Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors

Author: Brad Feld,Mahendra Ramsinghani

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 1118516826

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 240

View: 4657

An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup'sboard of directors Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot onyour plate—getting to your minimum viable product, developingcustomer interaction, hiring team members, and managing theaccounts/books. Sooner or later, you have a board of directors,three to five (or even seven) Type A personalities who seek yourattention and at times will tell you what to do. While you might behesitant to form a board, establishing an objective outside groupis essential for startups, especially to keep you on track, callyou out when you flail, and in some cases, save you fromyourself. In Startup Boards, Brad Feld—a Boulder,Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shareshis experience in this area by talking about the importance ofhaving the right board members on your team and how to manage themwell. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspectsof the board, including how they can support you, help youunderstand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, andhold you accountable. Details the process of choosing board members, includinginterviewing many people, checking references, and remembering thatthere should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixingsocial time with business time, and much more Recommends being a board member yourself at some otherorganization so you see the other side of the equation Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practicalguide to one of the most important pieces of the startuppuzzle.

A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Board Members

Author: Richard Leblanc

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 1118895606

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 888

View: 9123

Build a more effective board with insight from the forefront of corporate governance The Handbook of Board Governance provides comprehensive, expert-led coverage of all aspects of corporate governance for public, nonprofit, and private boards. Written by collaboration among subject matter experts, this book combines academic rigor and practitioner experience to provide thorough guidance and deep insight. From diversity, effectiveness, and responsibilities, to compensation, succession planning, and financial literacy, the topics are at once broad-ranging and highly relevant to current and aspiring directors. The coverage applies to governance at public companies, private and small or medium companies, state-owned enterprises, family owned organizations, and more, to ensure complete and clear guidance on a diverse range of issues. An all-star contributor list including Ram Charan, Bob Monks, Nell Minow, and Mark Nadler, among others, gives you the insight of thought leaders in the areas relevant to your organization. A well-functioning board is essential to an organization’s achievement. Whether the goal is furthering a mission or dominating a market, the board’s composition, strategy, and practices are a determining factor in the organization’s ultimate success. This guide provides the information essential to building a board that works. Delve into the board’s strategic role in value creation Gain useful insight into compensation, risk, accountability, legal obligations Understand the many competencies required of an effective director Get up to speed on blind spots, trendspotting, and social media in the board room The board is responsible for a vast and varied collection of duties, but the singular mission is to push the organization forward. Poor organization, one-sided composition, inefficient practices, and ineffective oversight detract from that mission, but all can be avoided. The Handbook of Board Governance provides practical guidance and expert insight relevant to board members across the spectrum.

Know When to Quit Your Day Job

Author: Brad Feld,Sean Wise

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 1119378184

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 208

View: 7467

Start strong with essential early-stage guidance from the VC perspective Startup Opportunities is the go-to guide for anyone with a great business idea. Whether it's your first business or your fifth, realistic assessment from the outset can save you a lot of time and money; why pour your heart and soul into a venture that is doomed to fail? Instead, position yourself to win from the very beginning. In this book, accomplished venture capitalists share their insight on startups and entrepreneurs: who will fail, who will succeed and why, and what you should do to give your business the very best shot at becoming a global success story. You'll learn how to evaluate your business with a critical eye, and how early customer development can be key in turning a good idea into a great opportunity. If you're serious about building a business that lasts, this book provides invaluable guidance that you really cannot miss. More than five million people will launch a business this year, and many of them will be great ideas—yet few will be around in five years, and even fewer in ten years. A great idea is not enough to build a successful business. You need to fortify your idea with the proper foundation, and a scaffolding of good planning and early action. This book shows you how. Assess your business's viability using the 10x Rule Learn when you can quit your day job—or not Take the key steps to making your business succeed Discover the opportunities worth selling everything for This expert author team has witnessed more than 30,000 pitches over two decades, and have participated in over 500 startup launches. Startup Opportunities gives you the benefit of their experience to help you start strong and stay strong.

Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

Author: Noam Wasserman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 1400841933

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 496

View: 4488

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to cofound with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term. The Founder's Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, while mining quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders. People problems are the leading cause of failure in startups. This book offers solutions.

