This year more than five million entrepreneurs will launch a new venture. Many of them believe they have the Next Big Thing. But very few startups live to see five years, and even fewer make it to ten. Even fewer still go on to become a global success story. This book is a practical guide to evaluating your business idea and a must-read for all aspiring entrepreneurs. You'll learn: -that if your new venture doesn't follow the 10x Rule, you should not quit your day job and why -how early customer development can transform a good idea into a great opportunity; -which opportunities are worth selling everything for Brad Feld and Dr. Sean Wise have been assessing startup opportunities for more than two decades. They have witnessed more than 30,000 pitches and participated in more than 500 startup launches. Now two of North America s leading minds in venture capital share how they determine which startups will succeed and which will fail. This book is indispensable for anybody who has ever thought about starting a business or fumbled their way through giving advice about starting a business.

Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job

Sean Wise

Brad Feld

Business & Money

FG Press

Have you ever wondered what successful entrepreneurs learn from world-leading startup accelerator programs? 
Accelerate is the first comprehensive guide to the fast-paced world of accelerator programs featuring 230 accelerator programs spread across 46 different countries. Included in this book are responses from over 150 entrepreneurs whose businesses have benefited from participating in an accelerator. 
If you are an entrepreneur who is thinking about applying to an accelerator program, or do not even know what an accelerator program is, Accelerate is an essential tool to establishing a base-knowledge about how and where to apply.

Accelerate: Founder Insights Into Accelerator Programs

Luke Deering

Matt Cartagena

Chris Dowdeswell

For almost a quarter of a century, Wayne Calloway led Frito-Lay and then PepsiCo to double in revenue and profitability every five years, an astonishing story of success that has never been fully told. However, this book is not so much about the numbers that were attained but the systematic leadership approach and the way these results were achieved. 
The Calloway Way was focused on achieving aggressive results but with extremely high personal integrity. Wayne Calloway believed that without growth you couldn't sustain energy and enthusiasm, and without energy and enthusiasm, you couldn't attract and retain the best talent. And, the reverse was also true: that without the best talent you couldn't sustain growth year after year, let alone as Calloway did for decades. 
This book has a dual purpose. First, to tell an important, untold success story. The second, to inspire a needed leadership renaissance if we are to be competitive in the 21st century. One of the key things you will learn from the Calloway Way is that leadership and people matter, even in this digital age.

The Calloway Way: Results & Integrity

Charlie Feld

In Silicon Valley, people routinely dream of changing the world. Some do so. Many more almost do. Almost. It is such a Silicon Valley word. This is the story and lessons learned from 12 electric months in the life of a San Francisco startup that seemed on the verge of becoming a household name and being bought by Apple. Neither happened. And we all learned some hard lessons as a result. Almost... the word hurts the soul. So much time and effort and money into the void. And it keeps happening again and again, this amazing effort that seems part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. Why? What is it about the place that inspires people to swing for the fences? What is Silicon Valley really like? Almost is a fascinating 12-month snapshot inside of one company that almost changed the world.

Almost

Brian Tarcy

Hap Klopp

It's supposed to look like a hockey stick: up and to the right. Growth curves of runaway hits are even more dramatic—akin to field hockey sticks—quick start, short dip, followed by an immediate near-vertical climb in a northeasterly direction. It’s a beautiful thing. The problem with growth curves is that they’re like footprints in the sand. You can only see them in hindsight. To make matters more difficult, innovation is a non-linear business. Success does not come in the form of a straight line. As Woody Allen suggests, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” In the world of innovation, there is no single path forward. The only road that all entrepreneurs share is the road less travelled by. But you can still learn from those who went before you—what to do and what not to do—in order to increase your odds of success. Bend the Curve is a book about how to get more out of your big idea from people who know—successful entrepreneurs, the venture capitalists who've funded them, and the experienced mentors of the world's leading new venture accelerator, Techstars. -- "Andrew Razeghi has tirelessly captured the brilliance and insights of over a dozen of our most sought-after mentors. As I read this book the first time, the voices and ideas within it challenged my own long-held beliefs and added to my own stock of wisdom. As I read it a second time, I wished that I could apply to Techstars." -Sam Yagan, Chief Executive Officer, The Match Group; Founding CEO, Excelerate Labs; General Partner, Corazon Capital -- "As an entrepreneur and investor, I have had the good fortune of working alongside the mentors featured in BEND THE CURVE for many years. Individually, their pearls of wisdom are like gold to a startup. Collectively however, to have their advice woven together by Andrew Razeghi into a single book is priceless. I'm thrilled to see it shared with the rest of the world!" Troy Henikoff, Managing Director, Techstars; Managing Director, MATH Venture Partners; Co-Founder, Excelerate Labs

Bend The Curve: Accelerate Your Startup's Success (The Techstars Series)