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Dedication
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Dedication
by David Feinleib
Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed
Title
Dedication
Contents
About the Author
Introduction
PART I: Market, Product, and Entrepreneur
CHAPTER 1: Poor Product-Market Fit: Pivot Your Way to a Successful Launch
Product-Market Fit
Big Markets
Ride the Wave
Great Product, Bad Market
Structural Issues
Finding Fit
Reaching Your Market
When to Pivot and How
Capitalizing Too Early
Pivots That Worked
Summary
CHAPTER 2: Bad Products: Less Is More
Falling Victim to Product Blindness
How Bad Products Get Built
Failure to Focus
Too Much Friction to Achieve Adoption
Products That Don’t Acquire More Users
Simple, Universal, and Viral
The Magic of Product Chemistry
Don’t Ship Too Early or Too Late
Products That Don’t Scale
Summary
CHAPTER 3: The Missing Entrepreneur: Market Visionary and Product Picker
An Entrepreneur with a Capital E
Where’s Marc?
An Entrepreneur’s Quest: The Big Idea
Picking the Right Product for Your Market
Teams Without a Clear Vision Fail
Money Doesn’t Help When You Don’t Have Users
Hire for Operations
How to Hire Great People
Always Act Like an Entrepreneur
Focus on What You’re Great At
Starting vs. Leading
Fail Fast
Summary
PART II—Sales and Marketing
CHAPTER 4: Investing in Sales and Marketing Too Early: Know When to Spend—and When Not To
The Real Cost of Spending Too Early
Ratcheting Up the Burn Is Easy—Bringing It Down Is Difficult
Don’t Mistake a Lack of Product-Market Fit for Poor Execution
Understand the Traction Curve
Create Unique Value
Too Late for Hope, Too Early for Traction
Are You Ready to Throw Gas on the Fire?
Get Out There and Sell
Summary
CHAPTER 5: Losing Money on Sales: Put Sales Leverage to Work for You
When Customers Cost More Than They’re Worth
Ultimately, It’s About Acquisition
Understand Customer Lifetime Value
Remember: Products Are Bought, Not Sold
Fight Inherent Bias
Reduce Sales Team Turnover
Get Sales Leverage
Making the Engine Hum
Summary
CHAPTER 6: Invisible Startups: Market Your Startup Without Incinerating Cash
Startups You’ve Never Heard Of
Product Innovation
Viral Marketing
Social Media
Buzz
Search
Mobile
Brand
Summary
PART III—Execution
CHAPTER 7: Failing to Communicate: Words Matter
Communicating Your Vision
Setting Expectations
Managing Board Meetings
Delivering Bad News
Delivering Good News
Communicating with Your Team
Communicating with Customers
Communicating Your Story
Summary
CHAPTER 8: Not Getting Started: How to Get Your Company Off the Ground
Making the Leap
Build a Big-Idea Company—Not a Company of Ideas
Surviving a Lack of Capital
Control Your Own Destiny
Building the Team
Users and Customers
Location, Location, Location
Summary
CHAPTER 9: Failing to Execute: Lessons on Growth
Lack of Execution
Startups Are Fluid Organizations
Under-Resourced or Over-Resourced?
Failing to Manage Cash
Executing Early vs. Executing at Scale
Hiring Help to Scale
Know Your Numbers
The Goal: Repeatable, Profitable Acquisition
The Myth of First-Mover Advantage
How the Late Entrants Won
Become the Market Leader
When the Market Outruns You
Summary
PART IV: Capital and Liquidity
CHAPTER 10: Pitches That Fail: Perfect Your Pitch
Pitch the Right Investors
Pitching Isn’t Free
Investor Motivations: Greed and Fear
Process Matters
Vision First, Execution Second
Spell It Out
You Are the Product
Perfect Your Pitch
Presentation Failure
Expect Due Diligence
Support Your Sponsor
Understand Partner Meetings
Summary
CHAPTER 11: Managing Liquidity: Get Paid for Your Work
Liquidity Events
Why Acquisitions Fail to Go Through
Getting the Deal Done
Failing to Get Paid
Secondary Markets and Interim Liquidity
IPOs
When Your Company Is the Product
Summary
CHAPTER 12: From Failure, Success: Mistakes: The Stepping Stones to Startup Victory
Many Motivations Fuel Entrepreneurship
The Myth of Working for Yourself
Friction Leads to Failure
Bridge the Value Chasm
Personal Health
Ways to Avoid Failure
Fail Fast
Summary
Index
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Contents
To the entrepreneurs,
investors,
and friends
who made this book possible
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