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“When I was first starting out, I had to learn many things by trial and error, and I know I could have saved myself a lot of grief if someone had given me advice on what to do. I hope this book will help and inspire you to pursue your passion while avoiding some of the mistakes I made.”
It’s easier than ever before to launch a startup. But in a world where barriers to entry are virtually nonexistent and everyone wants to be the next Facebook, competition is fierce. If you’re just beginning and lack the money and clout to make an automatic splash, how do you differentiate yourself from all the rest?
Jason Baptiste knows firsthand what it takes. After launching his first company while still in college, he cofounded his current venture, Onswipe, in his early twenties, turning it into a multimillion-dollar company in less than a year. Now, drawing on his own experience as a bootstrapping but hungry entrepreneur, as well as on examples from today’s most famous companies, he guides would-be tech moguls through every stage of the process—from testing a concept to acquiring customers to determining the best pricing model—in a cheap, practical way. Among his strategies:
• Build the product you wish you had: Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley created an early version of his product because he wanted to keep in touch with former colleagues.
• It doesn’t have to be sexy to make money: Dropbox took the world by storm by offering a great solution to a mundane problem—online storage.
• Be bold when promoting yourself: Online payment service WePay capitalized on dissatisfaction with industry leader PayPal by dumping six hundred pounds of ice in front of a developer conference.
• Attract fans to attract customers: Budget tracking site Mint.com created its initial user base by offering original and useful content about personal finance.
Baptiste shows you don’t need an MBA, a trust fund, or even experience running your own company to become a star in the tech world. The Ultralight Startup is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide that will prepare any entrepreneur to take his or her idea to the next level.
Introduction
The Book I Wish I Had Had When
I Became an Entrepreneur 1
1 It All Starts with an Idea 7
2 How to Launch Faster Than You Ever Imagined 22
3 Testing Your Product in the Real World 41
4 Getting Organized 63
5 You Can't Go It Alone 79
6 Attracting Customers 101
7 Growing Your Startup 122
8 How to Make Money 133
9 Make Your Startup Famous 152
10 From $1,000 to $1,000,000 170
11 How Not to Die 196
A Farewell 204
Appendix
A Year in the Life of a Startup 205
Acknowledgments 219
Index 221
WWEngineering
Posted September 28, 2012
I browsed this book at the B&N Bookstore and decided later to buy it from my Nook. Its pretty amazing how easy it was. Also, e-reader books are finally commonly more inexpensive compared to print books.
About the book:
This is very easy book to read and the business suggestions in the book are excellent. Although the book is about Cloud Startups (I am trying to launch a product business) the topics were transferable. The websites explained in the book are a useful survey of web startups as well. For ~$12 for the Nook, it was well worth it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 24, 2012
Nothing insightful. Just the ramblings of a young person early in his career. He just reiterates the same ideas that are in every other basic startup book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
“When I was first starting out, I had to learn many things by trial and error, and I know I could have saved myself a lot of grief if someone had given me advice on what to do. I hope this book will help and inspire you to pursue your passion while avoiding some of the mistakes I made.”
It’s easier than ever before to launch a startup. But in a world where barriers to entry are virtually nonexistent and everyone wants to be the next Facebook, competition is fierce. If you’re ...