Do More Faster India, 2ed: Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup
ISBN: 9789388991025
400 pages
For more information write to us at: acadmktg@wiley.com
Description
Each vignette in this book is an exploration of advice often heard during the Techstars program. Rather than trying to capture it all ourselves, the authors have asked the mentors and the founders who have been through the program to help with the task of putting it down on paper (or virtual paper, depending on your medium of choice for reading.) Some parts of this book will almost certainly be in conflict. At Techstars, one of the favorite sayings is "it's just data," so everything the authors present here should be viewed as input and nothing more (to learn more about this, take a look at Bill Warner's essay titled "It's Just Data.") Recognize that one will have to make his or her own judgments and decisions about what's right for their own business.
Foreword
Preface
About Techstars
Foreword to Do More Faster India
Do More Faster India
Why Entrepreneurs in India Need Techstars
Mentor-Backed Entrepreneurship in India
Legal Tips for Indian Startups
Introduction
Chapter 1 Do More Faster
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 2 Do or Do Not; There is No Try
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Theme One: Idea and Vision
Chapter 3 Trust Me, Your Idea is Worthless
Tim Ferriss, 4-Hour Workweek
Chapter 4 Start with Your Passion
Kevin Mann, Graphic.ly
Chapter 5 Look for the Pain
Isaac Saldana, SendGrid
Chapter 6 Get Feedback Early
Nate Abbott and Natty Zola, Everlater
Chapter 7 Usage is Like Oxygen for Ideas
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress
Chapter 8 Forget the Kitchen Sink
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 9 Find That One Thing They Love
Darren Crystal, Photobucket
Chapter 10 Don't Plan. Prototype!
Greg Reinacker, Newsgator
Chapter 11 You Never Need Another Original Idea
Niel Robertson, Trada
Chapter 12 Get It Out There
Sean Corbett, HaveMyShift
Chapter 13 Avoid Tunnel Vision
Bijan Sabet, Spark Capital
Chapter 14 Focus
Jared Polis, State of Colorado
Chapter 15 Iterate Again
Colin Angle, iRobot
Chapter 16 Fail Fast
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 17 Pull the Plug When You Know It's Time
Paul Berberian, Zenie Bottle
Chapter 18 Love Doesn't Scale, or Does it?
Nicole Glaros, Techstars
Chapter 19 Reconciling Vision and Focus
David Cohen, Techstars
Theme Two: People
Chapter 20 Be Open to Randomness
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 21 Entrepreneurship is a Group Sport
Mark O'Sullivan, Vanilla
Chapter 22 Avoid Cofounder Conflict
Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot
Chapter 23 Hire People Better than You
Will Herman
Chapter 24 How to Find and Engage Mentors
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 25 Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly
Matt Blumberg, Return Path
Chapter 26 If You Can Quit, You Should
Laura Fitton, Oneforty
Chapter 27 Build a Balanced Team
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 28 Startups Seek Friends
Micah Baldwin, Graphic.ly
Chapter 29 Engage Great Mentors
Emily Olson, Foodzie
Chapter 30 The Mentor Manifesto
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 31 Define Your Culture
Greg Gottesman, Pioneer Square Labs
Chapter 32 Two Strikes and You Are Out
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 33 Karma Matters
Warren Katz, MAK Technologies
Theme Three: Working Effectively
Chapter 34 Assume That You're Wrong
Howard Diamond, Performance One Media
Chapter 35 Make Decisions Quickly
Ari Newman, Filtrbox
Chapter 36 It's Just Data
Bill Warner, Avid Technologies
Chapter 37 Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut
Ryan McIntyre, Excite.com
Chapter 38 Progress Equals Validated Learning
Eric Ries, Lean Startup Methodology
Chapter 39 The Plural of Anecdote is Not Data
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 40 Don't Suck at Email
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 41 Use What's Free
Jason Seats, Techstars
Chapter 42 Be Tiny Until You Shouldn't Be
Jeffrey Powers, Occipital
Chapter 43 Don't Celebrate the Wrong Things
Rob Johnson, EventVue
Chapter 44 Be Specific
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 45 Learn from Your Failures
Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures
Chapter 46 Quality over Quantity
Andy Smith, DailyBurn
Chapter 47 Have a Bias Toward Action
Ben Casnocha, Village Global
Theme Four: Product
Chapter 48 Don't Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product
Ajay Kulkarni and Andy Cheung, Sensobi
Chapter 49 Find Your Whitespace
Raj Aggarwal, Localytics
Chapter 50 Focus on What Matters
Dick Costolo, Twitter
Chapter 51 Obsess over Metrics
Dave McClure
Chapter 52 Avoid Distractions
Andy Sack, Founder's Co-op
Chapter 53 Know Your Customer
Bill Flagg, RegOnline
Chapter 54 Beware the Big Companies
Michael Zeisser, XO Group
Chapter 55 Throw Things Away
Eric Marcoullier, OneTrueFan
Chapter 56 Pivot
Rob Hayes, First Round Capital
Theme Five: Fundraising
Chapter 57 There's More than One Way to Raise Money
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 58 Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren't
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 59 Don't Forget about Bootstrapping
David Brown, Techstars
Chapter 60 You Don't Have to Raise Money
Joe Aigboboh and Jesse Tevelow, PlayQ
Chapter 61 Seed Investors Care about Three Things
Jeff Clavier, Uncork Capital
Chapter 62 Practice Like You Play
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 63 If You Want Money, Ask for Advice
Nicole Glaros, Techstars
Chapter 64 Show, Don't Tell
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 65 Turn the Knife after You Stick It In
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 66 Don't Overoptimize on Valuations
Kirk Holland, Access Venture Partners
Chapter 67 Get Help with Your Term Sheet
Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group
Chapter 68 Focus on the First One-Third
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Theme Six: Legal and Structure
Chapter 69 Choose the Right Company Structure
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 70 Form the Company Early
Brad Bernthal, University of Colorado
Chapter 71 Default to Delaware
Jon Taylor, KO
Chapter 72 Lawyers Don't Have to Be Expensive
Michael Platt, Cooley LLP
Chapter 73 Vesting is Good for You
Jon Fox, Intense Debate
Chapter 74 Your Brother-in-Law is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 75 To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There is No Question
Matt Galligan, Socialthing
Theme Seven: Work--Life Harmony
Chapter 76 Discover Work--Life Harmony
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 77 Practice Your Passion
Eran Egozy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chapter 78 Follow Your Heart
Mark Solon, Techstars
Chapter 79 Turn Work into Play
Howard Lindzon, StockTwits
Chapter 80 Don't Make Yourself Indispensable
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 81 Get Out from Behind Your Computer
Seth Levine, Foundry Group
Chapter 82 Stay Healthy
Andy Smith, DailyBurn
Chapter 83 Get Away from It All
Amy Batchelor, Anchor Point Foundation
Conclusion
Appendix 1: The Evolution of Techstars
What Motivated Us to Start Techstars?
Why Techstars Started in Boulder
How Techstars Came to Boston
How Techstars Came to Seattle
So You Want to Start a Techstars Accelerator in Your Community or Company?
Techstars in 2019 and Beyond
Techstars Foundation: Increasing Diversity in Entrepreneurship
Appendix 2: Original Edition's Foreword
Appendix 3: Where are the Techstars Companies Now?
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Index