Books for Startups

Your Company Library will be much more compact.
I just love this library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Why you want a 
"Company Library"

Your Company Library is a system for communication. The primary job of the CEO/business owner is to communicate. Not just the goals of the business, but also how the organization is to work.

The most effective, and efficient, way to do this is with the Company Library that contains books, videos, and links to online resources that are usually created by outside experts on the most important aspects of the company's philosophy and operations.

Some of these volumes are to be consumed by everyone in the organization. Others are for just the members of a particular department, such as Sales or Product Development. It should be determined by each CEO which volumes are to be consumed prior to employment, and after, and even how many times per year these volumes are to be reviewed. Repetition is important.

The purpose is to have everyone in the organization be crystal clear when it comes to the basic philosophies of the company, the corporate culture, the goals, and what is required for continued participation in the adventure.

The books listed below are an example of a recommended Company Library. Your Company Library may be different. We invite you to let us know of your success with these resources, as well as to inform us of others that you have found helpful.

A Startup Library

Personal Goals, Priorities

First Things First by Stephen R. Covey

Business Thinking

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber

Management

High Output Management by Andy Grove
The Great CEO Within by Matt Mochary
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

Sales, individual

What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael Bosworth

Sales, as a system

The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes

Business Process Documentation

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

Product Development

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries



Some thoughts from experience:

1.  Limit the number of books in your library. This will create FOCUS on the principles involved and build the lingua franca of your organization. When everyone is speaking the same language based on your shared wisdom, then you are well on your way to an invincible corporate culture.

2.  Some books are important for everyone in the company to read, as they form the underlying philosophies of your company. This may include your personal and company Genesis Story. 

3.  Your company library may sit prominently on a shelf in some common area in your space, but it should also be in the personal workspace of the team members.  Everyone in the company should have their own personal copies of the books involved.

4.  Repetition is essential to get the ideas and processes ingrained as Habits. Refer to the book passages often in 1-1 meetings, team meetings, etc. 

5.  Before you finalize a hire, gift prospective team members a copy of your most essential book as a way to find the best people for your company. There will be some who don't read it, and that's a great way to weed out those who are a poor fit. You want the ones who read it and get it wholeheartedly.

6.  Beware the Tyranny of the Idea du Jour as expressed, breathlessly, in some blog, video, conference, or even a team member. Resist the urge to add it to your company library and recommend it to everyone. The more you add to your library, the more you will dilute your main message.

7.  Begin it Now. Start small. Just one book, maybe two. What do you believe in? What book contains your foundational business success principles? If you're drawing a blank on that, start asking others, especially successful business builders who you respect.

8.  When you have consumed and mastered the subject matter in the short list above, you might want to expand your horizons a bit with this list. But before you do, revisit Note 6, above.

Your Team Library

Your Team Library is a system for communication. The primary job of the CEO is to communicate. Not just the goals of the business, but also how the organization is to work.

The most effective, and efficient, way to do this is with a "Team Library" that contains books, audios, and links to online resources that are usually created by outside experts on the most important aspects of the company's culture and operations.

Some of these volumes are to be consumed by everyone in the organization. Others are for just the members of a particular department, such as Sales or Customer Service. It should be determined by each business those volumes that are to be consumed prior to employment, and after, and even how many times per year these resources are to be reviewed. Repetition is important.

The purpose is to have everyone in the organization be crystal clear when it comes to the basic philosophies of the company, the corporate culture, the goals, and what is required for continued participation in the adventure.

Below is an example of a typical Team Library. Yours will be different. Let us know of your success with these resources, and others that you like.

