Monday, May 4, 2020

Straight Talk for Startups: Table of Contents of 100 Rules

The Straight Talk for Startups is a book that veterans can appreciate.  It is so full of wisdom from years of operations.  Unfortunately beginners who are most vulnerable may not appreciate the contribution.  Here is the Table of contents for Straight Talk for Startups.

Cover of Straight Talk for Startups
Straight talk for startups
By Randy Komisar and Jantoon Reigersman
  1. Starting a venture has never be easier exceeding has never been harder
  2. Try to act normal
  3. Aim for an order of magnitude improvement
  4. Start small but be ambitious
  5. Most failures result from poor execution not unsuccessful innovation
  6. The best idea originates from founders who are users
  7. Don't scale your technology until it works
  8. Manage with maniacal focus
  9. Target fast growing dynamic markets
  10. Never hire the second-best
  11. Conduct your hiring interviews as see if you're an airline pilot
  12. A part-time game changer is preferable to a full time seat filler
  13. Manager team like a jazz band
  14. Instead of a free lunch, provide meaningful work
  15. Team of professionals with a common mission makes the most attractive investment
  16. Use your financials to tell your story
  17. Create to business plans, an execution plan and a aspiration plan
  18. Know your financial members and their interdependence by heart
  19. Net income is an opinion but cash flow is a fact
  20. Unity economics tell you whether you have a business
  21. Manage working capital as if it were your only source of funds
  22. excellent exercise district its financial discipline
  23. Always be frugal
  24. To get where you are going you need to know where you are going
  25. Measurement comes with pitfalls
  26. Operational setbacks require swift and deep cutbacks
  27. Safe surprises for birthdays not for your stakeholders
  28. Strategic pivots offer silver linings
  29. Don't accept money from strangers
  30. Incubators are good for finding investors but not for developing business
  31. Avoid venture capital unless you absolutely need it
  32. If you choose venture capital pick the right type of the investor
  33. Conduct detailed due diligence on your investors
  34. Personal wealth is not good investing
  35. Choose investors who think like operators
  36. Deal directly with the decision makers
  37. Find stable investors
  38. Select investors who can help future financings
  39. Investors syndicates needs to be managed
  40. Capital intensive ventures required deep financial pockets
  41. Strategic investors pose unique challenges
  42. Raise capital in stages as you remove risks
  43. Minimizing dilutions is not your fund raising objective
  44. Don't let a temporary fix become a permanent mistake
  45. Pursue the lowest cost capital in light of your circumstances
  46. Escape the traps of venture debt
  47. Choose one of four approaches to determine how much money to raise
  48. Always have your aspirational plans ready
  49. More ventures fail from indigestion since from starvation
  50. Never stop fundraising
  51. Venture capital moves in cycles
  52. Fund raising takes more time than you think
  53. The pitch must answer the fundamental questions about your venture
  54. Make it personal
  55. When pitching carefully read the room
  56. Use white papers for deep dive follow-ups
  57. Prepare your financing document ahead of time
  58. Obsessively drive the close
  59. Consistent communication is important in convincing investors
  60. Milestones can solve irreconcilable valuation differences
  61. Liquidation preference will change your outcome safe
  62. Do not take rejections personally
  63. Boards are deliberation bodies not collection of individuals
  64. Conflicts of interest and conflicting interest are elephants in room
  65. Your board should be operational rather than administrative
  66. Small boards are better than big ones next one
  67. Lead investors ask for board seats quantify them first
  68. You need a lead director
  69. Add independent board members for expertise and objectivity
  70. True board diversity is a competitive advantage
  71. Each director must commit to spending meaningful time
  72. Review director performance regularly
  73. Your chief financial officer has a special relationship with your board
  74. The founder should choose the best CEO available
  75. Find a coach
  76. It is the CEOs job to run efficient productive meetings
  77. Don't oversell your board
  78. Board agenda should look like this
  79. Prepare thoroughly for board meetings
  80. Use your daily management materials for board meetings
  81. Too many unanimous board decisions is a sign of trouble
  82. Use a working sessions and committees to reinforce your priorities
  83. Your bored should spend time with your team
  84. Building companies to last, providing liquidity along the way
  85. Who liquidity is not limited to initial public offerings and acquisitions
  86. If you go public don't slip and fall
  87. Investors and management's interest in liquidity often conflicts
  88. Individual needed liquidity too
  89. Your evaluation will have a local maximum
  90. Ventures aren't just bought they can also be sold
  91. Choose an acquisitor, don’t wait to be chosen
  92. If you want to sell your business you need to know the decision-makers
  93. Determine whether you are a good fit for acquisition before contacting them
  94. Know your acquisitor’s acquisition history in detail
  95. Make yourself visible
  96. Build a relationship with potential acquisitions don't cold call
  97. Be ready when they are
  98. Success is not linear
  99. Prepare for your lucky break
  100.  Learn the rules by heart so you know when to break them
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