In Startup Boards, Brad Feld—a Boulder, Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shares his experience in this area by talking about the importance of having the right board members on your team and how to manage them well. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support you, help you understand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold you accountable.
-Details the process of choosing board members, including interviewing many people, checking references, and remembering that there should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit
-Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixing social time with business time, and much more
-Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation
Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practical guide to one of the most important pieces of the startup puzzle.
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In Startup Life, Brad Feld shares his own personal experiences with his wife Amy, offering a series of rich insights into successfully leading a balanced life as an entrepreneur.
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"Startup communities" are popping up everywhere, from cities like Boulder to Boston and even in countries such as Iceland. These types of entrepreneurial ecosystems are driving innovation and small business energy. Startup Communities documents the buzz, strategy, long-term perspective, and dynamics of building communities of entrepreneurs who can feed off of each other's talent, creativity, and support.
Based on more than twenty years of Boulder-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist Brad Feld's experience in the field as well as contributions from other innovative startup communities?this reliable resource skillfully explores what it takes to create an entrepreneurial community in any city, at any time. Along the way, it offers valuable insights into increasing the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by multiplying connections among entrepreneurs and mentors, improving access to entrepreneurial education, and much more.
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As each new generation of entrepreneurs emerges, there is a renewed interest in how venture capital deals come together. Yet there is little reliable information focused on venture capital deals. Nobody understands this better than authors Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. For more than twenty years, they've been involved in hundreds of venture capital financings, and now, with the Second Edition of Venture Deals, they continue to share their experiences in this field with you.
Engaging and informative, this reliable resource skillfully outlines the essential elements of the venture capital term sheet--from terms related to economics to terms related to control. It strives to give a balanced view of the particular terms along with the strategies to getting to a fair deal. In addition to examining the nuts and bolts of the term sheet, Venture Deals, Second Edition also introduces you to the various participants in the process and discusses how fundraising works.
-Fully updated to reflect the intricacies of startups and entrepreneurship in today's dynamic economic environment
-Offers valuable insights into venture capital deal structure and strategies
-Brings a level of transparency to a process that is rarely well understood
Whether you're an experienced or aspiring entrepreneur, venture capitalist, or lawyer who partakes in these particular types of deals, you will benefit from the insights found throughout this new book.
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It is a cold, hard fact of business life that most startups fail. Even many of those entrepreneurs who ultimately succeed have stories of personal challenges, unsuccessful companies, and difficulties along the way. The founders of Techstars, a mentorship-driven startup accelerator, have worked with entrepreneurs and companies over the past twenty-five years, and have seen a number of the same issues come up again and again.
In Do More Faster, the founders of Techstars identify the key issues that first-time entrepreneurs encounter, and offer proven advice from successful entrepreneurs who have worked with the Techstars program.
The authors organize the most critical issues into seven themes: Idea and Vision, People, Execution, Product, Fundraising, Legal and Structure, and Work and Life Balance. Many of the examples are personal experiences from the entrepreneurs themselves, integrated into a cohesive narrative—while at the same time able to stand on their own. Throughout the book, they debunk numerous myths about startups and reveal some surprising truths. They explain, for instance, that the core of a startup is not always a world-changing and earth-shattering idea—in fact, it is often the case that successful startups started out doing something else. They also underscore the efficiency of execution: great entrepreneurs know how to synthesize data, make a decision about the path they are going down, and execute. And they offer some alternatives to traditional ways of raising money, while stressing that you shouldn't start with the assumption that you need to raise money.
Mastering the seven themes may not ensure success, but understanding the issues, reading the stories, and getting advice pertaining to these issues will increase your chances dramatically. And if nothing else, you'll realize that you aren't alone in facing these challenges.
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This year more than five million entrepreneurs will launch a new venture. Many of them believe they have the Next Big Thing. But very few startups live to see five years, and even fewer make it to ten. Even fewer still go on to become a global success story.
This book is a practical guide to evaluating your business idea and a must-read for all aspiring entrepreneurs.
You'll learn:
-that if your new venture doesn't follow the 10x Rule, you should not quit your day job and why
-how early customer development can transform a good idea into a great opportunity;
-which opportunities are worth selling everything for
Brad Feld and Dr. Sean Wise have been assessing startup opportunities for more than two decades. They have witnessed more than 30,000 pitches and participated in more than 500 startup launches. Now two of North America s leading minds in venture capital share how they determine which startups will succeed and which will fail.
This book is indispensable for anybody who has ever thought about starting a business or fumbled their way through giving advice about starting a business.
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