Contains lessons culled from decades of creating suc
Table of Contents
Why You Should Read This Book xiii
The Entrepreneur’s Life Cycle xv
Chapter 1 Agile Philosophy
Rule #1 3
What’s Your Why? 4
You are Wrong 7
Heaven . . . and Hell 8
You Get Only 15,000 Days 11
The Entrepreneurial Method 12
Focus on Problems, Not Solutions 15
Three Requirements for Success 16
Dreamers versus Doers 19
Get Out of the Building 20
Business Plans are Worthless 23
Let Them Steal it 24
Embarrass Yourself 27
Fail Fast—and Often 28
Contain Risk as Early as Possible 31
First, Decide What Not to Do 32
Rules? What Rules? 35
FOCUS—Follow One Course Until Successful 36
Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid 39
Get in over Your Head 40
There is No Silver Bullet 43
It Ain’t a Problem ’Til it’s a Problem 44
Launch to Learn 47
Resourcefulness, Not Resources 48
Chapter 2 Make it Feasible
Is it Feasible? 53
ASS Out of U and ME 54
Three Questions You Must Answer 57
Double Your Worst Case 58
Five Risk Factors 61
Product 1.0—A Brochure 62
Good Ideas, Bad Businesses 65
Wrong Questions → Wrong Answers 66
Vitamin, Painkiller, or Cure? 69
Create Massive Value 70
Why Won’t it Work? 73
Show Me the Money 74
Does it Pencil? 77
Play Dumb 78
Take a Haircut 81
If You Build it, Will They Come? 82
Buying Customers 85
CLV >= 2 × CAC 86
Cash is More Important than Your Mother 89
Think Like a VC 90
Chapter 3 Customers and Competition
Break it Down 95
Ride the Wave 96
Know Thy Market 99
WII.FM—Your Favorite Radio Station 100
Tell Me What Sucks 103
You Can’t Boil the Ocean 104
Reframe the Competition 107
Make a Competitive Matrix 108
Differentiate or Die 111
Competition is a Good Thing 112
Follow the Leader 115
Fast Followers Finish First 116
10× Better 119
You Need a Moat 120
Zero Degrees of Separation 123
Chapter 4 Making Money
What’s Your Business Model? 127
The Best Source of Capital 128
How Do You Make Money? 131
Gross Profit Margins 132
Prefer Variable to Fixed 135
Go Bootstrap Yourself 136
The First Rule to Making Money 139
The First Dollar is the Hardest 140
Bottoms Up 143
Build a (Bad) Financial Model 144
How Much Runway? 147
Know Your Do-or-Die Numbers 148
Chapter 5 Marketing
Luck is Not a Plan 153
What’s Your Positioning? 154
Hold the Presses 157
Old Meets New 158
Sell Wants, but Deliver Needs 161
How Can I Help You? 162
Turn $1 into $2+ 165
Do it Twice 166
Perception is Reality 169
Be a Guerrilla Marketer 170
The Secret to Writing Copy That Sells 173
Promise . . . Then Overdeliver 174
Your Brand Talks 176
Chapter 6 Team
Not So Fast, Partner 179
Get a Pre-Nup 180
ABCs of Hiring 183
Your Startup is a Boat 184
The Build/Sell Team 187
Make Sure You’re Aligned 188
How to Get the Best People 191
Fire Yourself 192
You are Not Scalable 195
Mess with the Vest, Die Like the Rest 196
Delegate, Don’t Abdicate 199
Form an Advisory Board 200
Who’s the Boss? 203
The Right Partner Formula 204
Hire Slow, Fire Fast 205
Sharing a Submarine 206
Chapter 7 Pitching Your Startup
Get Your Story Straight 209
Get to the Next Step 210
Half as Long is Twice as Good 213
First Rule of Elevator Pitches 214
Get Used to Rejection 217
Use the Use Case 218
Make it Stick 221
Name it and Frame it 222
Find the Hot Buttons 225
Fake it ’Til You Make it 226
Be Simple, Not Simplistic 229
Don’t Bury the Lead 230
Back of a Business Card 232
Chapter 8 Investors
You are the First Investor 235
Got Traction? 236
Obsessed 239
Pigs Get Slaughtered 240
Investors are Not Created Equal 243
Do You Want to Be Rich or Be King? 244
When No Leads to Yes 247
The Train is Leaving the Station 248
Calling All Angels 251
The Lemmings Need a Leader 252
Don’t Expect to Hear “No” 255
Save the Best for Last 256
Get to Your Next Milestone 259
Fuel to the Fire 260
A Demo is Worth 1,000 Words 263
Money Only Buys Time 264
If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 267
The Investor Triad 268
The Day You Take an Investor’s Money 271
What’s the Business Worth? 272
Valuation isn’t Everything 275
Friends, Family, and Fools 276
Chapter 9 Building the Business
Nail it before You Scale it 279
Tipping Point 280
Think on Paper 283
The First Question to Ask 284
Make Meetings Matter 287
Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst 288
Expect the Unexpected 291
Be Your Own Customer 292
Think Big, Execute Small 295
Forget the Mission Statement 296
Metrics Matter 299
Your Network is Your Net Worth 300
Who’s the Bad Guy? 303
Your Reputation Precedes You 304
Build it Like You’re Going to Sell it 307
Be Frugal, Not Cheap 308
When the S#!t Hits the Fan (and it Will) 311
Know When to Fold ’Em 312
Chapter 10 What to Know Before You Go
Startups are Boring 317
Young at Heart 318
Your Three Hats 321
You are on Your Own 322
Dangers in the Moonlight 325
The Part-Time Entrepreneur 326
A Family Affair 329
Congratulations, It’s a Boy! 330
Ten Things You Should Never Do Before Starting 333
The Five-Year Overnight Success 334
Conclusion 335
Acknowledgments 337
Recommended Reading 339
About the Authors 341
Online Course Offer 343
Index 345
