Download or read book The Smarter Startup written by Neal Cabage and published by New Riders. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some startups succeed while other do not? In a maturing online market, the cost of product development has fallen as quickly as competition has risen, and building a viable product is no longer enough. In this new reality, entrepreneurs must take a smarter, more strategic approach. In this book we'll discuss: Why some entrepreneurs are luckier than others How to anticipate success or failure before you begin Why timing is everything for a startup Strategic positioning to beat the competition Building a business that cannot be commoditized Methods for Improving user engagement and profits This book was written by Neal Cabage and Sonya Zhang, PhD after years of discussing and studying why some startups succeed. By combining known academic models with personal insights from building and selling two online startups - the authors answer the question of why some startups are more successful than others, in order to help entrepreneurs reduce the risk of starting an online business.

Download or read book Ready Set Startup written by Neal Cabage and published by New Riders. This book was released on 2013-03-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Online startups are exploding and an entire subculture has formed out of this phenomenon. And it shouldn't be a surprise with so much media coverage of billionaire startup founders. Indeed, the dot-com founder is today's rock star, inspiring hundreds of thousands to follow their path. It is now easier to start a business than at any time in history; particularly an online business. The cost and complexity of doing so has fallen precipitously. You no longer need an office, a phone system, a climate controlled room and in many cases, you don’t even need to write a lot of the core software your business will depend upon; just plug into the cloud. And access to capital to grow your business has never been easier; particularly if you’re interested in joining one of the many tech accelerator programs sprouting up across the country. Despite all of these advantages, there are clear challenges that result from this new dynamic. This book addresses these challenges and provides a conceptual framework for solving the problems along the way, helping startup entrepreneurs by smoothing the path and improving their odds of success.

Download or read book UX for Lean Startups written by Laura Klein and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2018-11-16 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: p>Great user experiences (UX) are essential for products today, but designing one can be a lengthy and expensive process. With this practical, hands-on book, you’ll learn how to do it faster and smarter using Lean UX techniques. UX expert Laura Klein shows you what it takes to gather valuable input from customers, build something they’ll truly love, and reduce the time it takes to get your product to market. No prior experience in UX or design is necessary to get started. If you’re an entrepreneur or an innovator, this book puts you right to work with proven tips and tools for researching, identifying, and designing an intuitive, easy-to-use product. Determine whether people will buy your product before you build it Listen to your customers throughout the product’s lifecycle Understand why you should design a test before you design a product Get nine tools that are critical to designing your product Discern the difference between necessary features and nice-to-haves Learn how a Minimum Viable Product affects your UX decisions Use A/B testing in conjunction with good UX practices Speed up your product development process without sacrificing quality

Download or read book The Smart Start Up written by Tom Hopkins and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Start and build a high-profit business, choose exactly the right product for you, outsell your competition, and put yourself onto the road to riches” (Brian Tracy, New York Times–bestselling author). The Smart Start Up helps readers start strong and stay strong in the early phases of growing their businesses, providing fundamental strategies for beating the odds. With this information, entrepreneurs will be able to reach the success level of their dreams—whether that’s to create a legacy for generations or to follow the build-and-sell-it road to success. Within these pages, Tom Hopkins and Omar Periu delve deeply into the nuances of business ownership both on the practical and emotional side of things. They will help readers avoid some of the most common pitfalls entrepreneurs face. Readers will learn how to establish a compass they and the rest of their teams can rely on to guide business decisions going forward. Topics covered include: self-analysis as an entrepreneur; how to evaluate a business idea; how to choose the best structure for a business, including working with legal and accounting professionals; business communication skills; hiring and managing team members; prioritization; selling skills; marketing strategies; negotiation skills; and how to keep clients happy long term. “Own this book and you’ll have the opportunity to be guided to your own success by two of the best and proven teachers in the business.” —Bob Burg, bestselling coauthor of The Go-Giver and The Go-Giver Influencer “Inside the pages of this masterpiece, you’ll get the formula for success that gives you the winning edge in the hyper-competitive marketplace.” —Jeb Blount, CEO of Sales Gravy and author of Fanatical Prospecting