Schnell, risikolos und erfolgreich Unternehmen gründen

Author: Eric Ries

Publisher: Redline Wirtschaft

ISBN: 3864146712

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 200

View: 7258

Der Weg zum eigenen Unternehmen ist nie ohne Risiko. Und bis die Firma sich auf dem Markt etabliert hat, dauert es. Wer doch scheitert, verliert in der Regel viel Geld. Genau hier setzt das Konzept von Eric Ries an. Lean Startup heißt seine Methode. Sie ist schnell, ressourcenfreundlich und radikal erfolgsorientiert. Anhand von durchgespielten Szenarien kann man von vornherein die Erfolgsaussichten von Ideen, Produkten und Märkten bestimmen. Und auch während der Gründungphase wird der Stand der Dinge ständig überprüft. Machen, messen, lernen – so funktioniert der permanente Evaluationsprozess. Das spart enorm Zeit, Geld und Ressourcen und bietet die Möglichkeit, spontan den Kurs zu korrigieren. Das Lean-Startup-Tool hat sich schon zigtausenfach in der Praxis bewährt und setzt sich auch in Deutschland immer stärker durch.

Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur

Author: Brad Feld,Amy Batchelor

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 1118493869

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 224

View: 3228

Real life insights on what it takes to make it in a relationshipwith an entrepreneur Entrepreneurs are always on the go, looking for the next"startup" challenge. And while they lead very intensely rewardinglives, time is always short and relationships are oftenlong-distant and stressed because of extended periods apart. Copingwith these, and other obstacles, are critical if an entrepreneurand their partner intend on staying together—and stayinghappy. In Startup Life, Brad Feld—a Boulder,Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shareshis own personal experiences with his wife Amy, offering a seriesof rich insights into successfully leading a balanced life as ahuman being who wants to play as hard as he works and who wants tobe as fulfilled in life and in work. With this book, Feld distillshis twenty years of experience in this field to addresses how thevillage of startup people can put aside their workaholic ways andlead rewarding lives in all respects. Includes real-life examples of entrepreneurial couples who havehad successful relationships and what works for them Provides practical advice for adapting to change and overcomingthe inevitable ups and downs associated with the entrepreneuriallifestyle Written by Brad Feld, a thought-leader in this field who hasbeen an early-stage investor and successful entrepreneur for morethan twenty years While there's no "secret formula" to relationship success in theworld of the entrepreneur, there are ways to making navigation ofthis territory easier. Startup Life is a well-rounded guidethat has the insights and advice you need to succeed in both yourpersonal and business life.

100 Insider Rules for Beating the Odds--From Mastering the Fundamentals to Selecting Investors, Fundraising, Managing Boards, and Achieving Liquidity

Author: Randy Komisar,Jantoon Reigersman

Publisher: HarperCollins

ISBN: 0062869078

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 304

View: 9607

"Straight Talk for Startups memorializes age-old best practices and empowers both experienced and new investment professionals to beat the odds."—David Krane, CEO, Google Ventures "Straight Talk for Startups is filled with real, raw, and fact-based ‘rules of the road’ that you need to know when diving into our ultra-competitive startup world. A must read and a re-read!"—Tony Fadell, Coinventor of the iPod/iPhone & Founder of Nest Labs Veteran venture capitalist Randy Komisar and finance executive Jantoon Reigersman share no-nonsense, counterintuitive guidelines to help anyone build a successful startup. Over the course of their careers, Randy Komisar and Jantoon Reigersman continue to see startups crash and burn because they forget the timeless lessons of entrepreneurship. But, as Komisar and Reigersman show, you can beat the odds if you quickly learn what insiders know about what it takes to build a healthy foundation for a thriving venture. In Straight Talk for Startups they walk budding entrepreneurs through 100 essential rules—from pitching your idea to selecting investors to managing your board to deciding how and when to achieve liquidity. Culled from their own decades of experience, as well as the experiences of their many successful colleagues and friends, the rules are organized under broad topics, from "Mastering the Fundamentals" and "Selecting the Right Investors," to "The Ideal Fundraise," "Building and Managing Effective Boards," and "Achieving Liquidity." Vital rules you’ll find in Straight Talk for Startups include: The best ideas originate from founders who are users Create two business plans: an execution plan and an aspirational plan Net income is an option, but cash flow is a fact Don’t accept money from strangers Personal wealth doesn’t equal good investing Small boards are better than big ones Add independent board members for expertise and objectivity Too many unanimous board decisions are a sign of trouble Choose an acquirer, don’t wait to be chosen Learn the rules by heart so you know when to break them Filled with helpful real-life examples and specific, actionable advice, Straight Talk for Startups is the ideal handbook for anyone running, working for, or thinking about creating a startup, or just curious about what makes high-potential ventures tick.

