Browsing Tag
Books for Entrepreneurs
211 posts
Book excerpts are carefully curated from books selected by StartupNation’s editorial staff, written by leading business authors, thought leaders and entrepreneurs.
The 4 Essential Factors That Make a Good Business Pitch
The following is excerpted from "Brag Better: Master the Art of Fearless Self-Promotion" by Meredith Fineman, in agreement with Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Meredith Fineman, 2020. Natalia Oberti Noguera is founder and CEO of Pipeline Angels, a network of women investors that’s changing...
The Blueprint That Brings Your Business Closer to Success
Adapted excerpt from "Self-Made Boss: Advice, Hacks, and Lessons From Small Business Owners" by Jackie Reses and Lauren Weinberg (McGraw Hill/2022) ©2022 by Jackie Reses and Lauren Weinberg. All rights reserved. Small businesses have about a 50-50 chance of surviving the first five years – and one in five don’t even make it a...
40 Tips for Millennial Entrepreneurs to Improve Their Leadership Skills
Millennials are making waves. As a generation, they are redefining what a successful career is, with a focus on flexible and fulfilling work, and millennials are not afraid to make financial sacrifices in order to stay true to these values. With this in mind, combined with the fact that many millennial men and women are...
5 Foundational Pillars for a Successful Entrepreneur Lifestyle
Being an entrepreneur isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle built around your businesses. You have to be all in, fully engaged, and willing to do whatever it takes to make your business successful. However, beyond the nuts and bolts of starting, growing and running your own business, you must first build a foundation for the...
Next Time You Think the Cards Are Stacked Against You, Think of Sarah Breedlove
The following is reprinted from "Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding" Copyright (c) 2019 by Cynthia Johnson. Published by Lorena Jones Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Sarah Breedlove is considered the first female self-made millionaire. At the time of her death, she was worth $600,000, which would be about $8...
Why Startups Fail: A Harvard Business School Professor’s Letter to a First-Time Founder
The following is excerpted from the book "Why Startups Fail" by Tom Eisenmann. Copyright © 2021 by Tom Eisenmann. Used by permission of Currency, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. StartupNation has partnered with Yottled to provide the fastest way to bring your business online. Get started...
Business Leaders Need to Master These 2 Problems
Excerpt from "On Purpose Leadership: Master the Art of Leading Yourself to Inspire and Impact Others" by Dominick Quartuccio. Copyright © 2021 Dominick Quartuccio. Reproduced by permission of TCK Publishing. As someone who has worked with hundreds of leaders and teams, in both business and personal environments, I see two connected problems in...
Crisis Planning: There’s Never Been a Better Time
Excerpted from "Culture Ignited: 5 Disciplines for Adaptive Leadership," by Jason Richmond (Ideal Outcomes, Inc., September 2021). Crisis planning Few companies had a crisis management plan in place that could handle the pandemic and, in all likelihood, few have one in place now. Yet the time to prepare for a future crisis is right now,...
Think Intellectual Property First to Protect Your Brand From Competition
The following is excerpted from “Brand Tuned” by Shireen Smith (Practical Inspiration Publishing, September 2021) with permission. Think IP first! In chapter 3, we became familiar with the concept of IP, and in chapter 2 we had a short introduction to the problems that can arise from ignoring IP in your branding process. In...
Don’t Hide your Failures, Show the Struggle to Teach Success
The following is excerpted from “Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights From Our Greatest Minds” by Scott Jeffrey Miller. Copyright © 2021 by Scott Jeffrey Miller. Used by permission of HarperCollins Leadership. www.harpercollinsleadership.com. Nely Galán is my sister from another mother. First, we both relentlessly pursue our goals and are unabashedly willing to share our failures along...
How to Identify and Offset Risk to Build a Business That Lasts
The following is excerpted from "Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change" by Jonathan Brill (McGraw Hill, August 2021). Netscape founder Marc Andreesen, now a prolific startup investor, describes entrepreneurial risk management in terms of peeling an onion. On day one of a startup, you have a bulb full of...
Surviving and Thriving Post-Pandemic in a World of Constant Digital Transformation
The following is excerpted from “Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Surviving and Thriving in a World of Digital Giants” by R "Ray" Wang. Copyright © 2021 by R "Ray" Wang. Used by permission of HarperCollins Leadership. www.harpercollinsleadership.com. Over the past decade, digital transformation has evolved from being the “new thing” in business to “business as usual.” Before...
The 6 Elements of a Great Workplace Culture Your Startup Needs in 2021
The following is excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from "Upstanding: How Company Character Catalyzes Loyalty, Agility, and Hypergrowth" by Frank Calderoni. Copyright © 2021 by Anaplan, Inc. All rights reserved. When I began my career at IBM, it was common for people to work 10, 20, even 30 years for the same company....
A Blockbuster Retail Franchisee Reveals Why The Chain Was Built to Fail
The following is adapted from the book "Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster’s Inevitable Bust." Blockbuster was built by one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history, Wayne Huizenga. Before turning it into one of the most powerful brands in the entertainment world, he started Waste Management with a $5,000 loan and one...
Leading with Authenticity: How to Become and Remain an Authentic Brand
The following is excerpted from “Make It Don’t Fake It” by Sabrina Horn (2021), ISBN 978-1523091492, with permission from Berrett-Koehler Publishers. There are many definitions of “brand.” I think of it simply as the unique relationship a person has with a company and what the company produces and sells. Successful brands create the feeling of...
Expert Advice for the 4 Million People Who Launched a Business in 2020
The following is adapted from "Startup CXO: A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Company's Critical Functions and Teams" by Matt Blumberg. In April 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to wreak havoc on markets, commerce, communities and the general public, I started a business along with a group of friends. That’s not as...
Here’s Why Market Timing is Everything When it Comes to Startup Success
The following is excerpted from “SUPER FOUNDERS: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups” by Ali Tamaseb. Copyright © 2021. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. In 1995, General Magic, the startup company where Tony Fadell worked, built an early version of a smartphone. The hybrid telephone-computer was unlike anything the industry had seen before....
How to Maximize Your Profitable Growth in Your Chosen Market Segments
The following is excerpted from "Choose Your Customer: How to Compete Against the Digital Giants and Thrive" by Jonathan L.S. Byrnes and John S. Wass, pp. 141-145 (McGraw Hill, May 2021). You are what you sell. Your customers are the front-wheel drive that pulls you through your marketplace. All too many companies today implicitly assume...
The Secret Behind Unicorn Success of StockX? Start Before You’re Ready
The following is excerpted from "Big Little Breakthroughs: How Small, Everyday Innovations Drive Oversized Results" by Josh Linkner, courtesy of Post Hill Press. When you think of the most influential leaders in the $366 billion global footwear industry, you probably imagine luxe designers such as Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, or Louis Vuitton. Or maybe you...
How to Overcome the Self-Sabotage of Self-Doubt
The following is excerpted from “Seize the Yay.” Copyright 2021. Reprinted with permission from Murdoch Books, an imprint of The Quarto Group. The many new beginnings Nic and I have embarked on over the past few years, including not only Matcha Maiden, but also more recently, writing this very book, have revealed to me that...