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Do More Faster
Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup
Brad Feld (Author), David G. Cohen (Author)
9781119583288, Wiley
Hardback, published 2 August 2019
400 pages
23.1 x 15.8 x 2.8 cm, 0.771 kg
Refreshed, updated, and expanded. Do More Faster provides time-tested advice, tips, and experiences by founders and mentors of Techstars to help entrepreneurs succeed! David Cohen and Brad Feld, leading advocates for entrepreneurs and startups, team up to provide first-time entrepreneurs with the tools, insights, and experiences to help them do more faster. The authors share their decades of experience working with thousands of startup founders and have enlisted the advice of dozens of Techstars startup founders and mentors. Contributors include Tim Ferriss, Eric Ries, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), Isaac Saldana (SendGrid), and other successful entrepreneurs. Co-founders of Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, Cohen and Feld recognize the daunting task of creating a sustainable business and have seen first-hand the common mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make over and over. The authors take the complexity and uncertainty of starting a business and distill the critical factors into seven themes: Ideas and Vision, People, Working Effectively, Product, Fundraising, Legal and Structure, and Work and Life Harmony. They share their hard-won successes, failures, and advice for anyone with an idea who wants to create a business. Throughout the book crucial questions are raised and addressed from multiple perspectives. ● How important is it to have an original idea? ● How is founder conflict handled? ● What are the tradeoffs between bootstrapping and financing? Make-or-break decisions like company structure, hiring, and legal consequences are presented in an easy-to-understand style. Do More Faster will elevate your thinking on a range of important topics, help you avoid costly mistakes, and provide you with a resource to consult as you go from idea to successful business. If you have the drive and desire to start a business, need to create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in your community, or want to spark greater innovation in your organization—don’t go it alone. Use the advice, tips, and tactics found throughout Do More Faster to give yourself the best chance of succeeding.
Foreword xiii Preface xv About Techstars xix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Do More Faster 3 Chapter 2 Do or Do Not; There Is No Try 7 Theme One: Idea and Vision 9 Chapter 3 Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless 13 Chapter 4 Start with Your Passion 17 Chapter 5 Look for the Pain 21 Chapter 6 Get Feedback Early 25 Chapter 7 Usage Is Like Oxygen for Ideas 29 Chapter 8 Forget the Kitchen Sink 33 Chapter 9 Find That One Thing They Love 37 Chapter 10 Don’t Plan. Prototype! 39 Chapter 11 You Never Need Another Original Idea 43 Chapter 12 Get It Out There 45 Chapter 13 Avoid Tunnel Vision 49 Chapter 14 Focus 51 Chapter 15 Iterate Again 55 Chapter 16 Fail Fast 59 Chapter 17 Pull the Plug When You Know It’s Time 63 Chapter 18 Love Doesn’t Scale, or Does It? 67 Chapter 19 Reconciling Vision and Focus 71 Theme Two: People 73 Chapter 20 Be Open to Randomness 75 Chapter 21 Entrepreneurship Is a Group Sport 79 Chapter 22 Avoid Cofounder Confl ict 83 Chapter 23 Hire People Better than You 87 Chapter 24 How to Find and Engage Mentors 91 Chapter 25 Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly 99 Chapter 26 If You Can Quit, You Should 103 Chapter 27 Build a Balanced Team 107 Chapter 28 Startups Seek Friends 111 Chapter 29 Engage Great Mentors 115 Chapter 30 The Mentor Manifesto 119 Chapter 31 Define Your Culture 123 