Thousands of entrepreneurs aspire to start and build companies that disrupt markets and transform the business landscape. Most start with a novel idea, assemble a team of founders, fashion a business model, and begin the long road to raise funds. Unfortunately, 95% of startups fail or dramatically miss expectations. However, industry analysts, advisors and investors agree that great execution maximizes the likelihood of success. After serving as an executive for five different startups, Silicon Valley advisor Sam Wong can provide unique execution guidance for founders, entrepreneurs and leaders. 21 Secrets of Successful Startups draws upon the battle scars of 30 years of victories and defeats to present actionable advice, guidance, and frameworks spanning numerous topics related to startup execution, fundraising, talent and lifestyle. Whether you are thinking of launching a company or are currently working to grow, fund, and scale your startup, 21 Secrets of Successful Startups provides a playbook to build your startup and achieve success.

Everything You Need to Start and Succeed in Your Own Venture Trevor Blake built three successful startups and sold them for more than $300 million. Now he’s written a complete instruction manual that covers everything the budding entrepreneur or existing business owner needs to know to build the career or business of their dreams. Unlike the many theoretical guides out there, this is a practical handbook based on Blake’s wildly successful in-the-trenches experience. It incorporates leading-edge strategies that cover every aspect of running a business — including funding, developing systems, and marketing. Blake presents in-depth insight into managing effectively, maintaining cash flow, and adapting to the changing needs of customers in volatile economic times. One of his most innovative contributions is an emphasis on cultivating the right mindset, and he tells you exactly how to do that. “The secret to success isn’t in the plan,” he writes. “It’s in the person holding it.” His proven methods will give you the confidence to take the entrepreneurial leap and turn your winning idea into an efficient, profitable company.

You've got yourself a startup! But now where's the funding going to come from? In this day and age, creating a startup seems to be an easy process. After some meetings with an equally passionate cofounder, you discover you have a creative idea, the outline of a business plan, and a willingness to spend nights and weekends doing really hard work. But most startup founders have never run a company--much less had to secure funding to reach crucial milestones. If you don't get the funding you need, you may either make progress at a snail's pace, or you may have to give up altogether. With stakes this high, improving a startup founder's odds of fundraising successfully--even just a little--can make a huge difference in the outcome of a venture. In this informative and enlightening book, Gordon Daugherty demystifies the fundraising process that takes place during the early phases of a startup's evolution. Every founder cares about the valuation they will be able to negotiate with investors, and anyone who has attempted fundraising has encountered numerous debates about the valuation they're asking for. Startup Success dedicates a whole chapter to negotiating valuation, which, in the end, involves a serious combination of art and science to execute effectively. Daugherty's book serves as a valuable educational and planning tool for use before the fundraising campaign begins and a reference guide for interacting and negotiating with investors after things get underway. Startup Success is written in a logical sequence that follows the general life cycle of planning and executing a successful fundraising campaign. Actionable tips, tricks, and aha realizations will have readers dog-earing pages and highlighting passages for future reference. The author's own words tell it all: "I decided to write something different that best exploits the gray in my hair and the hard lessons I've learned." Any startup founder, advisor, or angel investor--regardless of their experience level--will come away with improved skills and an increased knowledge base. Gordon Daugherty is a seasoned business executive, entrepreneur, startup advisor, and investor. He has made more than 200 investments in early-stage companies as a venture fund manager and angel investor, and he has been involved in raising more than $80 million in growth and venture capital.

20 Win-Win Ways TO Satisfy YOUR Customers AND YOUR Margins From his humble childhood selling fish to passersby in China to accepting the 2013 Tibbetts Award at the White House for small business excellence, Ken Kuang's inspiring story and insightful tips will empower you to take your business to the next level. Inside, you'll learn how to: - Establish credibility - Anticipate customer needs - Turn challenges into opportunities - Build a winning team - Get more by asking for less No matter what industry you're in, From Start-Up to Star provides stimulating ideas, useful stratagems, and winning tactics for businesses of all sizes.

" ... [The author] shares the inspiring experiences, lessons, and words to the wise from more than forty founders, along with his own playbook for startup success"--Page 4 of cover.

With business advice from an expert entrepreneur, learn how to identify and leverage the key factors that will bring sustainability and success to your startup. Kathleen Kelly Janus, a lecturer at the Stanford University Program on Social Entrepreneurship and the founder of the successful social enterprise Spark, set out to investigate what makes a startup succeed or fail. She surveyed more than 200 high-performing social entrepreneurs and interviewed dozens of founders. Social Startup Success shares her findings for the legions of entrepreneurs working for social good, revealing how the best organizations get over the revenue hump. How do social ventures scale to over $2 million, Janus's clear benchmark for a social enterprise's sustainability? ​Janus, tapping into strong connections to the Silicon Valley world where many of these ventures are started or and/or funded, reveals insights from key figures such as DonorsChoose founder Charles Best, charity:water's Scott Harrison, Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code and many others. Social Startup Success will be social entrepreneurship's essential playbook; the first definitive guide to solving the problem of scale.

