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Description edit
TechStars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator with operations in three U.S. cities. Once a year in each city, it funds about ten Internet startups with a small amount of capital and surrounds them with around fifty top Internet entrepreneurs and investors. Do More Faster: TechStars... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
- - Startup wisdom from past TechStars founders and mentors
Summary edit
Practical advice from some of today's top early stage investors and entrepreneurs." Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons" to Accelerate Your Startup is a collection of advice that comes from individuals who have passed through, or are part of, this proven program. Each vignette is an exploration... read more
People edit
- Mark Pincus: Entrepreneur who started companies like Freeloader, SuperSoft, Tribe Networks and most recently, Zynga. He writes the foreword for this book.
- Tim Ferriss: Author of "The 4-Hour Workweek", angel investor, entrepreneur and TechStar mentor.
- Kevin Mann: Founder and CTO of Graphic.ly.
- Isaac Saldana: Founder and CEO of SendGrid.
- Matt Mullenweg: The founder of Automattic.
- Brad Feld: Co-Author and co-founder of TechStars. Prolific angel investor and venture investor based in Boulder Colorado.
- David Cohen: Co-Author and co-founder of TechStars. Active angel investor based in Boulder Colorado.
- Paul: Add a description of this character.
- Alex
- Scott Cejka
- Eric
- Eran
- Gnip
- Jeff
- Todd
- Niel
- Tom
- Nate
- Amy
- Greg
Quotes edit
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“The bone yard of unsuccessful entrepreneurial endeavors is very wide and very deep.”
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“Startups are about testing theories and quickly pivoting based on feedback and data. Only through hundreds of small--and sometimes large--adjustments does the seemingly overnight success emerge.”
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“Earth-shattering and world-changing ideas are a dime a dozen. In fact, that's being too generous.”
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“A beautiful thing about Apple is how quickly they make their own products obsolete.”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“One can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion.”
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The reality is that most people use a particular service because it does one thing really, really well.
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If you get to be #1 in your category, but your category is too small, then you can broaden your scope and you can do so with leverage.
Highlighted by 265 Kindle customers -
One of the classic mistakes that startups make is developing a product in the absence of customers. It's simply impossible to learn unless people are using your product.
Highlighted by 213 Kindle customers -
Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful.
Highlighted by 196 Kindle customers -
But if you're not embarrassed when you ship your first version, you waited too long.
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“As long as I listen to my customers, I never need to have another original idea.”
Highlighted by 190 Kindle customers -
Remember that human nature has a tendency to admire complexity, but to reward simplicity.
Highlighted by 188 Kindle customers -
Usage is like oxygen for ideas. You can never fully anticipate how an audience is going to react to something you've created until it's out there. That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public arena, it's actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world.
Highlighted by 171 Kindle customers -
In a rapid iteration environment, the most important thing isn't necessarily how perfect code is when you send it out, but how quickly you can revert.
Highlighted by 114 Kindle customers
Organizations edit
- TechStars: see www.TechStars.org
- Harmonix: Add a description of this organization.
First Sentence edit
Most people think that the core of a startup is a singular amazing world-changing and earth-shattering idea. It turns out that this idea is almost always completely wrong.
Table of Contents edit
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
About TechStars xv
Theme 1: Idea and Vision (1):
Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless (3), Start With Your Passion (7), Look for the Pain (11), Get Feedback Early (15), Usage Is Like Oxygen for Ideas (19), Forget the Kitchen Sink (23), Find That One Thing They Love (27), Don't Plan. Prototype! (29), You Never Need Another Original Idea (35), Get It Out There (37), Avoid Tunnel Vision (41), Focus (45), Iterate Again (49), Fail Fast (53), Pull the Plug When You Know It's Time (57)
Theme 2: People (61):
Don't Go It Alone (63), Avoid Co-Founder Conflict (67), Hire People Better than You (71), Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly (75), If You Can Quit, You Should (79), Build a Balanced Team (83), Startups Seek Friends (87), Engage Great Mentors (91), Define Your Culture (95), Two Strikes and You Are Out (101), Karma Matters (105), Be Open to Randomness (109)
Theme 3: Execution (113):
Do More Faster (115), Assume that You're Wrong (119), Make Decisions Quickly (123), It's Just Data (127), Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut (129), Progress Equals Validated Learning (133), The Plural of Anecdote Is Not Data (137), Don't Suck at E-Mail (141), Use What's Free (145), Be Tiny Until You Shouldn't Be (147), Don't Celebrate the Wrong Things (151), Be Specific (157), Learn from Your Failures (159), Quality over Quantity (161), Have a Bias Toward Action (165), Do or Do Not, There Is No Try (169)
Theme 4: Product (171)
Don't Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product (173), Find Your Whitespace (177), Focus on What Matters (181), Obsess over Metrics (183), Avoid Distractions (185), Know Your Customer (189), Beware the Big Companies (193), Throw Things Away (197), Pivot (201)
Theme 5: Fundraising (203)
Don't Have to Raise Money (205), There's More than One Way to Raise Money (209), Don't Forget about Bootstrapping (213), Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren't (215), Seed Investors Care about Three Things (219), Practice Like You Play (223), If You Want Money, Ask for Advice (227), Show, Don't Tell (231), Turn the Knife after You Stick It in (233), Don't Overoptimize on Valuations (235), Get Help with Your Term Sheet (237), Focus on the First One-Third (241)
Theme 6: Legal and Structure (243)
Form the Company Early (245), Choose the Right Company Structure (249), Default to Delaware (253), Lawyers Don't Have to Be Expensive (257), Vesting Is Good for You (261), Your Brother-in-Law Is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer (265), To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There Is No Question (269)
Theme 7: Work-Life Balance (273)
Discover Work-Life Balance (275), Practice Your Passion (279), Follow Your Heart (283), Turn Work into Play (287), Get Out from behind Your Computer (291), Stay Healthy (295), Get Away from It All (299)
The Evolution of TechStars (303)
What Motivated Me to Start TechStars? (305), Why TechStars Started in Boulder (309), How TechStars Came to Boston (313), How TechStars Came to Seattle (317), So You Want to Start TechStars in Your City? (321)
Appendix: The TechStars Companies (323)
About the Authors (329)
Acknowledgments (331)
Index (333)
Series & Lists edit
Authors & Contributors edit
- Brad Feld (Author)
- David Cohen (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Wiley
Country: USA
Publication Date: October 2010
ISBN: 9780470929834
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Wiley
Country: USA
Publication Date: October 2010
ISBN: 9780470929834
Page Count: 336
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 658.11
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Techstars: The Techstars website.
- Do More Faster: The book's website.
- Feld Thoughts: Brad's blog
- David Cohen: David's blog
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