Chapter 32 Two Strikes and You Are Out 129 Chapter 33 Karma Matters 133 Theme Three: Working Effectively 137 Chapter 34 Assume That You’re Wrong 139 Chapter 35 Make Decisions Quickly 143 Chapter 36 It’s Just Data 145 Chapter 37 Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut 149 Chapter 38 Progress Equals Validated Learning 153 Chapter 39 The Plural of Anecdote Is Not Data 157 Chapter 40 Don’t Suck at Email 161 Chapter 41 Use What’s Free 165 Chapter 42 Be Tiny Until You Shouldn’t Be 169 Chapter 43 Don’t Celebrate the Wrong Things 173 Chapter 44 Be Specific 179 Chapter 45 Learn from Your Failures 181 Chapter 46 Quality over Quantity 183 Chapter 47 Have a Bias Toward Action 187 Theme Four: Product 191 Chapter 48 Don’t Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product 193 Chapter 49 Find Your Whitespace 197 Chapter 50 Focus on What Matters 201 Chapter 51 Obsess over Metrics 203 Chapter 52 Avoid Distractions 205 Chapter 53 Know Your Customer 209 Chapter 54 Beware the Big Companies 213 Chapter 55 Throw Things Away 215 Chapter 56 Pivot 219 Theme Five: Fundraising 221 Chapter 57 There’s More than One Way to Raise Money 223 Chapter 58 Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren’t 227 Chapter 59 Don’t Forget about Bootstrapping 231 Chapter 60 You Don’t Have to Raise Money 235 Chapter 61 Seed Investors Care about Three Things 239 Chapter 62 Practice Like You Play 243 Chapter 63 If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 247 Chapter 64 Show, Don’t Tell 251 Chapter 65 Turn the Knife after You Stick It In 253 Chapter 66 Don’t Overoptimize on Valuations 257 Chapter 67 Get Help with Your Term Sheet 261 Chapter 68 Focus on the First One-Third 265 Theme Six: Legal and Structure 267 Chapter 69 Choose the Right Company Structure 269 Chapter 70 Form the Company Early 273 Chapter 71 Default to Delaware 277 Chapter 72 Lawyers Don’t Have to Be Expensive 279 Chapter 73 Vesting Is Good for You 283 Chapter 74 Your Brother-in-Law Is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer 287 Chapter 75 To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There Is No Question 291 Theme Seven: Work–Life Harmony 295 Chapter 76 Discover Work–Life Harmony 297 Chapter 77 Practice Your Passion 301 Chapter 78 Follow Your Heart 305 Chapter 79 Turn Work into Play 309 Chapter 80 Don’t Make Yourself Indispensable 313 Chapter 81 Get Out from Behind Your Computer 315 Chapter 82 Stay Healthy 319 Chapter 83 Get Away from It All 323 Conclusion 327 Appendix 1: The Evolution of Techstars 331 Appendix 2: Original Edition’s Foreword 345 Appendix 3: Where Are the Techstars Companies Now? 349 About the Authors 355 Acknowledgments 357 Index 359
David Cohen
Brad Feld
Tim Ferriss
Kevin Mann
Isaac Saldana
Nate Abbott and Natty Zola
Matt Mullenweg
David Cohen
Darren Crystal
Greg Reinacker
Niel Robertson
Sean Corbett
Bijan Sabet
Jared Polis
Colin Angle
Alex White
Paul Berberian
Nicole Glaros
David Cohen
David Cohen
Mark O’Sullivan
Dharmesh Shah
Will Herman
David Cohen
Matt Blumberg
Laura Fitton
Alex White
Micah Baldwin
Emily Olson
David Cohen
Greg Gottesman
Brad Feld
Warren Katz
Howard Diamond
Ari Newman
Bill Warner
Ryan McIntyre
Eric Ries
Brad Feld
David Cohen
Jason Seats
Jeffrey Powers
Rob Johnson
Brad Feld
Fred Wilson
Andy Smith
Ben Casnocha
Ajay Kulkarni and Andy Cheung
Raj Aggarwal
Dick Costolo
Dave McClure
Andy Sack
Bill Flagg
Michael Zeisser
Eric Marcoullier
Rob Hayes
Brad Feld
David Cohen
David Brown
Joe Aigboboh and Jesse Tevelow
Jeff Clavier
Alex White
Nicole Glaros
Brad Feld
David Cohen
Kirk Holland
Jason Mendelson
Brad Feld
Brad Feld
Brad Bernthal
Jon Taylor
Michael Platt
Jon Fox
Brad Feld
Matt Galligan
Brad Feld
Eran Egozy
Mark Solon
Howard Lindzon
David Cohen
Seth Levine
Andy Smith
Amy Batchelor
Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ]