Why Good Businesses Kill Breakthroughs and How They Can Change

Author: Tony Davila,Marc Epstein

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

ISBN: 1609945557

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 240

View: 4284

For more than twenty years, major innovations—the kind that transform industries and even societies—seem to have come almost exclusively from startups, despite massive efforts and millions of dollars spent by established companies. Tony Davila and Marc Epstein, authors of the bestselling Making Innovation Work, say the problem is that the very processes and structures responsible for established companies’ enduring success prevent them from developing breakthroughs. This is the innovation paradox. Most established companies succeed through incremental innovation—taking a product they’re known for and adding a feature here, cutting a cost there. Major breakthroughs are hard to achieve when everything about the way your organization is built and run is designed to reward making what already works work a little better. But incremental innovation can coexist with breakthrough thinking. Using examples from both scrappy startups and long-term innovators such as IBM, 3M, Apple, and Google, Davila and Epstein explain how corporate culture, leadership style, strategy, incentives, and management systems can be structured to encourage breakthroughs. Then they bring it all together in a new model called the Startup Corporation, which combines the philosophy of the startup with the experience, resources, and network of an established company. Breakthrough innovation no longer has to be the nearly exclusive province of the new kids on the block. With Davila and Epstein’s assistance, any company can develop paradigm-shifting products and services and maximize the ROI on its R&D.

Author: BoardSource

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 9780470602461

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 416

View: 7101

THE HANDBOOK OF NONPROFIT GOVERNANCE From BoardSource comes The Handbook of Nonprofit Governance. This comprehensive resource explores the overarching question of governance within nonprofit organizations and addresses the roles, structures, and practices of an effective nonprofit. The Handbook of Nonprofit Governance covers the topics that are of most importance to those charged with creating and sustaining effective leadership, including building a board; succession planning; policies; financial oversight; fundraising; planning; strategic planning processes; risk management; and evaluation of the board, CEO, and organization. Praise for The Handbook of Nonprofit Governance "This is the first book I've found that covers the topic of governance from A to Z. I know what I'll be assigning the students in my governance class as a textbook next semester!" —TERRIE TEMKIN, founding principal, CoreStrategies for Nonprofits, Inc. "BoardSource has prepared an exceptional resource for nonprofit boards and leaders. This comprehensive volume offers timely and relevant information about board work and governance, including practical tools and resources that will be valuable to all types of nonprofits." —DAVID O. RENZ, chair, department of public affairs; Beth K. Smith/Missouri Chair in Nonprofit Leadership; and director, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership; University of Missouri, Kansas City "If you are involved in nonprofit organizations, and if you ever have doubts about how they are best run, this is the book for you-and BoardSource is the place to turn." —FISHER HOWE, consultant, Lavender/Howe & Associates, and author, The Nonprofit Leadership Team BoardSource (formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards) is the premier resource for practical information, tools and best practices, training, and leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations worldwide.

The 10 Critical Factors that Will Make Or Break a New Company

Author: Joel Kurtzman,Glenn Rifkin

Publisher: Portfolio (Hardcover)

ISBN: N.A

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 293

View: 5389

Citing a small percentage of startup companies that survive their first year, a guide based on new research with 350 companies and numerous business leaders and investors explains why most startups fail while identifying nine key factors that enable success. 30,000 first printing.

