[The third chapter of Radical Entrepreneurship, and the last one for this week while I go back to rambling per usual.]
Before we dive into the specifics, letís first take a look at who this book is meant for, the broad areas it covers, and how you can best use it to generate maximum results.
1.1. Should I Read This Book?
Perhaps you have an existing business that youíre looking to kick into hyper-growth. Perhaps youíve been tossing around a great startup idea, but havenít actually launched into it yet. Or perhaps you simply know you want to start a company, but arenít yet sure exactly what that company will be.
In any of those cases, youíll love Radical Entrepreneurship; over several hundred pages, Iíll share with you absolutely everything you need to find ideas, turn those ideas into companies, and then grow those companies extremely quickly and effectively.
At least three other groups of people can benefit from this book as well.
First are the heads of nonprofit organizations, or anyone thinking of starting a nonprofit. Not only do the guerilla tactics I present for building successful companies apply to nonprofits, but the results-driven organizations the tactics create also make fundraising vastly easier ñ donors give money to organizations they believe can really get things done.
Additionally, many of the ideas in this book also apply to people who work for companies rather than start them. An entrepreneurial approach to your job can make you a more effective employee, and can help you reshape your company from the inside ñ two great ways to quickly climb the corporate ladder. Much of the information presented can also make finding a new job much easier, should you want or need to move on from your current post.
Finally, students of business will also benefit greatly from Radical Entrepreneurship. Learning these ideas ñ really learning them ñ then filing them away, will arm you to launch into action when youíre ready. But, just because youíre still in school, donít think you canít get down to business! I sold my first company while a sophomore in college, and sold the second by the time I graduated. And Iíve seen many other students achieve similar business success while in school. Hereís your chance to make ëbecoming a young mogulí your extracurricular activity.
1.2. But Donít Just Read This Book!
A recent study of business book buyers showed that about half of the buyers never actually read the books they bought. Of those that did, fewer than 10% then actually put the information they learned to work in their own companies. In other words, 95% of the people who buy business books are completely wasting their time and money.
I hope thatís not you. Because, while this book makes for reasonably entertaining reading, it only becomes truly valuable when you actually use the contents, when you figure out how to put them to work in starting and growing companies.
To really take advantage of this book, Iíd suggest reading it with a pen and notepad by your side, and using them often. If something makes a lot of sense, spurs specific to-do ideas, or launches you into a fit of brainstorming brilliance, write it down. When youíre done reading, youíll then be ready to jump into action.
Additionally, bundled with this book is a series of chapter-by-chapter checklists that, combined with your own notes, should help you actually put all of the ideas to work, step by step. The checklists may not make much sense until you read the associated chapters, and as most chapters depend on similar and interrelated ideas in other chapters, Iíd recommend you read through the entire book before launching into action.
When youíre ready to implement, you can use the index or table of contents to go back and review specifics things youíd like to think through again.
Finally, a few months down the road, once youíve had a chance to actually try out some of the ideas the book contains, Iíd also recommend re-reading the entire book; at that point, youíll likely pick up all kinds of things you didnít the first time through.
1.3. Telling You What Iíll Be Telling You
As you may have noticed, Radical Entrepreneurship is fairly long. Fortunately, itís also structured rather logically, with each chapter reflecting a major aspect of building a successful company. Hereís a quick overview of what youíll be learning along the way:
Next up, in Chapter 2: Itís Who You Know, I talk about the extreme importance of building a large and active contact network. The chapter covers some of the very best ways to meet people, build relationships with them, and then leverage those relationships throughout the process of building a company.
As the quality of your contacts plays a huge part in determining your effectiveness in every other aspect of starting a company, learning to network well is a great place to start.
In Chapter 3: Whatís the Big Idea?, I cover the logical first step of starting a company: deciding what kind of company youíre going to start. I talk through the different kinds of companies, with some of the advantages and disadvantages of each, before moving on to discuss ways to generate specific company ideas – from combining or improving existing ideas, to generating paradigm-shifting ones from scratch.
In most cases, you canít ñ and shouldnít want to ñ go it alone. So, in Chapter 4: Loading the Bus, I talk about building your team. First and foremost, youíll need to bring in some other executives equally committed to growing your company.
