Books in the Techstars series

How women can "lean in" to entrepreneurship to create the life they want!Claudia Reuter left a promising corporate career to raise her two young children but realized, when re-entering the workforce, that the gap in her resume looked like a gap in ambition--not a purposeful plan. Instead of leaning into a corporate career and fighting the structures and systems designed by and for men decades ago, or leaning out and giving up income, Claudia took a different path.That decision ultimately led to success in the corporate world and at home.In Yes, You Can Do This! Claudia shares her own reasons for starting a business, and makes a call to action for women to consider entrepreneurship so that they can create businesses with the rules they want and change the playing field for others, making a significant impact in the world. More than a "How-to book" on building a business, Claudia provides clear examples and practical resources to help others create the life they want through entrepreneurship. In Yes, You Can Do This! you'll learn:* How to develop and share your vision* How to deal with stereotypes and unconscious bias* How to leverage perceived weaknesses and turn them into strengthsy* How to balance life at high speeds and avoid burnout* How to cultivate the confidence to move from idea to creating a company with the culture and rules you wantIn Yes, You Can Do This! women are provided with an electrifying third career option: it's not just "lean in" or "lean out," but startup and change the playing field for others in the process.Praise for Yes, You Can Do This!"Combining compelling storytelling with practical, tactical advice, Reuter has created a manifesto for the next generation of female founders. Rooted in the research around gender and work, this is a must read for women looking to launch the next new thing."- Jennifer McFadden, Associate Director of Entrepreneurial Programs, Yale School of Management"A must-read for any woman considering taking the leap into entrepreneurship, You Can Do This brings together today's best thinking about women in the workplace with practical advice for creating your dream career and life - by starting a company. Whether you are just curious or ready to take the leap, this book is a great read and a valuable resource."-Anna Barber, Managing Director, Techstars"Claudia helps not just the female entrepreneur, but all entrepreneurs, find their footing in what can be an overwhelming whirlwind of starting a business. This book is not only inspiring and uplifting, but positively necessary for any woman looking to find success in the startup space!-Shira Atkins, Co-founder & CMO Wonder Media Network

You're only a startup CEO once. Do it well with Startup CEO, a "master class in building a business."--Dick Costolo, Former CEO, TwitterBeing a startup CEO is a job like no other: it's difficult, risky, stressful, lonely, and often learned through trial and error. As a startup CEO seeing things for the first time, you're likely to make mistakes, fail, get things wrong, and feel like you don't have any control over outcomes.Author Matt Blumberg has been there, and in Startup CEO he shares his experience, mistakes, and lessons learned as he guided Return Path from a handful of employees and no revenues to over $100 million in revenues and 500 employees.Startup CEO is not a memoir of Return Path's 20-year journey but a thoughtful CEO-focused book that provides first-time CEOs with advice, tools, and approaches for the situations that startup CEOs will face.You'll learn:* How to tell your story to new hires, investors, and customers for greater alignment* How to create a values-based culture for speed and engagement* How to create business and personal operating systems so that you can balance your life and grow your company at the same time* How to develop, lead, and leverage your board of directors for greater impact* How to ensure that your company is bought, not sold, when you exitStartup CEO is the field guide every CEO needs throughout the growth of their company.

An essential guide to building supportive entrepreneurial communities "Startup communities" are popping up everywhere, from cities like Boulder to Boston and even in countries such as Iceland. These types of entrepreneurial ecosystems are driving innovation and small business energy.