Skalieren auch Sie! Weshalb es einige Unternehmen packen… und warum andere stranden

Author: Verne Harnish

Publisher: Masterhouse GmbH

ISBN: 3981801709

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 336

View: 9305

Es ist über ein Jahrzehnt her, dass Verne Harnish Bestseller Mastering the Rockefeller Habits in der ersten Auflage erschien. Scaling Up ist die erste große Neubearbeitung dieses Business-Klassikers, in dem praktische Tools und Techniken für das Wachstum zum branchenführenden Unternehmen vorgestellt werden. Dieses Buch wurde geschrieben, damit jeder – vom einfachen bis zum leitenden Angestellten – gleichermaßen zum Wachstum seines Business beträgt. Scaling Up konzentriert sich auf die vier Haupt-Entscheidungsbereiche, die jedes Unternehmen angehen muss: People, Strategy, Execution und Cash. Das Buch beinhaltet eine Reihe von neuen ganzseitigen Arbeits-Tools, darunter der aktualisierte One-Page Strategic Plan und die Rockefeller Habits Checklist™, die bereits von mehr als 40.000 Firmen in aller Welt für ein erfolgreiches Scaling Up verwendet wurden. Viele von ihnen schafften ein Wachstum auf $10 Millionen, $100 Millionen oder gar $1 Milliarde und mehr – und konnten den Aufstieg sogar genießen! Verne Harnish hat bereits in viele Scaleups investiert.

Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success

Author: Cheryl Kimball,Entrepreneur magazine

Publisher: Entrepreneur Press

ISBN: 1613082657

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 170

View: 1361

Whether you want to serve a community need, assist citizens, or advocate for animals—your aspiration is a noble one and likely an ideal mission for a nonprofit organization. The experts at Entrepreneur show you how to turn your desire for change into a successful—and satisfying—business. This indispensable guide helps you determine if your business idea is nonprofit or for-profit, understand and identify their business mission and vision, staff and run a lean operation, select and manage a board of directors, manage finances to the satisfaction of the IRS, find a location and set up shop, master fundraising, use social media and other cost-effective outreach, and manage sustainability and growth. All startup steps are supported by insider knowledge from successful entrepreneurs, dollar-stretching tips, missteps to avoid, resources, and more.

Investigating the Roles of Advisory Boards in German Technology-Based Startups

Author: Eric Weber

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 3658153407

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 244

View: 4909

The author shows that advisory boards in technology-based startups have seven different roles and functions: control, advice, networking, signalling, capital provision, co-management, coordination. It is shown that venture capital investors try to influence the importance of these roles in favour of control, coordination and co-management. Contrary to this, the satisfaction of founders as well as advisory board members increases with a higher importance of advice, networking and signalling. This analysis provides both qualitative and quantitative empirical data on the usage of those boards in practice.

Author: Ash Maurya

Publisher: O'Reilly Germany

ISBN: 3955611272

Category:

Page: 214

View: 6315

Warum scheitern so viele Startups und neue Produkte? Und wie kann man die Chancen deutlich erhohen, mit einer Innovation erfolgreich zu sein? Als Antwort auf diese Fragen hat Ash Maurya die in diesem Buch vorgestellte Methode entwickelt, die auf Strategien des Lean Management und der agilen Entwicklung aufbaut und speziell auf Innovationsprozesse zugeschnitten ist. Der Trick besteht darin, fruhzeitig, konsequent und in allen Projektphasen potenzielle Kunden in den Entwicklungsprozess einzubeziehen und das eigene Geschaftsmodell immer wieder zu hinterfragen. Ein entscheidendes Tool ist dabei die "Lean Canvas," ein Template, das eine einfache Visualisierung des Businessplans ermoglicht und erheblich einfacher zu erfassen und zu uberarbeiten ist als die ublichen, viele Seiten starken Konzeptpapiere. Ash Maurya hat die Methode anhand eigener Projekte entwickelt und erfolgreich getestet. In Running Lean erlautert er sie ganz praktisch mit Schritt-fur-Schritt-Anleitungen anhand eines konkreten Beispiels. Alle Schritte konnen einfach nachvollzogen und auf die eigenen Innovationsprojekte angewandt werden. Die Lean Canvas sowie die Fragebogen fur Kundeninterviews lassen sich direkt aus dem Buch ubernehmen. Ein Problem identifizieren, das viele Menschen umtreibt, und eine Losung dafur definieren. Die Kunden in den gesamten Entwicklungsprozess einbinden. Das Produkt / die Idee kontinuierlich testen, in immer kurzeren Iterationszyklen. Erkennen, wann die Marschrichtung geandert werden sollte. Entwicklungsgeschwindigkeit, Erkenntnisprozesse und Ausrichtung optimieren. Den idealen Zeitpunkt fur Finanzierungsrunden finden.

