The Startup Checklist E-Book

David S. Rose

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 442

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

25 Steps to Found and Scale a High-Growth Business

The Startup Checklist is the entrepreneur's essential companion. While most entrepreneurship books focus on strategy, this invaluable guide provides the concrete steps that will get your new business off to a strong start. You'll learn the ins and outs of startup execution, management, legal issues, and practical processes throughout the launch and growth phases, and how to avoid the critical missteps that threaten the foundation of your business. Instead of simply referring you to experts, this discussion shows you exactly which experts you need, what exactly you need them to do, and which tools you will use to support them—and you'll gain enough insight to ask smart questions that help you get your money's worth. If you're ready to do big things, this book has you covered from the first business card to the eventual exit.

Over two thirds of startups are built on creaky foundations, and over two thirds of startup costs go directly toward cleaning up legal and practical problems caused by an incomplete or improper start. This book helps you sidestep the messy and expensive clean up process by giving you the specific actions you need to take right from the very beginning.

• Understand the critical intricacies of legally incorporating and running a startup
• Learn which experts you need, and what exactly you need from them
• Make more intelligent decisions independent of your advisors
• Avoid the challenges that threaten to derail great young companies

The typical American startup costs over $30,000 and requires working with over two dozen professionals and service providers before it even opens for business—and the process is so complex that few founders do it correctly. Their startups errors often go unnoticed until the founder tries to seek outside capital, at which point they can cost thousands of dollars to fix. . . or even completely derail an investment. The Startup Checklist helps you avoid these problems and lay a strong foundation, so you can focus on building your business.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

Preface: Why Every Entrepreneur Needs This Book . . . Instead of the Other 93,210 Books on Entrepreneurship

Introduction: 25 Key Action Steps (Plus One) for Every Entrepreneur

Prepare to Launch

Launch and Build Your Company

Raise Funds; Collaborate with Investors; Plan for Your Exit

Part I: Prepare to Launch

Chapter 1: Translate Your Idea into a Compelling Business Model

Elements of the Business Model

The Importance of Understanding Your Business Model

Developing a Scalable Startup Business

Chapter 2: Craft a Lean Business Plan to Serve as Your Venture's Road Map

The Principles of Lean Business Planning

How to Make a Lean Business Plan

Chapter 3: Find and Know Your Competitors

Identifying Your Competitors

Evaluating the Competition

Developing a Competition Visualization

Professional Services and Online Tools for Competitive Analysis

Chapter 4: Build Your Dream Team

The Crucial Talents Required to Launch a New Venture

Which Pieces Do You Have? Which Pieces Do You Lack?

Establishing Expectations Among the Members of Your Founding Team

Chapter 5: Allocate the Equity in Your Startup

Allocating Equity

Equity Control and the Rights of the Founder

Chapter 6: Build a Minimum Viable Product and Validate Your Plan with Customers

Conducting Marketplace Experiments

The Wisdom of the Crowd

Chapter 7: Establish Your Brand with Online Public Profiles

Yes, You Need a Website

Help People Find Your Site

Help People Find Your Company

Chapter 8: Network Effectively Within the Entrepr eneurial Ecosystem

Meetups

Business Plan Competitions

Startup Conferences and Launch Events

Accelerators and Demo Days

Angel Groups

Score

Peer Programs for Entrepreneurs

Part II: Launch and Build Your Company

Chapter 9: Incorporate Your Company for Protection and Investment

Benefits of Incorporation

Delaware? But I Don't Live in Delaware!

So, Um, How Do I Incorporate a Company?