From Amos Schwartzfarb, serial entrepreneur and veteran Managing Director of Techstars Austin comes the elemental, essential, and effective strategy that will help any startup identify, build, and grow their customers from day 1Most startups fail because they can't grow revenue early or quickly enough. Startup CEOs will tell you their early missteps can be attributed to not finding their product market fit early enough, or at all. Founders overspend time and money trying to find product-market fit and make false starts, follow the wrong signals, and struggle to generate enough revenue to scale and raise funding. And all the while they never really knew who their customers were, what product they really needed, and why they needed it. But it doesn't have to be this way, and founders don't need to face it alone. Through expert guidance and experienced mentorship, every startup can avoid these pitfalls.The ultimate guide for building and scaling any startup sales organization, Sell More Faster shares the proven systems, methods, and lessons from Managing Director of Techstars Austin and sales expert Amos Schwartzfarb. Hear from founders of multi-million-dollar companies and CEOs who learned firsthand with Techstars, the leading mentorship-driven startup accelerator and venture capital firm that has invested in and mentored thousands of companies, collectively representing billions of dollars in funding and market cap. Schwartzfarb, and the Techstars Worldwide Network of more than 10,000 mentors do one thing better than anyone: help startup entrepreneurs succeed. They know how to sell, how to hire people who know how to sell, and how to use sales to gain venture funding--and now you can, too.Sell More Faster delivers the critical strategies and guidance necessary to avoid and manage the hazards all startups face and beat the odds. This valuable resource delivers:* A comprehensive playbook to identify product market direction and product market fit* Expert advice on building a diverse sales team and how to identify, recruit, and train the kinds of team members you need* Models and best practices for sales funnels, pricing, compensation, and scaling* A roadmap to create a repeatable and measurable path to find product-market fit* Aggregated knowledge from Techstars leaders and industry expertsSell More Faster is an indispensable guide for entrepreneurs seeking product-market fit, building their sales team, developing a growth strategy, and chasing accelerated, sustained selling success.

Start strong with essential early-stage guidance from the VC perspective Startup Opportunities is the go-to guide for anyone with a great business idea.

Memoirs of an entrepreneurEver wonder how a startup comes together--the people, places, skills, failures, and hustle that make it a real business? This is the story of David and David, two entrepreneurs with lots of energy and less of a roadmap than you might think. In 1993, David Cohen and David Brown founded their first company, Pinpoint Technologies, which grew from a basement startup to a successful multinational company with $50 million in annual sales and over 250 employees.Chronicling the story of that company from its beginnings up to 1999, when it was sold to ZOLL, and beyond, No Vision All Drive is the story of that company and the people who transformed a flat-broke, shot-in-the-dark concept into a market-leading small business.* This book is not about business; it's about people* David and David recount their experiences together* Insight on how to build a successful startup* Turn a seed idea into realityStartup founders and startup employees, venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs, and anyone with an interest in stories of determination and hard work will love No Vision All Drive.

One of the greatest challenges for startup teams is scaling because usually there's not a blueprint to follow, people are learning their function as they go, and everyone is wearing multiple hats. There can be lots of trial and error, lots of missteps, and lots of valuable time and money squandered as companies scale. Matt Blumberg and his team understand the scaling challenges--they've been there, and it took them nearly 20 years to scale and achieve a successful exit. Along the way they learned what worked and what didn't work, and they share their lessons learned in Startup CXO.Unlike other business books, Startup CXO is designed to help each functional leader understand how their function scales, what to anticipate as they scale, and what things to avoid. Beyond providing function-specific advice, tools, and tactics, Startup CXO is a resource for each team member to learn about the other functions, understand other functional challenges, and get greater clarity on how to collaborate effectively with the other functional leads.CEOs, Board members, and investors have a book they can consult to pinpoint areas of weakness and learn how to turn those into strengths. Startup CXO has in-depth chapters covering the nine most common functions in startups: finance, people, marketing, sales, customers, business development, product, operations, and privacy. Each functional section has a "CEO to CEO Advice" summary from Blumberg on what great looks like for that CXO, signs your CXO isn't scaling, and how to engage with your CXO.Startup CXO also has a section on the future of executive work, fractional and interim roles. Written by leading practitioners in the newly emergent fractional executive world, each function is covered with useful tips on how to be a successful fractional executive as well as what to look for and how to manage fractional executives."Startup CXO is an amazing resource for CEOs but also for functional leaders and professionals at any stage of their career." - Scott Dorsey, Managing Partner, High Alpha

An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup's board of directors Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot on your plate getting to your minimum viable product, developing customer interaction, hiring team members, and managing the accounts/books.