The Start-Up Starter Kit is a fast-moving, jargon-free guide to launching and building a company you're proud of. It will teach you the essential skills you never realized you needed, blended with the right level of fear necessary to keep you from believing your own press releases.
This is not an academic guide - these are real world successes and disasters to help you create a successful enterprise. Whether you hope to build a scalable company you can sell for an impressive multiple, or you just want to convert your side hustle into a way to make a living without having to work for someone else, you'll find valuable insights and guidance in this book provided by people who learned these lessons the hard way.
Meet these Entrepreneurs:
- Glen - who recovered after his investors stole his company.
- Mike - whose company improved many lives despite lawsuits.
- Laura - from giddy heights to calamity and back.
- Trevor - ditto.
- Jen - nine failures and then a bingo.
Dive into Bob Jones' The Startup Starter Kit and discover what they all wish they'd known when they started their companies.
Where to Purchase
Purchase The Start-Up Starter Kit in paperback, e-book or audiobook versions everywhere books are sold.
What Readers Have to Say
"DO NOT TAKE EVEN ONE STEP ON AN ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY WITHOUT READING THIS BOOK!
I have worked with literally thousands of would-be entrepreneurs over the years and seen all matters of success and failure. Bob Jones has the absolutely unique ability to distill the craziness out there and present it in a clear, common-sense manner to help you avoid mistakes that will likely lead to failure. He forces you to ask yourself the tough questions and answer them and provides you with practical actionable advice that will enhance your probability of success."
Joseph G. Hadzima, Jr.
Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
"Over the years I've watched Bob teach some of the best, brightest, and most successful entrepreneurs how to better scale their businesses and find success.
If there is anyone who should write a book for entrepreneurs on how to successfully build a company, it's Bob Jones. This book is a must read for any entrepreneur who is even thinking about starting a company."
Melissa Vincent
Executive Director, Pipeline Entrepreneurs
"Put this one in your pocket. This is your hitchhikers guide to the life and the path to actualize your entrepreneurial vision. With an artful and experienced focus on the reality of understanding the Why (purpose), the How (preparation), and the What (outcomes). And, critically, the Who -this is no solo pursuit (support systems)."
Matt Haggerty
Founder and Managing Partner of ProGen, Inc.
Chapter Titles & Summary
Several entrepreneurs describe how difficult this life can be and why they'd do it again. Learn how certain essential skills will improve your odds of success.
It's important to encourage entrepreneurship, but in a measured and responsible way. It can be incredibly rewarding, but it's definitely not for everyone.
Not who needs it, but who wants it? How will you find them? Who influences them? And who's going to pay you for your brilliance?
It’s a terrible shame to watch a dedicated, impassioned individual work hard on their business for several years, only to find the business will never make enough money to allow the founder to pay their bills. This chapter includes a little exercise to help you determine the size of the prize before you get seduced.
Be prepared for some false starts that look like abject failures. Interviews with two entrepreneurs who tell amazing stories about this.
Who will prosper if you prosper? And who, therefore, would love to help you prosper? An incredible way to accelerate your growth.
You may be the founder, but your team is EVERYTHING. How to hire the right people and motivate them properly. And eventually, how to fire the ones that don't work out.
If you'd rather take a hammer and hit all your fingers than do sales, this chapter's for you. Sales isn't sleazy and it isn't voodoo - it's something you'd better get comfortable with.
If you've never worked closely with a group of professional salespeople, "the mind of the salesperson" might be an alien landscape for you. The observations in this chapter should be helpful.
Visionary leader? Maybe. Head cheerleader? Definitely. You'll present your venture to prospective employees, customers, channel partners, and probably your spouse. This chapter will help you do it well.
Your traveling companions.
Most of us underestimate our own resilience. You might really want to start a company, but you're afraid you might fail. In this chapter, two entrepreneurs encountered disaster, took two very different routes to recover, and lived to tell the tale.
Okay, so it's tough. But whether their business fail or get sold for lots of money, these entrepreneurs stay in the world of start-ups. Why?
If you've made it this far, you're far better positioned than most people to successfully start your own company. Final comments, some observations, and a few words of encouragement.
“Bob’s ability to teach the pragmatic side of entrepreneurship through entertaining stories is a special gift. The Start-Up Starter Kit is an entertaining read that will help you get your business in full throttle.”
Linda Ystueta
Tech Entrepreneur
"Bob perfectly sums up the unspoken pieces that lead to the peaks and all-too-many valleys entrepreneurs experience. The Start-Up Starter Kit provides the roadmap I wish I had many years (and hair follicles) ago."
Donald Hawkins
Founder/CEO of Kinly
"Bob Jones’ style of writing flows with ease – I was eager to read more. With Bob’s personal experiences and many other entrepreneurs sharing their insights, the material really cut to the chase for me. I will be eager to recommend it to anyone thinking about the “glamour of entrepreneurship”!
I had my coaching business for over 35 years and suffered through far too many start up books that said the same theoretical jargon. The Start-Up Starter Kit gets right to the point with step-by-step recommendations you can use as soon as you read it!”
Jane McHale
Premier Career Coach / Program Designer / NPO Founder
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