Naming Your Business

Chapter 10: “Lawyer Up” the Right Way

How to Choose a Startup Attorney

Major Legal Matters for Which Your Startup Will Need a Lawyer

Budgeting for Legal Expenses

When and How to Change Your Law Firm

Chapter 11: Recruit Your Boards of Directors and Advisors

Understanding the Composition of the Board

The Role of the Chairman of the Board

Keys to Assembling a Great Board of Directors

Maximizing the Value Created by Your Company's Board

The Role of a Board of Advisors

Startup Mentors for Your Entrepreneurial Journey

Chapter 12: Select an Accountant and an Accounting System

Business Finance 101

How (and Why) to Hire a Good Accountant

Choosing and Using Online Accounting Tools

Chapter 13: Establish and Manage Your Credit Profile

Basics of Business Credit

Starting Your Credit Profile with a D-U-N-S Number

Building and Maintaining a Good Credit Profile

Why and How to Keep Tabs on Your Credit Report

Chapter 14: Open Bank, Credit Card, and Merchant Accounts

Working with Your Bank

Kinds of Financial Credit and How to Use Them Wisely

Receiving Credit Card Payments

Chapter 15: Choosing Your Key Technologies, Platforms, and Vendors

Hardware

Office Suite

Cloud Hosting

Other Platform Choices

Chapter 16: Measure Your Business with Data Analytics

Use Your MVP to Establish Baseline Metrics and Begin Experimental Improvements

How to Make Sure That the Metrics You Gather and Analyze Are Meaningful

Tools for Analytics

Key Growth Issues to Study with Lean Analytics

Chapter 17: Round out Your Team with Employees and Freelancers

Recruiting and Hiring Employees

The New Hire Draft Board

Using Employment Contracts

Building a Corporate Culture That Is Authentic, Universal, and Consistent

Work/Life Balance and a Supportive Corporate Culture

The Outsourcing Alternative

Chapter 18: Establish a Stock Option Plan to Incentivize Your Team

Managing Your Option Plan and Cap Table

409(a) Valuations and the Meaning of “Fair Market Value”

Part III: Raise Funds; Collaborate with Investors; Plan for Your Exit

Chapter 19: Understand the Funding Process and What Investors Want to See

How Much Money Can I Raise, and from Whom?

The Investment Process and the Funding Round

What Are Investors Looking For?

Yes, Virginia, There May Actually Be Some Free Money.

Chapter 20: Nurture Your Investor Pipeline

When to Connect with Investors

How to Connect with Investors

When to Tell an Investor “Thanks but no Thanks”

The Materials You Will Need to Pitch an Investor

Chapter 21: Crowdfunding and Online Platforms

The JOBS Act

Chapter 22: Survive the Term Sheet Negotiation and Investor Due Diligence

The Different Types of Equity Investments

Note Financing

Changing Forms of Startup Financing

Term Sheets and Closings

The Due Diligence Investigation

Chapter 23: Get the Most from Your Investors, Now and in the Future

Best Practices for Dealing with Your Investors

When an Investor Becomes Excessively Demanding

Reaching out for a Follow-on Round

When Things Go Really Badly

Chapter 24: Understand Your Company's Valuation

Business Valuation Methods for Investment

The Perils of Misvaluation

Chapter 25: Keep Your Eye on the Exit and Reap the Benefits of Success

Going Public

Acquisition

Who Gets What: The Liquidation Waterfall

The Startup Checklist Onlinegust.com/checklist

Appendices

Appendix A: The Startup Reading List

Appendix B: Sample Due Diligence Request

Appendix C: Starting a U.S. Corporation from a Foreign Country

Appendix D: Sample Convertible Preferred Stock Term Sheet

Terms for Private Placement of Seed Series Preferred Stock of[Insert Company Name], Inc.

Offering Terms

Appendix E: Sample Convertible Note Term Sheet

Appendix F: Sample Founder Accord

Acknowledgments

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Figure 1.1

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.1

Figure 7.1

Figure 7.1

Figure 16.1

Figure 16.1

Figure 16.2

Figure 16.2

Figure 16.3

Figure 16.3

Figure 16.4

Figure 16.4

Figure 16.5

Figure 16.5

Figure 16.6

Figure 16.6

Figure 17.1

Figure 17.1

Figure 18.1

Figure 18.1

Figure 18.2

Figure 18.3

Figure 18.2

Figure 18.3

Figure 24.1

Figure 24.2

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Part 1

Chapter 1

Pages

i

ii

iii

iv

v

vi

xi

xii

xiii

xiv

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

The Startup Checklist

25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business

David S. Rose

Cover image: David NolesCover design: Dejan Jovanovic

Copyright © 2016 by David S. Rose. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.

For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Rose, David S., 1957- author.

Title: The startup checklist : 25 steps to a scalable, high-growth business / David S. Rose.

Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2016. | Includes index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016013847 (print) | LCCN 2016008684 (ebook) |ISBN 9781119163794 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119164050 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119164043 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Entrepreneurship. | New business enterprises–Management. | Investments. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Entrepreneurship.

Classification: LCC HB615 (print) | LCC HB615 .R656 2016 (ebook) | DDC 658.1/1–dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016013847

Dedication

To Daniel and Joanna Semel Rose,

my unwavering supporters throughout a half

century of entrepreneurship.

