Startups In Action

The growing pains of a startup’s initial year in business require a keen awareness of uncertainties and a willingness to adapt in order to survive. Today’s new founders greatly benefit from taking a behind-the-scenes look at successful companies such as Etsy, HotelTonight, Fiverr, and more in regards to how they overcame the challenges of their first year. Startups in Action is your curated source for critical insights and inspiration from those who have been there before. This book documents the month-to-month journeys of these companies in their first year, zeroing in on key decisions that helped them recover from missteps, and adapt to complications, to eventually grow and succeed. Were the founders full-time from the beginning? How long did it take them to build a working prototype? How many end-users did they have in the first year? The answers to these questions are of interest to those who are just starting out and want to learn by example. Collected from interviews with the founders themselves, author JP Silva answers these questions and reveals how each of the startups charted their paths to success. Startups in Action is equal parts inspirational and practical, providing guidance through a foundation of relatability to help cope with situations and surprises experienced during a startup’s first year. Startup discourse is rife with myths and oversimplification. Cut through the noise and learn the events, actions, and counteractions only attainable from the founders themselves. As more and more aspiring entrepreneurs are about to start their journeys, the value of knowledge about difficult choices and obstacles that companies face in their first year is critical. With Startups in Action, you will benefit from the invaluable knowledge of experience and be prepared to face the challenges of building a successful startup. What You Will Learn Acquire critical insights from the most successful startups, easily available and collated in one bookCompare and contrast the first year journey of your startup with that of giants such as Etsy, StubHub, Fiverr, and moreLearn how to build better startups by understanding what you should or should not do Who This Book Is For This book is for new and aspiring founders, and those curious to learn about the journeys of successful startups.

Thinking about starting a business? Learn how to get your first 10 customers - Without spending thousands of dollars or wasting months on a business idea that won't sell * Do you want to avoid debt from spending all your money on a startup doomed to fail? * Do you want to finally join the ranks successful entrepreneurs who live on their own terms?Start up Action Plan is the guidebook you have been waiting for. Getting these first potential customers is the hardest thing to do for business owners, and I'm going to teach you the easiest, fastest way to do it. Best of all you are going to find your customers BEFORE YOU EVEN HAVE A PRODUCT TO SELL * I will show you how to get 100's of prospects in your target market for less than $50 (Chapter 1) * Destroy your fears of speaking to your market and develop a value giving mindset (Chapter 2) * Learn how to pitch your potential customers properly on your business idea (Chapter 3) * Create a battle plan for calling potential customers and pre-selling them on your business idea (Chapter 4) * Learn the strategies to guarantee you will have a list of customers eager to buy your product when it's finished (Chapter 5) * Gain confidence in the quality of your business idea-Create a product customers are EAGER to buy (Chapter 6)If you want stay a comfortable wantrepreneur working the same boring job you have your entire life, DON'T READ THIS BOOK. However, if you that BURNING DESIRE to build a dream business that makes you money, this is book is for you.Are you ready to take action?

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.

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.

Start strong with essential early-stage guidance from the VC perspective Startup Opportunities is the go-to guide for anyone with a great business idea. Whether it's your first business or your fifth, realistic assessment from the outset can save you a lot of time and money; why pour your heart and soul into a venture that is doomed to fail? Instead, position yourself to win from the very beginning. In this book, accomplished venture capitalists share their insight on startups and entrepreneurs: who will fail, who will succeed and why, and what you should do to give your business the very best shot at becoming a global success story. You'll learn how to evaluate your business with a critical eye, and how early customer development can be key in turning a good idea into a great opportunity. If you're serious about building a business that lasts, this book provides invaluable guidance that you really cannot miss. More than five million people will launch a business this year, and many of them will be great ideas—yet few will be around in five years, and even fewer in ten years. A great idea is not enough to build a successful business. You need to fortify your idea with the proper foundation, and a scaffolding of good planning and early action. This book shows you how. Assess your business's viability using the 10x Rule Learn when you can quit your day job—or not Take the key steps to making your business succeed Discover the opportunities worth selling everything for This expert author team has witnessed more than 30,000 pitches over two decades, and have participated in over 500 startup launches. Startup Opportunities gives you the benefit of their experience to help you start strong and stay strong.

Tested principles for transforming an idea into a fully operational company Startup Weekend—the organization behind 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and create startups—has spawned both a global initiative in entrepreneurship as well as numerous successful startups. Startup Weekend, the book, contains best practices, lessons learned, and empowering examples derived from the organization's experiences for individuals and small organizations to follow as they launch businesses. Each of the key beliefs outlined has been tested by Startup Weekend and has yielded powerful results. The principles described in each chapter will give any business idea a greater chance for success. Chapter topics include trust and empowerment, flexible organizational structures, the power of experiential education, action-based networking, and much more Describes consequences for startup development as entrepreneurs and founders begin doing much more, even faster Profiles successful Startup Weekend companies, including two powerful examples: Memolane, an application that captures a user's online life in one timeline making it easy for users to travel back in time and relive memories; and Foodspotting, a mobile and desktop app that allows users to find and share the foods they love Apply these simple actionable principles to launch your own startup revolution.

Thousands of entrepreneurs aspire to start and build companies that disrupt markets and transform the business landscape. Most start with a novel idea, assemble a team of founders, fashion a business model, and begin the long road to raise funds. Unfortunately, 95% of startups fail or dramatically miss expectations. However, industry analysts, advisors and investors agree that great execution maximizes the likelihood of success. After serving as an executive for five different startups, Silicon Valley advisor Sam Wong can provide unique execution guidance for founders, entrepreneurs and leaders. 21 Secrets of Successful Startups draws upon the battle scars of 30 years of victories and defeats to present actionable advice, guidance, and frameworks spanning numerous topics related to startup execution, fundraising, talent and lifestyle. Whether you are thinking of launching a company or are currently working to grow, fund, and scale your startup, 21 Secrets of Successful Startups provides a playbook to build your startup and achieve success.

Startups can only grow with the right people decisions. This is a playbook for managing the most complex variable in a startup's success.Startups Grow With People makes good use of metaphors and real life examples for clarity. You will find lists, action plans and frameworks you can immediately start using in your own startup.Part One: How to Pick Partners will discuss when it is best to go at it solo and when it is best to partner-up; how to choose a co-founder; which indicators and warning signs to look for before making the handshake.Part Two: How to Recruit the Top Talent will tell about the most important principles of making the very first hires of the company. You will learn about all the stages of top level hiring, from the interview to drafting up an offer that will get a "yes".Part Three: How to Build a Culture is based on the appreciation that as a company grows, culture becomes the main map of reference people use for their actions and decisions. Here, you will learn about the Universal Cultural Codes Startups Need, Actions-Rituals-Symbols-Stories, how to use them. You'll also get a Culture Shaping Toolbox!***The Author, Ozan Dagdeviren has studied sociology, psychology and marketing communications followed by holding people-related roles in large organizations. He's an entrepreneur and the founder of CommonWisdom.co.uk based in London. CommonWisdom helps growing startups with their people decisions & strategies. For early level startups, it provides go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies as well as mentoring to help them scale.