The Agile Start-Up: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Table of Contents:
Why You Should Read This Book xiii The Entrepreneur’s Life Cycle xv Chapter 1 Agile Philosophy Rule #1 3 What’s Your Why? 4                                              You are Wrong 7 Heaven . . . and Hell 8 You Get Only 15,000 Days 11 The Entrepreneurial Method 12 Focus on Problems, Not Solutions 15 Three Requirements for Success 16 Dreamers versus Doers 19 Get Out of the Building 20 Business Plans are Worthless 23 Let Them Steal it 24 Embarrass Yourself 27 Fail Fast—and Often 28 Contain Risk as Early as Possible 31 First, Decide What Not to Do 32 Rules? What Rules? 35 FOCUS—Follow One Course Until Successful 36 Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid 39 Get in over Your Head 40 There is No Silver Bullet 43 It Ain’t a Problem ’Til it’s a Problem 44 Launch to Learn 47 Resourcefulness, Not Resources 48 Chapter 2 Make it Feasible Is it Feasible? 53 ASS Out of U and ME 54 Three Questions You Must Answer 57 Double Your Worst Case 58 Five Risk Factors 61 Product 1.0—A Brochure 62 Good Ideas, Bad Businesses 65 Wrong Questions → Wrong Answers 66 Vitamin, Painkiller, or Cure? 69 Create Massive Value 70 Why Won’t it Work? 73 Show Me the Money 74 Does it Pencil? 77 Play Dumb 78 Take a Haircut 81 If You Build it, Will They Come? 82 Buying Customers 85 CLV >= 2 × CAC 86 Cash is More Important than Your Mother 89 Think Like a VC 90 Chapter 3 Customers and Competition Break it Down 95 Ride the Wave 96 Know Thy Market 99 WII.FM—Your Favorite Radio Station 100 Tell Me What Sucks 103 You Can’t Boil the Ocean 104 Reframe the Competition 107 Make a Competitive Matrix 108 Differentiate or Die 111 Competition is a Good Thing 112 Follow the Leader 115 Fast Followers Finish First 116 10× Better 119 You Need a Moat 120 Zero Degrees of Separation 123 Chapter 4 Making Money What’s Your Business Model? 127 The Best Source of Capital 128 How Do You Make Money? 131 Gross Profit Margins 132 Prefer Variable to Fixed 135 Go Bootstrap Yourself 136 The First Rule to Making Money 139 The First Dollar is the Hardest 140 Bottoms Up 143 Build a (Bad) Financial Model 144 How Much Runway? 147 Know Your Do-or-Die Numbers 148 Chapter 5 Marketing Luck is Not a Plan 153 What’s Your Positioning? 154 Hold the Presses 157 Old Meets New 158 Sell Wants, but Deliver Needs 161 How Can I Help You? 162 Turn $1 into $2+ 165 Do it Twice 166 Perception is Reality 169 Be a Guerrilla Marketer 170 The Secret to Writing Copy That Sells 173 Promise . . . Then Overdeliver 174 Your Brand Talks 176 Chapter 6 Team Not So Fast, Partner 179 Get a Pre-Nup 180 ABCs of Hiring 183 Your Startup is a Boat 184 The Build/Sell Team 187 Make Sure You’re Aligned 188 How to Get the Best People 191 Fire Yourself 192 You are Not Scalable 195 Mess with the Vest, Die Like the Rest 196 Delegate, Don’t Abdicate 199 Form an Advisory Board 200 Who’s the Boss? 203 The Right Partner Formula 204 Hire Slow, Fire Fast 205 Sharing a Submarine 206 Chapter 7 Pitching Your Startup Get Your Story Straight 209 Get to the Next Step 210 Half as Long is Twice as Good 213 First Rule of Elevator Pitches 214 Get Used to Rejection 217 Use the Use Case 218 Make it Stick 221 Name it and Frame it 222 Find the Hot Buttons 225 Fake it ’Til You Make it 226 Be Simple, Not Simplistic 229 Don’t Bury the Lead 230 Back of a Business Card 232 Chapter 8 Investors You are the First Investor 235 Got Traction? 236 Obsessed 239 Pigs Get Slaughtered 240 Investors are Not Created Equal 243 Do You Want to Be Rich or Be King? 244 When No Leads to Yes 247 The Train is Leaving the Station 248 Calling All Angels 251 The Lemmings Need a Leader 252 Don’t Expect to Hear “No” 255 Save the Best for Last 256 Get to Your Next Milestone 259 Fuel to the Fire 260 A Demo is Worth 1,000 Words 263 Money Only Buys Time 264 If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 267 The Investor Triad 268 The Day You Take an Investor’s Money 271 What’s the Business Worth? 272 Valuation isn’t Everything 275 Friends, Family, and Fools 276 Chapter 9 Building the Business Nail it before You Scale it 279 Tipping Point 280 Think on Paper 283 The First Question to Ask 284 Make Meetings Matter 287 Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst 288 Expect the Unexpected 291 Be Your Own Customer 292 Think Big, Execute Small 295 Forget the Mission Statement 296 Metrics Matter 299 Your Network is Your Net Worth 300 Who’s the Bad Guy? 303 Your Reputation Precedes You 304 Build it Like You’re Going to Sell it 307 Be Frugal, Not Cheap 308 When the S#!t Hits the Fan (and it Will) 311 Know When to Fold ’Em 312 Chapter 10 What to Know Before You Go Startups are Boring 317 Young at Heart 318 Your Three Hats 321 You are on Your Own 322 Dangers in the Moonlight 325 The Part-Time Entrepreneur 326 A Family Affair 329 Congratulations, It’s a Boy! 330 Ten Things You Should Never Do Before Starting 333 The Five-Year Overnight Success 334 Conclusion 335 Acknowledgments 337 Recommended Reading 339 About the Authors 341 Online Course Offer 343 Index 345

About the Author :
JEFF SCHEINROCK is currently a Continuing Lecturer at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is also President and CFO of the venture investment firm Originate. Scheinrock has personally raised over $1 billion in venture capital, served as the chief investment officer of a fund-of-funds, and helped take Packard Bell from inception to over $7 billion in annual revenue. He has negotiated in excess of $1 billion in bank debt and $3 billion in trade credit from companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Tatung, Lite-On, and Seagate. Scheinrock also handled the negotiation and structuring of many acquisitions, including Zenith Data Systems and Ark Interface Software, among others. MATT RICHTER-SAND is a serial entrepreneur, having launched three businesses. An Air Force veteran, he earned an MBA from UCLA before spending two years as a venture capitalist. Currently, he mentors entrepreneurs and is actively building his third startup.