The Startup Library Personal Goals, Priorities First Things First by Stephen R. Covey Business Thinking The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber Sales, individual What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael Bosworth Sales, as a system The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes Business Process Documentation The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande Product Development The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Expanded Team Library Personal Goal Setting First Things First by Stephen R. Covey The On-Purpose Person: Making Your Life Make Sense by Kevin McCarthy Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design by Laurence G. Boldt Business Philosophy The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber The Law of Success In Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill by Napoleon Hill The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials) by Robert B. Cialdini The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg Management High Output Management by Andy Grove The E-Myth Manager: Why Management Doesn't Work - and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber Communication Words that Sell: More than 6000 Entries to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas by Richard Bayan What You Say Is What You Get : How to Master Power Talking, the Language of Success by George Walther Write to the Point! by Fruehling and Oldham The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. Marketing The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market by Treacy & Wiersema The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! by Ries & Trout Ogilvy on Advertising by Ogilvy, of course :) Sales The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham Sandler Success Principles : 11 Insights that will change the way you Think and Sell by Mattson and Seidman The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies by Miller & Heiman Negotiation Deal-Breakers & Break-Throughs by John Ilich You Can Negotiate Anything: The World's Best Negotiator Tells You How To Get What You Want by Herb Cohen, Customer Service The Only Thing That Matters: Bringing the Power of the Customer into the Center of Your Business by Karl Albrecht TeleMarketing Phone Power: How to Make the Telephone Your Most Profitable Business Tool by George Walther Manufacturing The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt Research and Development Developing Products in Half the Time: New Rules, New Tools, 2nd Edition by Smith and Reinertsen

Agenda for CEO / Advisor meetings

Agenda for CEO / Advisor meetings

The agenda for the meeting is created by the CEO and emailed to the attendees at least 2 days before the meeting so that the attendees have time to review the agenda and prepare effectively for the meeting.

The agenda is an opportunity for the CEO to think clearly and organize their thoughts into priority sequence and budget their time accordingly. Visualize how you want the meeting to progress and how much time each topic should take. 

Time in the meeting is spent either Teaching (Status Review) or Learning (Discussion). The CEO wants to reduce the time he invests in Teaching his advisors and optimize the time and results he gets in the Learning (Discussion) section.

In highly effective meetings time spent in the Teaching section is zero. The information is consumed prior to the meeting, when the agenda is delivered. There is no need to have a 1-1 verbal discussion of what can be written down, and linked to. This allows attendees to review the material in a much more efficient time-shifted method. And this frees up almost all of the bandwidth in the meeting to focus on the serious issues, and advisors can ask questions.

The job of the CEO is to state the goals, establish a plan for achieving them, then manage the execution of the plan. Primarily his job is one of communication. Communicate the dream, the opportunity, the mission, the vision, the purpose, etc. The successful CEO will be a great communicator. The most effective communications are in writing, least effective are verbal. Written communications are far more valuable than verbal.

Therefore, the CEO wants to avoid a lot of verbal Teaching in the meetings. It is far more effective for the CEO to be Learning by asking questions. The bulk of any background information needed to answer the CEO's questions during the meeting should be in the form of links that can be accessed prior to the meeting.

Get the best out of your time in this meeting, and the greatest value from your advisors, by stating your discussion items in a question format. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A G E N D A

Your company name/logo 

(link to public website)

CEO name/link

(Meeting Date/time)

(Attendees names)

(Online attendance link)

1. Statement of Purpose of this meeting

         Write in this space.
         What does the CEO want to achieve in this meeting?
                     (learn, action items, plan, decisions, ideas, confidence, help, etc)

2. Status Review - 5 minutes

         A.  CEO's Positive review 

              Write a few paragraphs.
                      CEO summary of last period, positive actions taken, results achieved.
           
              Advisors give standing ovation.

          
         B. Status Checklist

    
              (Cash Runway), (Net Promoter Score), Links to other KPI pages
    
              CEO 
                              (Energy level),   (Stress Level)

                          Link to CEO's Overall Health Plan
                          Link to business calendar
                          Links for LinkedIn, FB, blogs, Twitter, etc 
                          Link to ToDo list
                          Link to strategic plan
                          Link to priorities 
                          Link to Who-What-When 

              Financial - Links to P/L, Balance Sheet, etc
              Sales and Marketing - Links

              People - (morale measurement), Links to Organization chart/data/Who What When
              Product roadmap - Links
              Customer support - Links
              
              Legal - Links, cap table, fundraising documents (executive summary, deck, etc)
              Company Library - Links
              Websites - Links
              Strategic Plans - Links (SWOT analysis, Acquisitions, stock plans)
              Business Philosophy - Links to Values, Mission, Vision, 

3. Discussion - 55 minutes

          A.  Important and Urgent Topics in Priority sequence

                  (Cash Flow, Legal, Stockholders, Personnel, Sales, Competition)
                  Links to separate documents where you have written
                  your important and urgent challenges, along with supporting information, research, etc.
                         State the situation as a question: "How do I decide...?", "What's best policy for...?"