It takes passion to start a new business. But that same entrepreneurial enthusiasm can also lead you astray.Over six million Americans start businesses every year. That's 11 startups a minute launched by passionate dreamers hoping to transform their lives for the better. But a huge gap exists between the skyrocketing levels of desire and what entrepreneurs actually achieve. The harsh reality is that most new businesses fail within a few years of launch. Why do so few startups make it? And what distinguishes those that do succeed? Entrepreneur, consultant, and investor John Bradberry set out to discover the answer and came to a surprising conclusionùthat the passion that drives and energizes so many founders is also the very thing that leads many of them astray. Filled with compelling real-life stories of both success and failure, this groundbreaking book reveals the key principles entrepreneurs must follow to ensure their big idea is on the right track. In 6 Secrets to Startup Success, readers will learn how to: Convert their passion into economic value with a moneymaking business model ò Improve their readiness to launch and lead a new venture ò Manage funding and cash flows ò Chart a path to breakeven and beyond ò Avoid the pitfalls that often accompany unfettered passion ò Build the stamina needed to persevere over time Complete with indispensable tools including an assessment to gauge a venture's strengths and weaknesses, 6 Secrets to Startup Success will help entrepreneurs everywhere turn their dreams into reality.

There are many successful female entrepreneurs in the UK, yet most are not well known. This book shares the inspiring stories of ten successful women with lessons on overcoming challenges, gaining motivation and turning your dreams into reality. By following the author's Seven Steps to SuccessT you'll be able to put what you learn to practical use. The women entrepreneurs featured include: Linda Bennett Founder of LK Bennett; Josephine Carpenter, Founder of The Big JT; Julie Meyer, Founder of First Tuesday and Ariadne Capital; Michelle Mone, designer of the UltimoT Bra; Dr Marilyn Orcharton, creator of Denplan; Geetie Singh, creator of the world's first organic gastro pub; Dr Glenda Stone, Founder of Aurora Gender Capital Management (formerly Busy Girl); Penny Streeter, Founder of Ambition 24 hours; Helen Swaby, Founder of DeMontfort Fine Art; Yvonne Thompson CBE, Founder of the first known black-owned and run PR agency in the UK. Sue Stockdale is a motivational speaker, successful business woman and record breaking explorer. She is passionate about women's enterprise and on the Board of several organisations related to business start-up. Sue was the first British Woman to walk to the Magnetic North Pole in 1996 and has represented Scotland in athletics. She also finished runner-up in the Channel 4 show Superhuman. Sue holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Business Venturing.

Get the real guidance you need to create and build your first startup company from founders who have been there many times before. The first run printing of The Startup Playbook SOLD OUT! So, we revised, expanded, and improved this second edition, including a new foreword by Brad Feld, author of Venture Deals. We still give our personal, how-to guide for building your startup from the ground up. You'll find a collection of the major lessons and shortcuts we've learned that will shift the odds in your favor. We're sharing our tips, secrets, and advice in a frank, founder-to-founder discussion with you. We make no bones about our bias. We're on your side, the founder's side. While venture capitalists, investors, and accelerators/incubators can add great value in the startup ecosystem, this book isn't about their points of view. We'll tell you where our interests as founders diverge from those on the other side of the table—investors, bankers, advisors, board members, and others—and what to do when that happens. The Startup Playbook is not a recipe, it's not a template, it's not a list of tasks to do. It's our insider's guide to starting a company and running it successfully in those critical early months. Between us, we've started over a dozen high-tech software companies and raised over $500 million in investment capital. We've acquired over thirty-five companies, had three of our startups go public, sold six of them, and we made billions of dollars for shareholders. We've also invested in over eighty startups, advised and mentored over two hundred companies and actively worked with venture capitalists (VCs), incubators, and accelerators to help launch many other new startups. We've had plenty of failures, too. And we've probably learned more from those than from the successes. We share those lessons as well. The Startup Playbook is full of our advice, guidance, do's, and don'ts from our years of experience as founders many times. We want to share our hard-earned knowledge with you to make success easier for you to achieve. "This book is extraordinarily fresh and exciting. In an accessible, straight talk fashion, this book is a manual, and an inspiration. The Startup Playbook is smart and avoids the 'I am so smart' over-writing endemic to the genre. Read this as it is presented. You'll be doing yourself a tremendous favor." —Amazon Reviewer

Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes energy and drive. Less than 20% make it beyond the first three years. Achieving the next level, the status of business titan -- the upper echelon of leadership -- takes an unrelenting commitment to turn an idea into a plan, a plan into a startup venture, and a venture into a successful business. The chances of getting to the top are slim at best, relying on a particular set of skills and attributes. In The Wisdom of Titans, William Ferguson shares how 10 famous titans, from Bill Marriott to Julia Stewart, made it to the top, for every entrepreneur to learn from and follow. The book describes the challenges of leading service organizations, in particular, where managing and motivating thousands of people can make or break the business. The book provides advice for those just starting out as well as business leaders looking to take their enterprise to the next level.