Mehr Zeit, mehr Geld, mehr Leben

Author: Timothy Ferriss

Publisher: Ullstein eBooks

ISBN: 3843704457

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 352

View: 1252

Warum arbeiten wir uns eigentlich zu Tode? Haben wir nichts Besseres zu tun? Und ob! - sagt Timothy Ferriss. Der junge Unternehmer war lange Workaholic mit 80-Stunden-Woche. Doch dann erfand er MBA- Management by Absence- und ist seitdem freier, reicher, glücklicher. Mit viel Humor, provokanten Denkanstößen und erprobten Tipps erklärt Ferriss, wie sich die 4-Stunden-Woche bei vollem Lohnausgleich verwirklichen lässt. Der Wegweiser für eine Flucht aus dem Hamsterrad und ein Manifest für eine neue Gewichtung zwischen Leben und Arbeiten.

Proceedings of the ... IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

Author: N.A

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9780780308237

Category: Robotics

Page: 2317

View: 3729

An Entrepreneur's Handbook

Author: George Deeb,Red Rocket Ventures

Publisher: BlogIntoBook.com

ISBN: N.A

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 150

View: 6195

A comprehensive, one-stop read for entrepreneurs who want actionable learnings about a wide range of startup and digital-related topics from George Deeb, a serial entrepreneur and partner at Red Rocket Ventures. The book is a startup executive's strategic "playbook", with "how-to" lessons about business in general, sales, marketing, technology, operations, human resources, finance, fund raising and more, including many case studies herein. We have demystified and synthesized the information an entrepreneur needs to strategize, fund, develop, launch and market their businesses. Join the 100,000+ readers who have already benefitted from this book, freely available and continuously updated on the Red Rocket Blog website. TESTIMONIALS David Rabjohns, Founder & CEO at MotiveQuest "George's passion, ideas and involvement with MotiveQuest has been "game changing" for us. From jumpstarting our sales and marketing plans and team, to productizing our business and procedures, Red Rocket has had an immediate and meaningful impact from day one. I highly recommend Red Rocket. If you want to grow, strap on the Red Rocket.“ Tyler Spalding, Founder & CEO at StyleSeek "Red Rocket has been a great investor for our business and vocal champion of our brand. As a proven entrepreneur himself, George has provided valuable insights and recommendations on how to best build my business. Red Rocket would be a great partner in helping build your business.“ Seth Rosenberg, SVP at Camping World "Red Rocket helped us do a high level assessment of our e-commerce efforts and assisted with the development of a digital strategy and marketing plan. Red Rocket identified some immediate opportunities, which we are implementing. I am pleased to recommend Red Rocket for your e-commerce and digital marketing needs.“ Andrew Hoog, Founder and CEO at viaForensics "As viaForensics experienced significant growth, we recognized the need for an experienced advisor with start-up chops who could help us refine critical steps in our transition from a service company to a product-based company. Red Rocket's expertise in growth planning including organizational structure, financial modeling and competitive analysis were instrumental in refining our strategy. He helped facilitate key decisions the management team needed to make in order to take the company to the next level. We are very pleased with Red Rocket's contributions to viaForensics and highly recommend his services to other start-ups facing similar growth.“ Jerry Freeman, Founder & CEO at PaletteApp “Red Rocket has been a key instigator in helping raise funds for PaletteApp. They have helped me tremendously in realizing what an investor wants to see and how best to present it. George has great experience and understanding of how to fund and launch a new company. We feel fortunate that he has thrown his hat into our arena.” Scott Skinger, CEO at TrainSignal "Red Rocket helped us in a variety of ways, from financial modeling to introductions to lenders. Their biggest win was helping us do preliminary investigative research on one of our competitors, that ultimately sparked a dialog that lead to the $23.6MM sale of our business to that company. We couldn't be more happy with Red Rocket's involvement with our business. Overall, a great advisor to have in your corner."

ein fabelhaftes Führungsbuch

Author: Patrick M. Lencioni

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: 9783430159746

Category:

Page: 157

View: 2575

Author: IEEE Industrial Electronics Society,Robotics Society of Japan

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: N.A

Category: Computers

Page: 2317

View: 5342

Author: N.A

Publisher: N.A

ISBN: N.A

Category: Internet industry

Page: N.A

View: 5982