Youíll also want to put together a board of directors, and a board of advisors. And, over time, youíll likely hire in increasing numbers of employees to handle your companyís growth.
Your decisions while building a team can make or break your company, and so Iíll focus particularly on how to recognize and recruit the right people.
After that, in Chapter 5: Getting Down to Business, I walk through the (admittedly, often not terribly exciting) process of laying all the infrastructure groundwork for your new company. From decisions about office space, to building a team of outside service providers (such as lawyers and accountants), itís all here, with lots of guerilla tips for maximizing the benefits gained from each.
Follow the steps in this chapter, and youíll have a real company. Then what?
Ah, yes, that pesky empty bank account. Time for Chapter 6: Show Me the Money, in which Iíll walk you through the full range of financing possibilities, sharing direct experience, and exploring how each financing route has changed post ënew economyí bubble.
Iíll also drill into the process of writing a business plan, explain why most of what youíll find in books on writing business plans is hopelessly outdated or total bullshit, and help you pull together a document that not only helps raise you money, but also clarifies exactly where youíll be taking the business, and how youíll be getting there.
Right. So now youíve got the colleagues, the corporation, and the cash. Nothing left but to get down to actually doing business. Chapter 7: One Foot after Another, shares my tactics for making that happen. Youíll learn about using a top-down, strategy-driven approach to determine what need be done, then delegate and hands-off manage those tasks to completion.
Iíll also talk about the role of honesty and over-communication ñ two things that will make running your company vastly easier (ironically, even more so during rough patches than in smooth ones).
And, finally, I walk through the various stages of company evolution, discussing how compa
nies change as they grow, and how your approach to running them has to change in response.
Excellent. The companyís off to a great start, and growing quickly. But how could it grow even faster? Almost certainly, the limiting factor is the number and quality of your customers. So in Chapter 8: Building the Cause, I talk about the first half of finding customers, the part that involves reaching large numbers of potential customers at once, and is often called marketing, building a brand, or evangelizing. Whatever the name, this is the first step in building and retaining a rabidly loyal customer base.
Since this book is about guerilla tactics, Iíll focus on lot on low- or no-cost approaches in particular that will bring customers beating a path to your door.
Of course, once they knock, it may still take a bit of work to get them to step inside. In Chapter 9: Selling the Dream, I talk through the one-on-one aspects of customer acquisition, the process of getting them to sign on the line that is dotted.
If youíre a natural salesman, youíll take away tips that will hone your game; if you hate the prospect of pushing to close, Iíll also share a number of win-win strategies that will make selling (a key part of any CEOís job) much less painful.
Speaking of the CEOís job, Chapter 10: Itís Good to be the King, goes into greater detail about what that job actually is, before launching into a rather extended laundry list of how to do it more effectively ñ from managing time better and taking control of email, to the ins and outs of business travel and the importance of buying good shoes (really!).
Taken together, all of this should make you as effective as you possibly can be, getting the most done with the least possible time and stress.
That leads me to the sister chapter, Chapter 11: Enjoying the Ride, which delves into the importance of maintaining your sanity (or, what little of it you currently possess) throughout the startup process, by building a rich, balanced and fulfilling life that doesnít entail you sleeping under your desk for the next five years (which, sadly, Iíve seen done),
With all the previous information under your belt, youíll be growing a company that will soon have you, too, on the pages of Forbes and the Wall St. Journal. Then what?
Given my own experience, and what Iíve seen amongst successful entrepreneur friends, youíll be gut-hooked by the absolute fun that building companies can be. And, frankly, the joy is in the starting, the making something from nothing, the cooking from scratch. So, in Chapter 12: Rinse & Repeat, I discuss exit strategies ñ how and when to cash in your chips.
Normally, that takes you back to the very beginning, as you go through all the same steps again in building your next company, though this time with the good judgment gained from your experience, bad judgment, and the words of wisdom in this book.
As my reprinting the first twelve chapters a second time to reflect that fact likely wonít help you much, instead, in Chapter 13: Last Call, Iíll bring things to a close, summarizing all thatís come before, and ñ for good measure ñ throwing in some verse by my most favorite poet, Dr. Seuss.
Thatís pretty much it. Go to it.