                   
          B.  Other Important Topics 
                 More of the same, just not as urgent.
                 (as time permits)

Meeting Notes:

           Action items: 
                  Who does What by When,
                  policy statements,

           Next meeting 
                  date/time/place
                  Agenda items for next meeting
                  How can we improve these meetings?

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Audiobooks vs. Podcasts vs. Videos vs. Books

Audiobooks, Podcasts and Videos have the advantage that you can consume them hands-free, so you can be doing something else at the same time.

However, that advantage is also a major disadvantage. If you can be doing something else, then you most likely will  be doing something else, and with the reduced attention to the content, you will most likely miss important parts of the content.

Books require your full attention. You will find it difficult and dangerous to try to read a book while driving, walking, etc.  :)

Another disadvantage of podcasts and videos is that important content can not easily be bookmarked for later review. With books, this is easy.

Further disadvantages with audiobooks, podcasts and videos is that they are intended for serial consumption; that is you must start from the beginning and go to the end. It is easy go get bored with introductory material in these formats, and assume that you already know it all, and not persist with the content to find the true gems of knowledge. Books make it easy to skip around, to scan for chapter titles that are more interesting and to skip over stuff you already know.

If you really want to learn something, choose a book every time, take notes, and put what you learn to use in your daily life and/or your systems and processes in your business.

For maximum leverage, give a copy of important books to existing and prospective team members, and continue to reinforce the key points in 1-1 and team meetings. 

Review the concept of the essential nature of a Company Library.

Startup CEO reading for 12.7.2014

A great cup of coffee is the perfect companion while reading a chapter in your favorite book.
Click the "Company Library" link above for highly recommended reading, or look below for this week's selections.

The Lost Art of Software Testing - Scripting News

Startup Help - Spark59

Low aim is the biggest crime a man can commit.

Bruce Lee

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Isaac Asimov

He who dies rich dies disgraced.
Andrew Carnegie

The true measure of a man

is how he treats someone 

who can do him absolutely no good.

Samuel Johnson

Achievement seems to be connected with action.

Successful men and women keep moving.

They make mistakes, but they don't quit.

Conrad Hilton

Let There Be Cash (Elements of a Fundraising Process)

Fundraising is a Continuous Process

If I had a client who needed to raise capital FAST,

here's what I would advise them to do:

1. Commit to Fundraising as a Continuous Process

that has many steps and interactions with prospective investors,

and others.

This "Continuous Process" occurs every day

Some portion of every day must include energy and resources

applied to the Fundraising Process.  

The shorter your Runway, 

the more time you must spend each day on the Fundraising Process.

Here's a rough guideline:

   Runway         CEO time in Fundraising Process

12 months              1 hour per day

  6 months              2 hours per day

  3 months              6h+ hours per day

  2 months              12-14 hours per day - Total Focus 

The most fundamental mistake a startup can make is to 

start their Fundraising Madness when they are out of money.

Actually the true mistake is stopping the process

once they get a little bit of money in their pocket.

Taking a break from fundraising can have fatal consequences.

Therefore, heed Commandment #8 carefully:

VIII. Let There Be Cash

Project, monitor, and conserve cash and credit capability. Cash flow is the blood of a growth business. A company's ability to continue is determined daily, not at year end, by the contents of the checking account rather than the financial statement. Keeping money in hand or readily available for both planned and unplanned events is not only prudent but necessary in unsettled times. Cultivation of financial sources is an enduring duty.

Fundraising Madness is a condition that occurs when the 

CEO/founder realizes that they can't make payroll all of a sudden.

There may be no recovery from that level of madness.

It may be counter-intuitive, but
you must raise money when you don't need it,
so that you have it when you do need it.

Fundraising is a Relationship Sell.

Relationships take Time and Trust to develop,

Many founders are Product oriented

and this Relationship building may be uncomfortable territory,

but it needs to be done, 

so relax and enjoy becoming a Master of the Process.

We are what we repeatedly do,

Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit

(Aristotle)

Think of building a process that provides all the cash you will ever need,

if you just continue the Process.

Showing up out of the blue,

when you're broke,

is a sub-optimal relationship strategy.

2. The Fundraising Process takes Time to bear fruit,

but if we Iterate quickly and Learn quickly

we can see Results that are undreamt of by most startups.

