event.target.parentNode; } if ( el ) { event.preventDefault(); // If there's another sharing window open, close it. if ( typeof windowOpen !== 'undefined' ) { windowOpen.close(); } windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcomfacebook', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=600,height=400' ); return false; } } ); } )(); var windowOpen; ( function () { function matches( el, sel ) { return !! ( el.matches && el.matches( sel ) || el.msMatchesSelector && el.msMatchesSelector( sel ) ); } document.body.addEventListener( 'click', function ( event ) { if ( ! event.target ) { return; } var el; if ( matches( event.target, 'a.share-telegram' ) ) { el = event.target; } else if ( event.target.parentNode && matches( event.target.parentNode, 'a.share-telegram' ) ) { el = event.target.parentNode; } if ( el ) { event.preventDefault(); // If there's another sharing window open, close it. if ( typeof windowOpen !== 'undefined' ) { windowOpen.close(); } windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcomtelegram', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=450,height=450' ); return false; } } ); } )(); /* ]]> */ </script> <iframe src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/master.html?ver=20241127#ver=20241127&n=1' scrolling='no' id='likes-master' name='likes-master' style='display:none;'></iframe> <div id='likes-other-gravatars' class='wpl-new-layout' role="dialog" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><div class="likes-text"><span>%d</span></div><ul class="wpl-avatars sd-like-gravatars"></ul></div> </body> </html>