Accelerated Startup: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Startup Dreams Come True From Idea to Product to Company

321 Pages·2017·1.04 MB·English

by  Vitaly Golomb

ACCELERATED
STARTUP

Everything You Need to Know to Make
Your Startup Dreams Come True
From Idea to Product to Company

VITALY M. GOLOMB

TIME TRAVELLER BOOKS
ACCELERATED STARTUP
Copyright © 2017 Vitaly M. Golomb

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For information contact:
http://www.golomb.net

Publisher: Time Traveller Books
Book and cover design: Vitaly M. Golomb
Project editor: Haje Jan Kamps
Copy editor: Max Chittister
ISBN: 978-0-9984063-1-2

First Edition: January 2017

Dedication

For my family, whose massive compromises have enabled me to learn the
lessons in this book hands-on.

For my friends and mentors who have allowed me to learn from their trials and
tribulations by osmosis.

And for the future generations of entrepreneurs whose passion inspires me. Your
job is to keep this planet spinning.
Table of Contents

Dedication

About the Author

Foreword

Prologue: Why Is Innovation So Important?

Part I: What Is a Startup and Is It for Me?

Chapter 1: A Brief History of Silicon Valley

Chapter 2: A Startup is an Experiment

Chapter 3: Choosing the Startup Career Path and Life Balance

Part I—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part II: The Birth of an Idea

Chapter 4: Who is the Customer and What is the Problem?

Chapter 5: Commercializing University Research

Chapter 6: Intrapreneurship in Large Companies
Part II—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part III: From Idea to Product

Chapter 7: Equity

Chapter 8: Finding a Cofounder

Chapter 9: Cofounder Relationships

Chapter 10: Building the Core Team—Business, Engineering and Design

Chapter 11: Prototypes and Minimum Viable Product—An Exercise in Self-Constraint

Chapter 12: Working with Contractors

Part III—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part IV: Social Proof

Chapter 13: Advisors — The Masters and the Apprentices

Chapter 14: Your First Funding—Friends, Family and Fools

Part IV—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part V: Everything You Need to Know About Accelerators

Chapter 15: The Accelerator/Incubator Explosion—The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Chapter 16: What Top Accelerators Look For
Chapter 17: The Application and the Interview

Chapter 18: Making the Most of Your Accelerator Experience

Part V—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part VI: Design Is the Product and The Technology Core

Chapter 19: Design Disciplines

Chapter 20: User Experience 101

Chapter 21: Naming, Branding and Psychographics

Chapter 22: Technology as a Core Competency

Part VI—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part VII: Managing Time

Chapter 23: Busy Work vs. Important Work

Chapter 24: Agile Development

Chapter 25: Tools of the Trade

Chapter 26: Gathering Customer Feedback as Early as Possible

Part VII—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part VIII: Raising Money

Chapter 27: Venture Capital and Angel Investors 101
Chapter 28: Making the First Impression

Chapter 29: Crowdfunding

Chapter 30: The Art of the Pitch

Chapter 31: Conferences and Pitch Competitions

Part VIII—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part IX: Growth

Chapter 32: Measure Everything

Chapter 33: The First 10,000 Users

Chapter 34: Journalism in the Digital Age: A Blogger’s Perspective

Chapter 35: The Sales Funnel, Elephant Hunting and Partnerships

Chapter 36: Dialing For Dollars

Chapter 37: Building a Community

Chapter 38: Industry Events and Trade Shows

Part IX—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part X: From Project to Company

Chapter 39: Transitioning From Startup to Company

Chapter 40: Going International
Chapter 41: Failing Forward

Part X—Questions to Ask Yourself

Part XI: Paying It Forward

Chapter 42: The Silicon Valley Way

Chapter 43: Becoming a Mentor

Epilogue: Some Final Thoughts

Acknowledgements