Early Exits

While serving in Vietnam Larry Braden finds himself in a horrific situation that offers him his only way out of the war sane and alive. By staging his death and taking the identity of a dead soldier he leaves with no plan other than to get out of the country. He embarks on a journey that leads to a diversity of adventures in many places seizing opportunities as they arise. Several bold life decisions and occasionally letting his guard down lead to some difficult situations. By the time he establishes a normal life as Paul, multiple people have suspicions concerning his past and are actively seeking information. Despite the trail of lies necessary to enjoy the life he desires he strives to be an honest person. The overwhelming feeling he will be discovered constantly haunts him as he wavers between feeling victimized and guilt. He is always armed with a plan to run if necessary. Efforts to stay out of the limelight do not match his personality. Several ironic unexpected twists take place. Life is full of surprises for this runaway.

"Each story contains an overview of the baseball figure, including career-ending details, and many entries contain background information describing the historical significance of the individual and his or her place within the baseball community."--BOOK JACKET.

An innovator in contemporary thought on economic and political development looks here at decline rather than growth. Albert O. Hirschman makes a basic distinction between alternative ways of reacting to deterioration in business firms and, in general, to dissatisfaction with organizations: one, “exit,” is for the member to quit the organization or for the customer to switch to the competing product, and the other, “voice,” is for members or customers to agitate and exert influence for change “from within.” The efficiency of the competitive mechanism, with its total reliance on exit, is questioned for certain important situations. As exit often undercuts voice while being unable to counteract decline, loyalty is seen in the function of retarding exit and of permitting voice to play its proper role. The interplay of the three concepts turns out to illuminate a wide range of economic, social, and political phenomena. As the author states in the preface, “having found my own unifying way of looking at issues as diverse as competition and the two-party system, divorce and the American character, black power and the failure of ‘unhappy’ top officials to resign over Vietnam, I decided to let myself go a little.”

From nineteenth-century whaling to a multitude of firms pursuing entrepreneurial finance today, venture finance reflects a deep-seated tradition in the deployment of risk capital in the United States. Tom Nicholas’s history of the venture capital industry offers a roller coaster ride through America’s ongoing pursuit of financial gain.

High Growth Handbook is the playbook for growing your startup into a global brand. Global technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth tech companies including Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global enterprises. Across all of these breakout companies, Gil has identified a set of common patterns and created an accessible playbook for scaling high-growth startups, which he has now codified in High Growth Handbook. In this definitive guide, Gil covers key topics, including: · The role of the CEO · Managing a board · Recruiting and overseeing an executive team · Mergers and acquisitions · Initial public offerings · Late-stage funding. Informed by interviews with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, including Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), and Aaron Levie (Box), High Growth Handbook presents crystal-clear guidance for navigating the most complex challenges that confront leaders and operators in high-growth startups.

An exit strategy, if implemented early, is the surprising secret to ultimate startup success. Find out why—and how to develop one—in this comprehensive, practical guide from veteran Silicon Valley dealmaker Touraj Parang. In 2008, Touraj Parang's award-winning startup, Jaxtr, had 10 million users, raised nearly $20 million from top-tier Silicon Valley investors, and seemed poised to sail straight through the Great Recession. But, by January of 2009, Jaxtr’s only hope for survival was to find a buyer—sadly, it was too late for that. In Exit Path, Touraj draws on the lessons learned from that chaotic experience and the extraordinary successes that followed once he (and the entrepreneurs he advises) made creating and executing an exit strategy a top priority. For too long entrepreneurs have been failing to establish the requisite relationships and properly prepare for the most important milestone in their life cycle: a sale to an acquirer. But in today’s hyper competitive and interconnected business world, that is no longer an option. In this first-of-its-kind, comprehensive guide, you'll discover the surprising reasons few startups succeed while many fail—and you’ll learn that implementing an exit strategy early will empower you to take charge of your startup’s ultimate fate, maximizing its potential for success while mitigating the risks of failure. Arranged in four sequential parts, Exit Path walks you through actionable steps to devise and execute an effective exit strategy, starting with a fresh new perspective on the critical importance of creating a viable sale option for your startup. You'll learn why creating your exit strategy is necessary well before you're contemplating an exit, regardless of the stage of your startup. You’ll also discover how to create your own exit plan, how to make your plan a reality through personal and business relationships, and how to approach and negotiate with acquirers for an outcome best aligned with your values and ambitions should the need arise. Whether you are an entrepreneur, investor, or advisor, the expert advice and insights in Exit Path will inspire you to take charge of your startup’s destiny and unlock its strategic potential and options over time.