Do More Faster
TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup
By: David Cohen, Brad Feld
Published: October 19, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0470929839
ISBN-13: 978-0470929834
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
"Most people think that the core of a startup is a singular amazing world-changing and earth-shattering idea. It turns out that this idea is almost always completely wrong", write Founders of Techstars, David Cohen, and Managing Director of Foundry Group, Brad Feld, in their idea packed and real world based book Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup. The authors share their own proven ideas about entrepreneurial startups, along with the wisdom of many well known and successful entrepreneurs and startup business thought leaders.
David Cohen (photo left) and Brad Feld recognize that the failure rate for entrepreneurial ventures is very high. The authors also believe firmly that it doesn't have to be that way. Through the combined knowledge and experience of the authors, as well as the host of startup mentors, the book is a veritable cornucopia of real world tested advice for generating business success stories. First time entrepreneurs will benefit tremendously from this collection of essays covering the seven areas where business startups encounter obstacles that derail their success. The authors utilize the experience of twenty-five years with TechStars, a mentorship based startup accelerator, to glean the insights of past participants in the program, and to share them with would be entrepreneurs.
Brad feld (photo left) and David Cohen move beyond the mythology of the one great product idea, and delve more deeply into what makes a successful business from its conception to its ultimate success. The authors understand that there are seven factors that must be addressed to achieve a profitable venture into a turbulent marketplace. These seven areas include:
* Idea and Vision
* People
* Execution
* Product
* Fundraising
* Legal and structure
* Work-Life balance
The authors, and the contributing mentors make it clear that ignoring or even omitting any of these seven factors will reduce the odds of creating a successful startup. As a result, equal emphasis is given to each of these principles, resulting in a strong program for getting that exciting new startup off to a flying start.
For me, the power of the book is how David Cohen and Brad Feld utilize their own years of startup experience in combination with the well grounded knowledge of their guest contributors. The identification of the seven key factors to startup success is a real strength of this book. For would be startups, the temptation is all too often to rush past one or more of the steps outlined by the authors, in an attempt to speed up the business process. Instead, as the authors and mentors point out, the opposite is true. The failure to consider and act upon all of the seven areas of interest actually slows a startup venture down. The authors provide a very useful and diverse range of thinkers in the many essays that comprise the book.
The contributing mentors cover each of the seven success keys in depth, and share their ground level experience and wisdom freely. By including several viewpoints within each of the seven crucial steps, the authors make abundantly clear the significance and importance of each step. A great idea is essential, but the management team must be able to execute the vision effectively. Building the right team is critical to success. Great mentors are needed and should be welcomed into the startup at all stages. Getting the necessary financing is always challenging for startups, and knowing how to get it is vital. The legal issues may seem mundane but they are essential for success. All too often, work-life balance is forgotten in the rush to market, but overlooking balance will more often than not lead to failure. This book does a fine job of covering all of these important areas of the business in detail.
I highly recommend the startup business building book Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup by David Cohen and Brad Feld, to any would be entrepreneurs who are seeking the advice and experience of real world entrepreneurs and thought leaders. This book offers a fine blend of entrepreneurial wisdom and practical tools to help any startup hit the ground running.
Read the valuable and essential book Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup by David Cohen and Brad Feld, and put the ideas and experience of proven entrepreneurs and mentors to work for you new company. The results will astound you as you achieve startup success.
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