Rajat Bhargava - The startup playbook founder-to-founder advice from two startup veterans

1. Chapter 5
2. Chapter 6
3. Chapter 9
4. Chapter 18
5. Chapter 19
6. Chapter 21
7. Chapter 23
8. Chapter 24
9. Chapter 25
10. Chapter 29

Rajat Bhargava

Will Herman

Copyright 2020 by Rajat Bhargava and Will Herman. All rights reserved.

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

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Bhargava, Rajat, 1964- author. | Herman, Will, author.

Title: The startup playbook : founder-to-founder advice from two startup veterans / Rajat Bhargava, Will Herman.

Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2020. | Series: Techstars | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020007526 (print) | LCCN 2020007527 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119708513 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119708551 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119708537 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises--Management. | Entrepreneurship.

Classification: LCC HD62.5 .B4863 2020 (print) | LCC HD62.5 (ebook) | DDC 658.1/1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007526

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007527

Cover Design: Wiley

Interior Illustrations: Rocio Hedman

To AHA & RMB
Rajat

For Sandra, without whom none of this would have happened.
Will

For all the gutsy entrepreneurs building the next great startups and to the mentors who help them.
Rajat and Will

As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist for over 30 years, I've had the opportunity to help create many companies. I've been a part of wildly successful companies like Harmonix (creators of Guitar Hero), Zynga, and Fitbit, and I've been involved with many other companies that are growing and profitable. I have also been involved in many businesses that ultimately failed. Through these experiences, I've seen firsthand how the qualities of a founder and founding team can make or break a company.

There isn't a magic formula for successI don't know of one and neither does anyone else. If there were a magic formula, creating a successful company would just be a matter of copying and executing it. But you'll often hear successful entrepreneurs say that building a successful business is a combination of skills, talents, chemistry, hard work, and luck.

They're right about that, but how does a first-time founder figure out which combinations are relevant? How can an aspiring entrepreneur get up to speed on what to do, what not to do, and what to expect at various stages of growth?

Look no further than The Startup Playbook: Founder-to-Founder Advice from Two Startup Veterans. Will and Rajat have taken the mystery out of starting a business and they have shined a light on the black box of entrepreneurship, and anyone who reads this book will be light-years ahead of their competitors.

In an engaging, authentic, and easy-to-read style, Will and Rajat share what they've learned about starting a successful business, they talk candidly about their failures, and they distill complex topics into the essentials. Reading The Startup Playbook is like having a trusted person guide you through the practicalities and nuances of building a successful business.

We see all sorts of founding teams at Foundry Group and Techstars who have great ideas and solutions but struggle with creating a profitable business. It's why we focus on the team as a key factor in the potential success of a company. When we make an investment in a founding team, we see it as a long-term partnership. We work with the team to help fill in gaps by sharing what we've learned from many other startups. Once we've made our investment, we sit side-by-side with the team, not on the other side of the table. Now, with The Startup Playbook, we have an additional resource to provide founding teams that will accelerate their learning.

I've known both Rajat and Will for much of my professional life. Will and I met when I was at MIT, and we later made our first angel investment together in 1994 in NetGenesis, Rajat's first company. Since then, I've started a few companies with Rajat and have invested in several of his startups. Will and I have made many investments together, and we have been on boards together, including several of the companies that Rajat started.

Having worked with them over the last 25 years, I've seen and been involved in many of the ups and downs that Rajat and Will have had. Throughout the good and bad times, they've approached everything they've done from the founder's point of view, which is what they do in this book.

If you are a first-time founder, or an entrepreneur at any stage, increase your chance for success by reading and following Will and Rajat's advice in this book.

Brad Feld

Managing Director, Foundry Group

March 2020

The fact that I (Will) was essentially bankrupt wasn't even the bad part. The bad part was I had to admit that my parents might have been right about what a stupid idea joining a startup was and, to add insult to injury, I had to ask if I could move back in with them.