Download or read book Hire Smart from the Start written by Dave Carvajal and published by AMACOM. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day, rising companies stumble because management hired available people, not the right people. Then after making one too many of these mistakes, especially in key positions, the once-promising business that had the world to offer to its consumers is no longer. Because they didn’t learn: Hiring. Is. King.In Hire Smart from the Start, author and entrepreneur Dave Carvajal distills lessons learned from 20 years of both successful and poor hiring decisions as he built and staffed two enormously successful Internet startups and helped firms like Tumblr, Buddy Media, and Shutterstock land the talent they needed to reach their greatest potential.Whether you manage a restaurant, a tech firm, or an Internet startup, the proven formula in this book will help you in every aspect of hiring, training, and keeping the right employees in the right positions. Learn how to find candidates whose values and working style fit your business. Discover the 5 types of applicants you should never, ever hire. Find out how to motivate otherwise-happily-employed-elsewhere applicants to take a chance on your vision. If you hire smart from the start, you will accelerate your business’s success and it will flourish beyond what you thought possible!

Download or read book Starting Up Smarter written by Mary J. Cronin and published by . This book was released on 2021-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting Up Smarter: Why Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies delivers a counter-intuitive message about entrepreneurship and startup success. Contrary to the widespread belief that youth is a startup advantage, research shows that older entrepreneurs are far more likely to create socially valuable, profitable, and high-growth companies. Founders over 50 manage more than half of the new businesses launched in the US during the past 5 years. Their stories provide inspiration and insights for entrepreneurs of all ages, and for everyone seeking to change the world for the better. This book analyzes how and why older founders so consistently outperform their younger counterparts by embodying 21st century entrepreneurial imperatives such as positive social impact, shared stakeholder value, and regenerative sustainability. In Starting Up Smarter, entrepreneurs who have built profitable, socially valuable businesses share their experiences and reflections about launching companies with social purpose in healthcare consulting, sustainability and solar energy solutions, home care franchise ownership, restaurants, publishing, water filtration, and more.

Download or read book Street Smart Entrepreneur written by Jay Goltz and published by Addicus Books. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small firms in Chicago employ more than 1.6 million individuals—nearly 50 percent of the private work force, according to a new study released this fall by the Small Business Administration. The survey, which defines small firms as those employing less than 500 people, also shows that these businesses generate 47 percent of the area's total receipts of $278 billion dollars. However, SBA statistics also reveal that, on average, of the small businesses starting today, 53 percent will not be in business four years from now. Of these closings, it's estimated that 15 percent will close due to business failures. Chicago businessman Jay Goltz understands what it takes for a small business to succeed. During the past twenty years he has owned and operated Artists' Frame Service in Chicago. Goltz started the business in 1978, and today it's the largest, custom retail picture framing facility in the world. Now, Goltz shares some his secrets of success.

Download or read book The Intelligent Entrepreneur written by Bill Murphy, Jr. and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2010-10-12 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written with the cooperation of Harvard Business School, an instructive and inspiring book for anyone who dreams of starting a highly profitable business In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates—two men and one woman—turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their ten-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs—and left their mark on the world. Based on dozens of interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs, Harvard Business School professors, and HBS alumni, The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders developed ideas, assembled teams, built ventures, and achieved their dreams. Along the way, they learned that starting great companies requires much more than a ferocious work ethic or good timing. Their hard-won insights—distilled into ten key rules—will help anyone become a successful entrepreneur. What they teach you at Harvard Business School is that intelligent entrepreneurship can be learned. In that spirit, Bill Murphy Jr. uses a unique combination of vivid storytelling and lucid instruction to show would-be entrepreneurs how to improve their odds of creating dynamic, lasting businesses.

