Lean Startup, Lean Company, Rich Exit: The Guidebook

by Kenan E. Sahin

Overview

Anyone in business in the 1990s will remember the spectacular success Kenan Sahin had in taking just $1,000 from his savings and using it to build the first great commercial AI success, leading to a $1.54 billion sale to Lucent Technologies. In Lean Startup, Lean Company, Rich Exit: The Guidebook, Kenan Sahin follows up on his 2024 account as the sole shareholder in this rich exit, detailing his extraordinary entrepreneurial accomplishment and putting it into a practical workbook any aspiring leader can follow.

Included in the guidebook are hundreds of critical insights, including policies and protocols designed over decades to improve and refine the senior leadership, accounting and finance, HR, and product development functions, and more. Kenan brought pioneering AI and Big Data systems to the marketplace in the 1990s, so his framework for business innovation is a must-read for entrepreneurs eager to launch and advance commercially viable AI and Big Data companies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798887506470
Publisher:	Advantage Media Group, Inc.
Publication date:	11/19/2024
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

DR. KENAN SAHIN is an academic, scientist, inventor, technologist, serial entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he then served on the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management, at UMass Amherst, and Harvard.

He founded Kenan Systems with $1,000, growing it into an international company with 750 employees before selling as the sole shareholder to Lucent/Bell Labs. He then ran Lucent’s Communications Software Group and served as Vice President of Bell Labs.

Kenan’s numerous commendations include the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Award, the International Institute of Boston Golden Door Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate, and the Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year.

He lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts; works in Lexington, Massachusetts; and vacations in Kennebunkport, Maine, and Bodrum, Turkey.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: From Lean Startup to Lean Company
Chapter 1: Launching a Lean Startup
Chapter 2: Becoming a Lean Company
Chapter 3: Building and Populating the Structures

Part II: Continuing as a Lean Company
Chapter 4: Intangibles Sustain the Lean Company
Chapter 5: Growth—Why, When, How
Chapter 6: Diversification

Part III: On the Path to Exit (or Not)
Chapter 7: Pursuing Excellent, or Average?
Chapter 8: The Joy of Exits
Chapter 9: Post Rich Exit—So What, Now What?

Appendix: Thirty Years of Intelligence Extension (IE)

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book is a win for its blend of practical advice and thoughtful insights, offering a complete guide for anyone aiming to build a successful and sustainable business."
— Readers Favorite

"Dr. Kenan Sahin’s 2024 book Lean Startup to Lean Company to Rich Exit is a fascinating and compelling story of success by a serial entrepreneur and one of the most successful graduates of MIT. He took a one-person consulting firm and built it into a powerhouse in the telecommunications space, overcoming all of the established players. This guidebook is a companion to an earlier book with this title and extends it with a comprehensive framework for practical use by aspiring entrepreneurs. It starts with a big-picture perspective: the importance of having multiple projects under way and the importance of building professional networks to drive innovation. Then, it moves on to specific and actionable advice that new entrepreneurs need to know: how to hire the best people; how to provide incentives through bonuses and profit sharing; how to handle billing and invoices; how to hire a good lawyer; compensation plans for sales staff; and even, how to negotiate leases for office space."
— Dr. Keith Sawyer
The Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; author of Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration and Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity.

"In his deeply insightful memoir, Lean Startup to Lean Company to Rich Exit, Kenan Sahin tells the story of building a company from a $1,000 seedling to one of the most lucrative sales in the U.S., filling the book with insightful anecdotes and hard-won lessons for navigating the long road to success. In this follow up guidebook, Sahin drills down into practical lessons and first principles to lay out a roadmap that other entrepreneurs can readily follow. It is rich with first-hand advice from starting up to facing the formidable challenges of when and how to grow and diversify—and, just as importantly, what to do when you succeed."
— Bob Buderi
Former Editor in Chief, MIT Technology Review; author of Where Futures Converge: Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub