Startup Myths and Models: What You Won't Learn in Business School

Budding entrepreneurs face a challenging road. The path is not made any easier by all the clichés they hear about how to make a startup succeed—from platitudes and conventional wisdom to downright contradictions. This witty and wise guide to the dilemmas of entrepreneurship debunks widespread misconceptions about how the world of startups works and offers hard-earned advice for every step of the journey. Instead of startup myths—legends spun from a fantasy version of Silicon Valley—Rizwan Virk provides startup models—frameworks that help make thoughtful decisions about starting, growing, managing, and selling a business. Rather than dispensing simplistic rules, he mentors readers in the development of a mental toolkit for approaching challenges based on how startup markets evolve in real life. In snappy prose with savvy pop-culture and real-world examples, Virk recasts entrepreneurship as a grand adventure. He points out the pitfalls that appear along the way and offers insights into how to avoid them, sharing the secrets of founding a startup, raising money, hiring and firing, when to enter a market and when to exit, and how to value a company. Virk combines lessons learned the hard way during his twenty-five years of founding, investing in, and advising startups with reflections from well-known venture capitalists and experts. His candid advice makes Startup Myths and Models an ideal guide for those readers just embarking on the startup life and those looking for their next adventure.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Stage 1: The Call to Adventure: Myths About Starting a Company Myth #1: Build a Billion-Dollar Company Myth #2: Founders Start Companies to Make a Lot of Money Myth #3: You Have to Be First to Market Bonus Myth #B-1: Start Something You Are Passionate About Stage 2: Fuel for the Journey: Myths About Raising Money Myth #4: A Great Product and a Big Market Are the Most Important Things Myth #5: Two Guys and a Business Are Better Than Two Guys and a Plan Myth #6: Talk to as Many Investors as You Can Myth #7: Take the Highest Valuation You Can Get Bonus Myth #B-2: Raise as Little (as Much) Money as Possible Stage 3: Travel Companions: Myths About Hiring and Management Myth #8: Hire the Most Experienced People You Can Find Myth #9: Get Out of the Way and Let People Do Their Jobs, or I Can Do It Faster Myself! Myth #10: Better Management Causes Faster Growth Bonus Myth #B-3: If I own X%, Then My Stock Is worth $x! Stage 4: The Road of Trials: Myths About Going to Market Myth #11: Focus, Focus, Focus Myth #12: My Product Failed Because My Sales Guy Sucks Myth #13: If Only We Could Spend More on Marketing! Myth #14: Fail Fast, Pivot Quickly Bonus Myth #B-4: There Is No Such Thing as Bad Publicity Stage 5: Acquiring the Treasure: Myths About Exiting Your Company Myth #15: At This Rate, My Startup Will Be Worth Twice as Much Tomorrow! Myth #16: They’re Buying Us Because Our Product is Awesome! Myth #17: The Best Way to Cash Out Is to Sell or Go Public Bonus Myth #B-5: Upfront Cash Is Better than Stock or an Earnout Stage 6: The Underworld and the Return: Myths About Life and Death in a Startup Myth #18: Startups Are Hard Work Myth #19: Whew, I’m Glad That’s Over! No More Startups for Me! Bonus Myth #B-6: If My Startup Fails, My Life Is Over! Bonus Myths Appendix A: The Startup Market Lifecycle and Curves Appendix B: Meet Our Cast of Characters and Startups Acknowledgments About the Author Index

About the Author :
Rizwan Virk is a successful entrepreneur, video game pioneer, and venture capitalist and founder of the startup accelerator Play Labs @ MIT. A graduate of MIT and Stanford, he is also the author of Zen Entrepreneurship: Walking the Path of the Career Warrior (2013); Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success (2017); and The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game (2019).

Review :
In this lively read, Riz Virk scrutinizes popular startup myths and provides crystal-clear startup models to guide entrepreneurs on their journey. Fortify yourself on this book’s rich experience and insights before you set out. Riz Virk has been a founder, advisor and investor in startups for twenty-five years; Startup Myths and Models condenses those years of experience into a set of coherent lessons about the real challenges entrepreneurs face and how to overcome them. If you are going on the entrepreneur's journey, this book is a great companion for every stage of the adventure! When launching a new business, there's no one I'd rather have at my side than Riz Virk as a cofounder or adviser. Having Riz's book, Startup Myths and Models, is the next-best thing. Equip yourself to win the battles that you'll encounter in your startup adventure by reading and digesting the lessons in this book. 100% results, no fluff! In Startup Myths, Riz Virk debunks common misconceptions about life in Startup Land. Both funny and wise, this book is a worthwhile read for any entrepreneur. I’ve founded five companies, made angel investments in over 100, and served on numerous startup boards—I wish I'd had a book like this before I started! Packed with hard-earned wisdom, Riz Virk does a great job of debunking myths and over-simple rules of thumb in the startup universe. Startup Myths and Models is one of the best textbooks for founders who are going through accelerators, (and, of course for those that aren't). Riz Virk reveals secrets about starting, funding, growing, and selling your startup all while doing what's most important - staying sane and healthy. This is one of my go-to recommendations for any founder beginning or currently on the startup journey. Riz Virk was one of my inspirations to be an entrepreneur. My advice to would-be entrepreneurs is to read Riz's book Startup Myths and Models, because it contains wisdom drawn from his twenty-five years of startup battles. Whether you're a curious student or a serial entrepreneur, Startup Myths and Models is on my recommended reading list for any startup founder. Riz's use of the Hero's Journey will help you understand how answering the call to the startup adventure will forever change you for the better! Startup Myths and Models cuts through all the startup noise, bringing real world experience to every entrepreneur in a super easy to access reference book. This cogent, far-thinking explanation of how start-ups work will be invaluable for any aspiring founders stymied by traditional business wisdom. There are practical do's and don'ts, and a nuanced discussion of how to tell if a truism is going to help or hurt your particular situation. This is the kind of expertise most founders don't have direct access to, and there are plenty of useful nuggets here.