Download or read book Why Startups Fail written by Tom Eisenmann and published by Currency. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

Download or read book The Startup Community Way written by Brad Feld and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Way Forward for Entrepreneurship Around the World We are in the midst of a startup revolution. The growth and proliferation of innovation-driven startup activity is profound, unprecedented, and global in scope. Today, it is understood that communities of support and knowledge-sharing go along with other resources. The importance of collaboration and a long-term commitment has gained wider acceptance. These principles are adopted in many startup communities throughout the world. And yet, much more work is needed. Startup activity is highly concentrated in large cities. Governments and other actors such as large corporations and universities are not collaborating with each other nor with entrepreneurs as well as they could. Too often, these actors try to control activity or impose their view from the top-down, rather than supporting an environment that is led from the bottom-up. We continue to see a disconnect between an entrepreneurial mindset and that of many actors who wish to engage with and support entrepreneurship. There are structural reasons for this, but we can overcome many of these obstacles with appropriate focus and sustained practice. No one tells this story better than Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway. The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem explores what makes startup communities thrive and how to improve collaboration in these rapidly evolving, complex environments. The Startup Community Way is an explanatory guide for startup communities. Rooted in the theory of complex systems, this book establishes the systemic properties of entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains why their complex nature leads people to make predictable mistakes. As complex systems, value creation occurs in startup communities primarily through the interaction of the "parts" - the people, organizations, resources, and conditions involved - not the parts themselves. This continual process of bottom-up interactions unfolds naturally, producing value in novel and unexpected ways. Through these complex, emergent processes, the whole becomes greater and substantially different than what the parts alone could produce. Because of this, participants must take a fundamentally different approach than is common in much of our civic and professional lives. Participants must take a whole-system view, rather than simply trying to optimize their individual part. They must prioritize experimentation and learning over planning and execution. Complex systems are uncertain and unpredictable. They cannot be controlled, only guided and influenced. Each startup community is unique. Replication is enticing but impossible. The race to become "The Next Silicon Valley" is futile - even Silicon Valley couldn't recreate itself. This book: Offers practical advice for entrepreneurs, community builders, government officials, and other stakeholders who want to harness the power of entrepreneurship in their city Describes the core components of startup communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems, as well as an explanation of the differences between these two related, but distinct concepts Advances a new framework for effective startup community building based on the theory of complex systems and insights from systems thinking Includes contributions from leading entrepreneurial voices Is a must-have resource for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, executives, business and community leaders, economic development authorities, policymakers, university officials, and anyone wishing to understand how startup communities work anywhere in the world

Download or read book All In Startup written by Diana Kander and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Owen Chase can't find a way to turn his company around in the next nine days, he'll be forced to shut it down and lay off all of his employees. He has incurred substantial debt and his marriage is on shaky ground. Through pure happenstance, Owen finds himself pondering this problem while advancing steadily as a contestant at the World Series of Poker. His Las Vegas path quickly introduces him to Samantha, a beautiful and mysterious mentor with a revolutionary approach to entrepreneurship. Sam is a fountain of knowledge that may save his company, but her sexual advances might prove too much for Owen's struggling marriage. All In Startup is more than just a novel about eschewing temptation and fighting to save a company. It is a lifeline for entrepreneurs who are thinking about launching a new idea or for those who have already started but can't seem to generate the traction they were expecting. Entrepreneurs who achieve success in the new economy do so using a new "scientific method" of innovation. All In Startup demonstrates why four counterintuitive principles separate successful entrepreneurs from the wanna-preneurs who bounce from idea to idea, unable to generate real revenue. You will likely get only one opportunity in your life to go "all in" in on an idea: to quit your job, talk your spouse into letting you drain the savings account, and follow your dream. All In Startup will prepare you for that "all in" moment and make sure that you push your chips into the middle only when the odds are in your favor. This book holds the keys to significantly de-risking your idea so that your success appears almost lucky. Join Owen and Sam for this one-of-a-kind journey that will set you on the right path for when it's your turn to put everything on the line.

Download or read book The Startup Way written by Eric Ries and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Entrepreneur and bestselling author of The Lean Startup, Eric Ries reveals how entrepreneurial principles can be used by businesses of all kinds, ranging from established companies to early-stage startups, to grow revenues, drive innovation, and transform themselves into truly modern organizations, poised to take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the twenty-first century. In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries laid out the practices of successful startups – building a minimal viable product, customer-focused and scientific testing based on a build-measure-learn method of continuous innovation, and deciding whether to persevere or pivot. In The Startup Way, he turns his attention to an entirely new group of organizations: established enterprises like iconic multinationals GE and Toyota, tech titans like Amazon and Facebook, and the next generation of Silicon Valley upstarts like Airbnb and Twilio. Drawing on his experiences over the past five years working with these organizations, as well as nonprofits, NGOs, and governments, Ries lays out a system of entrepreneurial management that leads organizations of all sizes and from every industry to sustainable growth and long-term impact. Filled with in-the-field stories, insights, and tools, The Startup Way is an essential road map for any organization navigating the uncertain waters of the century ahead.

