Straight Talk for Startups
100 Insider Rules for Beating the Odds - From Mastering the Fundamentals to Selecting Investors, Fundraising, Managing Boards, and Achieving Liquidity
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Narrated by:
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Randy Komisar
About this listen
Veteran venture capitalist Randy Komisar and finance executive Jantoon Reigersman share no-nonsense, counterintuitive guidelines to help anyone build a successful startup.
Over the course of their careers, Randy Komisar and Jantoon Reigersman continue to see startups crash and burn because they forget the timeless lessons of entrepreneurship.
But, as Komisar and Reigersman show, you can beat the odds if you quickly learn what insiders know about what it takes to build a healthy foundation for a thriving venture. In Straight Talk for Startups they walk budding entrepreneurs through 100 essential rules - from pitching your idea to selecting investors to managing your board to deciding how and when to achieve liquidity.
Culled from their own decades of experience, as well as the experiences of their many successful colleagues and friends, the rules are organized under broad topics, from "Mastering the Fundamentals" and "Selecting the Right Investors," to "The Ideal Fundraise," "Building and Managing Effective Boards," and "Achieving Liquidity."
Vital rules you’ll find in Straight Talk for Startups include:
- The best ideas originate from founders who are users
- Create two business plans: an execution plan and an aspirational plan
- Net income is an option, but cash flow is a fact
- Don’t accept money from strangers
- Personal wealth doesn’t equal good investing
- Small boards are better than big ones
- Add independent board members for expertise and objectivity
- Too many unanimous board decisions are a sign of trouble
- Choose an acquirer, don’t wait to be chosen
- Learn the rules by heart so you know when to break them
Filled with helpful real-life examples and specific, actionable advice, Straight Talk for Startups is the ideal audiobook for anyone running, working for, or thinking about creating a startup, or just curious about what makes high-potential ventures tick.
©2018 Randy Komisar and Jantoon Reigersman (P)2018 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Straight Talk for Startups memorializes age-old best practices and empowers both experienced and new investment professionals to beat the odds." (David Krane, CEO, Google Ventures)
"Straight Talk for Startups is filled with real, raw, and fact-based ‘rules of the road’ that you need to know when diving into our ultra-competitive startup world. A must read and a re-read!" (Tony Fadell, coinventor of the iPod/iPhone & founder of Nest Labs)
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To make these big moves happen for your company, you’re going to have to break through inertia, gamesmanship, and risk aversion. You’re going to have to mitigate human biases and manage group dynamics. Eight practical shifts can help you do this, and unlock bigger, bolder, better strategies. This is not another by-the-book approach to strategy. It’s not another trudge through frameworks or small-scale case studies promising a secret formula for success. It’s an irreverent, fact-driven, and humorous take on the real world of strategic decision making.
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Ok beginning, superb finish
- By Rancher on 01-01-21
By: Chris Bradley, and others
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Attacker's Advantage
- Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities
- By: Ram Charan
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Attacker's Advantage, Charan reveals the upside of uncertainty for those leaders who are nimbly positioned to anticipate the catalysts of disruption and embrace change. He updates and adapts the principles of his previous best sellers to address the current turbulent business environment, cutting through the veil of complexity to concentrate on the new customer needs and expectations and providing the tools for corporate leaders to take their companies to a higher level.
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Fantastic book - volume lower than usual
- By James Gajewski on 06-14-15
By: Ram Charan
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Shark Tank Jump Start Your Business
- How to Launch and Grow a Business from Concept to Cash
- By: Michael Parrish DuDell, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, and others
- Narrated by: Michael Parrish DuDell
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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From the ABC hit show Shark Tank, this book - filled with practical advice and introductions from the Sharks themselves - will be the ultimate resource for anyone thinking about starting a business or growing the one they have. Full of tips for navigating the confusing world of entrepreneurship, the book will intersperse words of wisdom with inspirational stories from the show.
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Middle School material. Vague, no depth.
- By nate on 12-22-13
By: Michael Parrish DuDell, and others
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Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?
- Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
- By: Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company was on a watch list for extinction, victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.
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Moderate Start, Picks up FAST!
- By Art H on 02-08-05
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The High-Potential Leader
- How to Grow Fast, Take on New Responsibilities, and Make an Impact
- By: Ram Charan, Geri Willigan
- Narrated by: Bob Reed
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Companies need high potential leaders (Hi-Pos) more than ever before to help them adapt to today's tumultuous, digitally-driven business environment. If you meet the Hi-Po criteria, you're in high demand - and this book explains how to fast-track yourself.
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Good book for people wanting to climb the corporate ladder and for executives to accelerate high - potential leaders
- By Niel on 06-23-19
By: Ram Charan, and others
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Snap Selling
- Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today's Frazzled Customers
- By: Jill Konrath
- Narrated by: Jill Konrath
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Selling is tougher than ever before. Potential customers are under extreme pressure to do more with less money, less time, and fewer resources, and they're wary of anyone who tries to get them to buy or change anything. Under such extreme conditions, yesterday's sales strategies no longer work. Sales strategist Jill Konrath tells you how to overcome obstacles, get more appointments, speed up decisions, and win sales with today's short-fused, frazzled customers.
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OK sales book with some good take aways
- By Glenn on 05-22-11
By: Jill Konrath
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The Self-Made Billionaire Effect
- How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value
- By: John Sviokla, Mitch Cohen
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine what Atari might have achieved if Steve Jobs had stayed there to develop the first massmarket personal computer. Or what Steve Case might have done for PepsiCo if he hadn't left for a gaming start-up that eventually became AOL. What if Salomon Brothers had kept Michael Bloomberg, or Bear Stearns had exploited the inventive ideas of Stephen Ross? Scores of top-tier entrepreneurs worked for established corporations before they struck out on their own and became self-made billionaires.
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Waste of time!
- By Anonymous User on 05-30-20
By: John Sviokla, and others
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The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor
- Powerful Lessons and Proven Strategies from Top Producers
- By: David J. Mullen Jr.
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The best financial advisors are well equipped to succeed regardless of market conditions. Based on interviews with 15 top advisors, each doing several million dollars worth of business every year, The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor distills their universal success principles into 13 distinct lessons. Each is explained step-by-step for immediate application by veteran and new financial professionals alike.
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Fantastic tips and practices
- By SS MacIntyre on 03-10-15
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Shortcut Your Startup
- Speed Up Success with Unconventional Advice from the Trenches
- By: Carter Reum, Courtney Reum
- Narrated by: Carter Reum
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Courtney and Carter Reum have years of experience in the field, from investing in over 130 companies, including Lyft, Pinterest, Warby Parker, and ClassPass, to driving the success of their own liquor brand, VEEV Spirits. The Reum brothers have learned from every triumph and tribulation and over the years have developed an effective and easy-to-understand guide to help entrepreneurs through the startup journey from inception to sale.
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A must read for start ups
- By Dave on 02-09-18
By: Carter Reum, and others
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Strategize to WIN
- The New Way to Start out, Step up, or Start Over in Your Career
- By: Carla A. Harris
- Narrated by: Carla A. Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Wall Street powerhouse and author of Expect to Win offers a new way to conceptualize career strategies and gives us proven tools for successful change. Whether we're starting out, striving toward a promotion, or looking for a new opportunity, the working world isn’t what it used to be. Wall Street veteran Carla Harris knows this, and in Strategize to Win she gives listeners the tools they need to get started.
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The advice gets stronger with each chapter!!
- By A. G. on 05-05-17
By: Carla A. Harris
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Who
- The A Method for Hiring
- By: Geoff Smart, Randy Street
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Geoff Smart and Randy Street offer a simple, four-step method for hiring with confidence, designed for everyone from the CEO on down. Who shows you how to avoid the most common pitfalls of hiring, how to identify "A Players" - people who can perform their job better than 90 percent of the candidates in their field - and how to make sure the best candidate will be excited to join your organization.
