Have you ever wanted to start a business but not known where to begin? This book is the map, from finding your idea to launching it.
It draws on more than twelve years of creating, leading and advising companies, the ones that worked and the ones that failed, and walks you through every step with personal stories, practical actions and real-world examples.
Inside:
Discover your why: the intersection between your passion and your skills, and why brands with a clear purpose are 50% more likely to retain their customers, with Patagonia, TOMS and Warby ParkerDebunking myths: entrepreneurial skills can be learned, and in a study of 1,700 companies, those with diverse executive teams were 45% more likely to grow their market shareInnovation from scratch: design thinking, rapid prototyping, and the lawyer who spent more than $400,000 on an app without asking a single potential userMastering innovation: lateral thinking, Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats, and how to protect your ideas with patents, copyright and trademarksThe minimum viable product: market research, product–market fit at Slack, Dropbox, Airbnb and Instagram, and the agility to pivotShaping the future: business strategies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how to create brands with magicIs an MBA worth it? Finance for non-financial people, guerrilla marketing on a low budget, and how to spot the smoke sellersThe ultimate business plan: why 42% of startups fail for lack of market need, and the eight steps of a pitch that wins over investorsBlue ocean: how to find markets with no direct competition, from Cirque du Soleil to Grameen BankMentorship: how to find, choose and learn from mentors, as Howard Schultz, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey didThe $1 business: bootstrapping, crowdfunding, angel investors and growth hacking, through the story of the author's activated charcoal toothpasteDiego Segura is an industrial engineer who has spent his career working out how systems fail and how to fix them. He holds an MBA and a master's in Digital Technology from Boston University, and has worked with Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Boston University. He has spent more than twelve years creating, leading and advising companies, from projects that reached Silicon Valley to international conferences on innovation. He is on the autism spectrum, which lets him see opportunities where others see obstacles, and he has lived through a startup that made it to the Techstars finals in New York and then collapsed, and the worst bankruptcy of his life.
The chapters come with practical actions, exercises and checklists you can apply whatever your starting point.
You do not need a lot of money to start: you need a clear idea, effective execution and passion.
Diego Segura is an industrial engineer who has spent his career working out how systems fail and how to fix them. He holds an MBA and a master's in Digital Technology from Boston University, and has worked with Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Boston University. He writes by reading everything published on a subject, then reporting what it actually says, including the parts nobody wants to hear.