Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xiii
Part I The Call
1 Be Open to Ideas 3
2 Is It Dangerous or Just Scary? 13
3 Leave Your Safety Zone … but Do It Safely 23
4 Do Your Research 32
5 Find Your Co-founder 42
6 Fund the Business, Part 1: Bootstrapping 51
7 Get Your Story Straight 63
8 Fund the Business, Part 2: Other People's Money 74
9 Iterate, Iterate, Iterate 84
Part II The Test(s)
10 Go In Through the Side Door 97
11 It's All About Location 105
12 Get Attention, Part 1: Building Buzz 115
13 Get Attention, Part 2: Engineering Word of Mouth 126
14 Survive the Crucible 137
15 Fund the Business, Part 3: Professional Money 147
16 Protect What You've Built 159
17 When Catastrophe Strikes 169
18 The Art of the Pivot 180
Part III The Destination
19 It Can't Be All About the Money 193
20 Build a Culture, Not a Cult 203
21 Think Small to Get Big 214
22 Manage Partnership Tensions 222
23 Know Thyself 232
24 When to Sell and When to Stay 243
25 Be Kind 253
26 What You Do with Your Luck 265
Afterword 273
Acknowledgments 276
Notes 279
Index 289