Download or read book Startup Boards written by Brad Feld and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-12-09 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup's board of directors Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot on your plate—getting to your minimum viable product, developing customer interaction, hiring team members, and managing the accounts/books. Sooner or later, you have a board of directors, three to five (or even seven) Type A personalities who seek your attention and at times will tell you what to do. While you might be hesitant to form a board, establishing an objective outside group is essential for startups, especially to keep you on track, call you out when you flail, and in some cases, save you from yourself. In Startup Boards, Brad Feld—a Boulder, Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shares his experience in this area by talking about the importance of having the right board members on your team and how to manage them well. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support you, help you understand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold you accountable. Details the process of choosing board members, including interviewing many people, checking references, and remembering that there should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixing social time with business time, and much more Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practical guide to one of the most important pieces of the startup puzzle.

Download or read book Smart People Should Build Things written by Andrew Yang and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, offers a unique solution to our country’s economic and social problems—our smart people should be building things. Smart People Should Build Things offers a stark picture of the current culture and a revolutionary model that will redirect a generation of ambitious young people to the critical job of innovating and building new businesses. As the Founder and CEO of Venture for America, Andrew Yang places top college graduates in start-ups for two years in emerging U.S. cities to generate job growth and train the next generation of entrepreneurs. He knows firsthand how our current view of education is broken. Many college graduates aspire to finance, consulting, law school, grad school, or medical school out of a vague desire for additional status and progress rather than from a genuine passion or fit. In Smart People Should Build Things, this self-described “recovering lawyer” and entrepreneur weaves together a compelling narrative of success stories (including his own), offering observations about the flow of talent in the United States and explanations of why current trends are leading to economic distress and cultural decline. He also presents recommendations for both policy makers and job seekers to make entrepreneurship more realistic and achievable.

Download or read book The Start Up J Curve written by Howard Love and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A predictable pattern of success Entrepreneurs who have read early drafts of The Start-Up J Curve responded, ''I wish I had this book years ago.'' A start-up unfolds in a predictable pattern; the more aware entrepreneurs are of this pattern, the better able they will be to capitalize on it. Author Howard Love calls this pattern the start-up J Curve: The toughest part of the endeavor is the time between the actual start of a new business and when the product and model are firmly established. The Start-Up J Curve gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to get through the early challenges so they can reach the primary value creation that lies beyond. Love brings thirty-five years of start-up experience to this comprehensive guide to starting a business. He outlines the six predictable stages of start-up growth and details the activities that should be undertaken at each stage to ensure success and to avoid common pitfalls. Instead of feeling lost and confused after a setback, start-up founders and investors can anticipate the challenges, overcome the obstacles, and ride the curve to the top.

Download or read book The Lean Startup written by Eric Ries and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

Download or read book The Startup of You Revised and Updated written by Reid Hoffman and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller that taught a generation how to transform their careers—now in a revised and updated edition “A profound book about self-determination and self-realization.”—Senator Cory Booker “The Startup of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project In this invaluable book, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today’s competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a startup business: a living, breathing, growing startup of you. Why? Startups—and the entrepreneurs who run them—are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage. These are the very same skills professionals need to get ahead today. This book isn’t about cover letters or résumés. Instead, you will learn the best practices of the most successful startups and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career. Whether you work for a giant multinational corporation, stitch together multiple gigs in a portfolio career, or are launching your own venture, you need to know how to • adapt your career plans as pandemics rage and technologies upend industries • develop a competitive advantage so that you stand out from others at work • strengthen your professional network by building powerful alliances and maintaining a diverse mix of relationships • engineer serendipity that produces life-changing career opportunities • take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry tsunamis • tap your network for information and intelligence that help you make smarter decisions The career landscape has changed dramatically in the decade since Hoffman and Casnocha first published this guide. In an urgent update to the frameworks that have helped hundreds of thousands of people transform their careers, this new edition of The Startup of You will teach you how to achieve your boldest professional ambitions.