3. The Process must be Written Down, and followed as Written.

Measure Results,
Continuously Improve the Process as you go.
(Do it, Document it, Delegate it.)
This is commandment #4:

IV. Write It Down

Prepare and work from a written plan that shows who does what, by when. Until committed to paper, intentions are seeds without soil, sails without wind, mere wishes that render communication within an organization inefficient, understanding uncertain, feedback inaccurate, and execution sporadic. Without execution, there is no payoff. The process of committing plans to paper is easy to postpone under the press of day-to-day events. In the absence of a document, fully coordinated usage of the resources of the business is unlikely. Each participant travels along a different route toward a destination of his or her own choosing. Decisions are made independently, without a map. Time is lost, energy squandered.

A Simple 10-step Fundraising System:

1. Initial Contact - Top of the Funnel

     Cold Call - have a written agenda, talking points, the sole purpose is to qualify the investor to see if they make investments now, in your industry, in your stage (friends and family, seed, series A, etc).  If they qualify as an investor, then you want permission to send them your exec. summary.  They might want you to send your pitch deck, but resist the urge. Stick with the Process. Send them the exec. summary. You'll get a lot of voicemail, so have a powerful scripted message that will make them want to call you back Now. Practice it. Be enthusiastic! DO NOT WING IT. 

2. Send Executive Summary

      Cover Executive Summary in PDF format attached.

      The cover email must be well thought out. 

                  See direct mail advertising principles.

      The purpose of the Executive Summary is to get investor to take next step.

       

3. Follow up Exec. Summary

       They contact you, or you contact them, and 

           they will be not interested (get reason) or want your Pitch Deck.

           Never send Pitch Deck unless requested and Exec. Summary sent first. 

4. Send Pitch Deck (PDF format)

        Before you send the pitch deck you want to know that they want it and that they are a qualified investor prospect. The best thing you can do in a relationship Process is to give the investor plenty of opportunities to disqualify themselves, to opt-out of the Process. This save you a lot of time and gives you greater productivity dealing with the ones who opt in.

5. Follow up Pitch Deck.

         The purpose of the pitch deck is to get a meeting with the investor.

The prospective investor will signal their interest, or not (they will no longer respond to your calls, email, etc, so just let them go. They are interested or not. Keep them in your database to send your Quarterly/Monthly Newsletter (Progress Update).

If you call, have a clear script. An email sent before your call. The only purpose for your call is to schedule a meeting as the next step.

They may barrage you with questions. This is good. Write the questions down. Answer best you can if on a phone call, but in any case respond to all questions in writing as soon as possible. This is an Absolute. Doing this establishes Trust and helps build the Relationship. You will get pretty much the same questions, so it will be easy to have a library of questions/answers so all you do is cut/paste to reply. Again: Write it Down.

6. The Pitch Meeting. See Pitch Anything. Follow the process. 

7. Due Diligence. Have the documents they want (online "data room"). Be completely open.
Reply to requests in writing.     

    This step takes so much longer than you ever think it will. Lawyers are involved.

8. Term Sheet.

    This step takes so much longer than you ever think it will. Lawyers are involved.

9. Closing Documents.

    This step takes so much longer than you ever think it will. Lawyers are involved.

10. Party. (Cash is in the bank)

   This is the bottom of your Fundraising Funnel.  Congratulations.  Now...

11. Repeat.
    Do not skip this step!

----------------------------------

Notes:

1. Delegate much of the process if possible, Administrative details such as scheduling and emailing, answering the phone, etc.

2. Start with google searches for each step to achieve massive learning in a short period of time. For example, there is a very standardized format for Pitch Decks and Executive Summary documents, so it is a waste of time and effort to figure it out from scratch. Investors want their communications in a standard format because it is faster for them to deal with. Distinguish yourself as a person who understands this and respects their time. Talk to them in the language that they want you to speak. Follow the rules, respect the Process.

3. The current status of each investor must be recorded in your CRM database. Measure your productivity by creating reports from this database.

4. You will be tempted to change the steps and the order of the steps, but resist the urge until you have Tested the results and know the change to be better. This is commandment #10:

X. Test

Anticipate incessant external change by continuously testing adopted business plans for their consistency with the realities of the world marketplace. The past will not come again. Neither isolation nor insulation from tomorrow is possible. The problems of the times are the opportunities of the times, as always.