Description
Book SynopsisWho needs investors? More than two generations ago, the venture capital community VCs, business angels, incubators and others convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and raising venture capital constituted the twin centerpieces of entrepreneurial endeavor. They did so for good reasons: the sometimes astonishing returns they''ve delivered to their investors and the astonishingly large companies that their ecosystem has created.
But the vast majority of fast-growing companies never take any venture capital. So where does the money come from to start and grow their companies? From a much more agreeable and hospitable source, their customers. That''s exactly what Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Banana Republic''s Mel and Patricia Ziegler did to get their companies up and running and turn them into iconic brands.
In The Customer Funded Business, best-selling author John Mullins uncovers five novel approaches that scrappy and inno
Trade Review
there s inspiration aplenty for entrepreneurs looking to do things their own way. (Elite Business, August 2014) Mullins is a good corporate storyteller, which is what makes this book an engaging read. (Financial Times, August 2014) A truly different, but comprehensive way of looking at the issue of funding, this book will set the idea juices flowing. (Talk Business, September 2014) No matter what sort of business you re actually contemplating starting, this is a book you want to read. (Entrepreneur Middle East, September 2014) ..a great book that any aspiring entrepreneur should read. What is says is such good common sense that it s amazing it took so long to be written. (The Telegraph, December 2014)
Table of Contents
Why This Book? xv
1 Craving Crowdfunding? Pandering to VCs? Groveling to Your CFO?: The Magic of Traction and the Customer-Funded Revolution 1
2 Customer-Funded Models: Mirage or Mind-Set? Old or New? 39
3 Buyers and Sellers, but Not Your Goods: Matchmaker Models 70
4 Ask for the Cash: Pay-in-Advance Models 98
5 Recurring Revenue: Subscription and SaaS Models 125
6 Sell Less, Earn More: Scarcity and Flash Sales Models 153
7 Build It for One, Then Sell It to All: Service-to-Product Models 177
8 Make It Happen: Put a Customer-Funded Model to Work in Your Business 205
Acknowledgments 239
Notes 243
About the Research 267
About the Author 271
Index 273
