Surviving a Startup: Practical Strategies for Starting a Business, Overcoming Obstacles, and Coming Out on Top

by Steven S. Hoffman

Overview

Steve Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space, prepares entrepreneurs to avoid mistakes, overcome obstacles, and master the skills necessary to make the right choices along their path to success.

The fact is, over 90 percent of all new startups fail. Every entrepreneur must face this harsh reality and learn to master it if they hope to survive and wind up on top.

In Surviving a Startup, Hoffman brings readers on a wild ride, sharing with them the tumultuous journey of launching a venture-funded startup and revealing what it takes to make it.

In this one-of-a-kind guide, you will learn:

• A deep analysis and insights into the major challenges every entrepreneur faces when launching a business.
• How to make the best possible decisions and deal with crisis situations.
• Strategies for raising capital and growing a business, even when it seems impossible.
• Secrets on how to manage difficult employees, demonstrate leadership, and overcome disasters.
• Essential traits that enable startup founders to survive and succeed.
• The best way to develop innovative products, conduct guerilla marketing campaigns, obtain PR, and outmaneuver competitors.
• How to recruit the best talent, manage highly efficient teams, and motivate employees, even with little to no money.
• The steps necessary to transform an idea into a robust, rapidly growing business.

As the captain of one of the world's leading startup incubators and accelerators, Steve knows what it's like to be on the front lines, how tough it can get when the battle turns against the entrepreneur, and what it takes to taste victory and overcome seemingly impossible odds. Surviving a Startup is a must read for entrepreneurs considering taking the best first steps for a new venture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400223190
Publisher:	HarperCollins Leadership
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	672,875
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Steven S. Hoffman, or Captain Hoff as he's called in Silicon Valley, is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world's leading incubators and accelerators. He's also an angel investor, limited partner at August Capital, and a serial entrepreneur.

Table of Contents

Captain's Log xi

Section 1 Devil's Candy

1 Taking the Leap 3

2 The Right Reasons to Launch a Startup 9

3 Taking on Debt 12

4 Does Your Idea Suck? 20

5 What's the Right Team? 23

6 Paying for Talent 29

7 Should You Copy Competitors? 32

8 Where Do Great Ideas Come From? 35

9 Defining the Problem 37

10 Creating an Elevator Pitch 38

11 Should You Be Careful? 39

12 Keeping It Secret? 41

13 When Do You Quit? 44

14 Killing Your Baby 46

15 Speed and Experimentation 48

16 Why Do Startups Fail? 50

17 Rewriting the Rules 55

18 Engaging the Customer 57

19 Manufacturing Demand 60

Section 2 Raising Venture Capital

20 Inside Venture Capital 65

21 Know Your Valuation 71

22 Love Your Lawyer 74

23 Your Investor Pitch Deck 80

24 Selling Your Story 84

25 Qualifying Investors 88

26 How to Talk to Investors 90

27 Using Fear and Greed 94

28 Managing Your Investor Pipeline 98

29 Keeping a Poker Face 100

30 Three Strikes, You're Out! 102

31 Push for a No! 106

32 Never Lie to Investors 110

33 Artificial Deadlines 112

34 Leveraging Social Capital 115

35 Getting Warm Introductions 118

36 Cold Emails That Work 121

37 How to Stand Out from the Crowd 124

38 Kissing Frogs 127

Section 3 Bootstrapping It

39 When to Raise Money 131

40 What's the Right Business? 135

41 Part-Timing It 137

42 Courting the Press 139

43 The Rules of Guerrilla Marketing 143

44 Thinking Viral 148

45 Strategies for Inbound Marketing 151

46 Aligning Brands with Values 157

47 Investing in Images 159

48 Why Stories Matter 161

49 Narrative Types 164

50 How to Growth Hack 167

51 Can Bootstrappers Compete? 169

Section 4 Unicorn Hunters

52 Investing in Teams 175

53 Sizing Up the Market 180

54 Who's Really Your Customer? 182

55 Tapping the Trends 185

56 Good vs. Great 188

57 What's Your Secret Sauce? 191

58 Business Models Made Simple 194

59 Business Model Emulation 199

60 Locking In Customers 202

61 Hardware vs. Software 204

62 When Do Patents Matter? 207

63 Shoehorning Technology 210

64 Design Thinking 212

65 Building Superior Products 215

66 Why Media Attention Matters 220

67 Skeletons in the Closet 223

63 What's the Fun Factor? 226

Section 5 Scaling Up

69 The Art of Hiring 233

70 Identifying Talent 237

71 Recruitment Strategies 239

72 Firing Employees the Right Way 242

73 The 22 Rules of Selling 246

74 Presenting in Public 252

75 Marketing and Customer Acquisition 257

76 Designing Your Workspace 259

77 Watch Out for the Platforms 263

78 The Unfair Advantages 268

79 Planning Your Exit 275

Section 6 Rules to Win By

80 Leadership Essentials 281

81 Setting the Tone 284

82 Define Your Vision 287

83 Becoming a Super Boss 290

84 Managing Your Board 293

85 Nothing Is Too Crazy 300

Section 7 Startup Life

86 Bouncing Back 305

87 Are You Too Old? 309

88 Giving Back 314

89 Seeking Knowledge 317

90 Surviving a Startup 319

Notes 323

Index 329

About the Author 339