Foreword

BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR is one of the greatest ways to make the world a better place. Building a company the right way with a great product, mission, and structure, unlocks human potential and allows you to have enormous impact in your immediate and extended community.

This book is priceless in helping you do just that. It is a step-by-step guide to taking an idea and turning it into a business.

I have been starting businesses all my life, since I was 12 years old in Junior High School. Since founding Idealab as a technology incubator in 1996, I have started more than 100 companies. The steps shared in this book are so clear and logical, it's painful to think about how wildly useful it would have been to have in my hands 20 years ago.

This book will help you avoid mistakes and make you 1,000 percent smarter in your approach to building a business. I guarantee that there will be at least one chapter in this book which could dramatically change the trajectory of your success and happiness. David describes how to approach your business when it's just a kernel of an idea, how to develop a plan and test your product in the market, how and when to hire the right talent (and importantly, how to think about equity splits and compensation), and takes you through the various administrative tasks that can be seen as tedious but are critical to avoiding expensive mistakes in the future. He outlines how to approach raising money and investors and the different sources of money available for a startup.

Starting a great company is so much more than just a great idea. There are a thousand things you can do to unwittingly undermine your success. This book will help you navigate some of the critical junctures that will make or break your progress. In addition to the actual checklist, David provides a wealth of online resources that will allow you to become fully educated on every aspect of building your company. This book outlines that process better—and all in one place—than any other thing I have ever read.

David S. Rose has seen it all, over many years and across thousands of companies, and then, to the great benefit of the rest of us, has distilled the essence of what it takes to succeed. I can't say strongly enough how much I feel following the checklist David has created will help you make your company more successful.

—Bill Gross

PrefaceWhy Every Entrepreneur Needs This Book . . . Instead of the Other 93,210 Books on Entrepreneurship

“To open a business is easy, to keep it open is an art.”

—Chinese proverb

ENTREPRENEURS HAVE BEEN STARTING COMPANIES without reading instruction books since the first Phoenician trader bought his first ship over 5,000 years ago. And for those who do want some guidance, Amazon would be pleased to sell you any of the 93,210 books listed in its “start a business” category, many of which are quite good. So why is there a need for yet another startup book?

Because this book is designed for a very specific type of business starter: the entrepreneur who is deliberately setting out to create a scalable, high-growth business designed for the twenty-first century, a business that will likely hire employees, issue stock options, raise money from outside investors, grow rapidly, and eventually either be acquired by a larger company or “go public” through an initial public offering. It turns out that starting that kind of business gets very complicated, very quickly. Making even small mistakes at the beginning can cause problems at every later step along the way.

I've been starting companies myself for over 45 years as a serial entrepreneur (more than half a dozen of them), and as an active business angel investor I have personally funded and advised over 100 others. I've founded, taught in, or advised many of the country's leading entrepreneurship training programs, and, as the founder and CEO of Gust, I've learned from the aggregate experience of providing the tools used by more than half a million startups around the world. I've also answered over 4,000 questions from aspiring entrepreneurs on Quora, the online question-and-answer site, and heard of just about every variety of problem in the playbook.

Along the way, I have learned firsthand the problems that can quickly arise from starting off on the wrong foot. They range from the fundamental (charging off to start a business that just doesn't make sense) to the painful (hooking up with people whose interests are divergent from yours) to the tragic (getting equity allocations wrong at the beginning and never being able to recover), all the way to the really, really expensive (making simple mistakes at the incorporation level that result in five- and six-figure cleanup costs the first time a serious investor is thinking of supporting you).

This book is intended to be your one-stop checklist to starting up right. I assume no prior knowledge on your part about business—just a strong desire to create something seriously big, and to do so in the most effective, most efficient, and least expensive way possible. My goal is to walk along beside you throughout the process, providing the background you need to understand the whys in addition to the whats and the hows. I will take you step-by-step through the nitty-gritty practical tasks of starting up a high-growth venture, introduce you to the latest online tools that will save you time and money, point you to the standard books that should be in every entrepreneur's library, and give you a peek behind the angel/venture curtain so you can understand what potential investors are thinking when they are considering funding your startup.

As my hero, Benjamin Franklin, wrote, “Experience keeps an expensive school, but fools will learn in no other.” Having spent a lifetime painfully learning from experience, my goal now is to shorten the time that you will need to spend in Ben Franklin's “expensive school.”*

* Benjamin Franklin was an amazing entrepreneur. You should read his delightful Autobiography for some cool startup experience and tips. (Not to mention his will, which established the first seed fund for entrepreneurs . . .)