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Great book but need PDF of Scorecard material
- By Nancy Walsh on 10-17-12
By: Geoff Smart, and others
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The House of Dimon
- How JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Rose to the Top of the Financial World
- By: Patricia Crisafulli
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jamie Dimon is Wall Street's biggest player. Following the 11h-hour rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan, his profile has reached stratospheric levels. And while the deals and decisions he's made have usually turned out to be the right ones, his journey to the top of the financial world has been anything but easy. Now, in The House of Dimon, business writer Patricia Crisafulli goes behind the scenes to recount the amazing events that have shaped Dimon's career.
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Intriguing
- By Jean on 08-28-16
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The Lords of Strategy
- The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World
- By: Walter Kiechel III
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine running a business without a strategy. It would be akin to driving blindfolded, to building a house without a blueprint. The concept of strategy changed all that, paving the way for the creation of the modern corporate world. The Lords of Strategy provides listeners with a deeper understanding of the world they compete in, and a sharper eye for what works — and what doesn’t — when forging strategy.
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Super Book of Narrow Interest
- By Roy on 08-23-10
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Scale
- Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back
- By: Jeff Hoffman, David Finkel
- Narrated by: David Finkel
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Business owners want growth but fear it will take over their lives. Surprisingly, the only way to truly grow your company is to reduce its reliance on you - to scale. Jeff Hoffman and David Finkel offer a blueprint to rapidly grow your business while also gaining more freedom. Based on their own experiences starting, scaling, and effectively exiting from multiple successful companies, they provide seven clear principles that will help you determine the best strategy for growth in your company.
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All stuff no fluff
- By Jonathan Bonanno on 05-25-21
By: Jeff Hoffman, and others
What listeners say about Straight Talk for Startups
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Prime Member
- 03-18-22
I’m friends with Randy and wish I’d read this sooner
As I said, I’m friends with Randy I wish I’d read this book sooner, because it would’ve avoided some mistakes with my last start up. We sold, they could’ve done much better. This time we read the book and I think will do much better.
This is, in my vast experience (6 startups) an essential and quick double read that can definitely save you time and grief.
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- Thando SA
- 06-23-19
Honest, tough love
I like the perspective of startup life from the point of view of investors. Most of the points seem to apply to startups with a lot of traction but may also be applicable to early stage ventures. The rules also cover a lot of external stakeholders management which complements the other inward focused books quite well.
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- FERNANDO PAEZ MORENO
- 01-03-19
Good
Great advise for enterprenurs in the startup fase. The narrator can be a little boring with his voice. altough the content compensates this.
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- Jean-Pierre
- 04-16-19
Essential and practical advice for startups
Well narrated, up to date, and full of battle tested rules to have a fighting chance as a startup entrepreneur.
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- John Shupe
- 11-07-18
Well worth the investment of time.
Very well organized book. Simple approach to pushing out a lot of excellent information. As a heavier user of audiobooks, It’s important for authors voice to read it. I have marked a number of key rules and took quite a few notes.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Vitalii
- 04-18-20
Good reminder for founders
This book is a quite good reminder for an early stage reminders about what they should focus on. In my opinion it will be relevant for an early-stage startups who are raising their seed round or even round A of funding.
I felt that may points in the book are repeated several times, and could have been condensed into a shorter write-up.
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- M.
- 06-09-18
Very complete and current resource for startups
This book is a must read for any startup. It provides tangible and fact-based tools and examples needed for survival in a very competitive world of (tech) startups.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Roman G
- 08-18-18
Highly recommend
John Doerr recommended “Straight Talk for Startups” in his “Measure What Matters” book. I loved the former, so I decided to give a go to the latter. Very glad I did. Really, really good book. I’ll be re-reading it regularly.
Roman
CEO, Splento
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3 people found this helpful
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- Rudolph Waels
- 05-01-24
Great overview and easy to read
The author covers many issues in a straight forward way. You will probably already know much of what is presented, but there are some interesting insights.
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- Gregory
- 04-08-19
So so
Lots of tips, most are generic and not particularly useful. The speaker uses a halting style which is difficult to enjoy
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