Startup Myths and Models

Startup Myths and Models PDF Author: Rizwan Virk
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231550871
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
Budding entrepreneurs face a challenging road. The path is not made any easier by all the clichés they hear about how to make a startup succeed—from platitudes and conventional wisdom to downright contradictions. This witty and wise guide to the dilemmas of entrepreneurship debunks widespread misconceptions about how the world of startups works and offers hard-earned advice for every step of the journey. Instead of startup myths—legends spun from a fantasy version of Silicon Valley—Rizwan Virk provides startup models—frameworks that help make thoughtful decisions about starting, growing, managing, and selling a business. Rather than dispensing simplistic rules, he mentors readers in the development of a mental toolkit for approaching challenges based on how startup markets evolve in real life. In snappy prose with savvy pop-culture and real-world examples, Virk recasts entrepreneurship as a grand adventure. He points out the pitfalls that appear along the way and offers insights into how to avoid them, sharing the secrets of founding a startup, raising money, hiring and firing, when to enter a market and when to exit, and how to value a company. Virk combines lessons learned the hard way during his twenty-five years of founding, investing in, and advising startups with reflections from well-known venture capitalists and experts. His candid advice makes Startup Myths and Models an ideal guide for those readers just embarking on the startup life and those looking for their next adventure.

Startup Myths and Models

Startup Myths and Models PDF Author: Rizwan Virk
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231550871
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book

Book Description
Budding entrepreneurs face a challenging road. The path is not made any easier by all the clichés they hear about how to make a startup succeed—from platitudes and conventional wisdom to downright contradictions. This witty and wise guide to the dilemmas of entrepreneurship debunks widespread misconceptions about how the world of startups works and offers hard-earned advice for every step of the journey. Instead of startup myths—legends spun from a fantasy version of Silicon Valley—Rizwan Virk provides startup models—frameworks that help make thoughtful decisions about starting, growing, managing, and selling a business. Rather than dispensing simplistic rules, he mentors readers in the development of a mental toolkit for approaching challenges based on how startup markets evolve in real life. In snappy prose with savvy pop-culture and real-world examples, Virk recasts entrepreneurship as a grand adventure. He points out the pitfalls that appear along the way and offers insights into how to avoid them, sharing the secrets of founding a startup, raising money, hiring and firing, when to enter a market and when to exit, and how to value a company. Virk combines lessons learned the hard way during his twenty-five years of founding, investing in, and advising startups with reflections from well-known venture capitalists and experts. His candid advice makes Startup Myths and Models an ideal guide for those readers just embarking on the startup life and those looking for their next adventure.

Startup Myths and Models

Startup Myths and Models PDF Author: Rizwan Virk
Publisher: Columbia Business School Publishing
ISBN: 9780231194532
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Budding entrepreneurs face a challenging road. The path is not made any easier by all the clichés they hear about how to make a startup succeed--from platitudes and conventional wisdom to downright contradictions. This witty and wise guide to the dilemmas of entrepreneurship debunks widespread misconceptions about how the world of startups works and offers hard-earned advice for every step of the journey. Instead of startup myths--legends spun from a fantasy version of Silicon Valley--Rizwan Virk provides startup models--frameworks that help make thoughtful decisions about starting, growing, managing, and selling a business. Rather than dispensing simplistic rules, he mentors readers in the development of a mental toolkit for approaching challenges based on how startup markets evolve in real life. In snappy prose with savvy pop-culture and real-world examples, Virk recasts entrepreneurship as a grand adventure. He points out the pitfalls that appear along the way and offers insights into how to avoid them, sharing the secrets of founding a startup, raising money, hiring and firing, when to enter a market and when to exit, and how to value a company. Virk combines lessons learned the hard way during his twenty-five years of founding, investing in, and advising startups with reflections from well-known venture capitalists and experts. His candid advice makes Startup Myths and Models an ideal guide for those readers just embarking on the startup life and those looking for their next adventure.

The Unicorn's Shadow

The Unicorn's Shadow PDF Author: Ethan Mollick
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1613630972
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
Bringing hard data to the way we think about entrepreneurial success, this bold call to action draws on the latest scientific evidence to dispel the most pervasive startup myths and light a path to entrepreneurship for those eclipsed by the hype. When you think of a successful entrepreneur, who comes to mind? Bill Gates? Mark Zuckerberg? Or maybe even Jesse Eisenberg, the man who played Zuckerberg in The Social Network? It may surprise you that most successful founders look very different from Zuckerberg or Gates. In fact, most startup origin stories are very different from the famous "unicorns" that have achieved valuations of over $1 billion, from Facebook to Google to Uber. In The Unicorn's Shadow: Combating the Dangerous Myths that Hold Back Startups, Founders, and Investors, Wharton School professor Ethan Mollick takes us to the forefront of an empirical revolution in entrepreneurship. New data and better research methods have overturned the conventional wisdom behind what a successful founder looks like, how they succeed, and how the startup ecosystem works. Among the issues he examines: Which founders are most likely to succeed?Where do the best startup ideas come from?What's the most foolproof way of securing the funding needed to take a company to the next level?Should your sales pitch really be something out of Hollywood?What's the best way to grow and scale your company and create a thriving culture that won't hinder expansion? Mollick argues that entrepreneurship is too important, both for society and for the individuals who start companies, to be eclipsed by the shadows of unicorns. He shows we can democratize entrepreneurship—but only by following an evidence-based approach that puts to rest the false narratives that surround it.

The Simulation Hypothesis

The Simulation Hypothesis PDF Author: Rizwan Virk
Publisher: Bayview Books, LLC
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The Simulation Hypothesis, by best-selling author, renowned MIT computer scientist and Silicon Valley video game designer Rizwan Virk, is the first serious book to explain one of the most daring and consequential theories of our time. Riz is the Executive Director of Play Labs @ MIT, a video game startup incubator at the MIT Game Lab. Drawing from research and concepts from computer science, artificial intelligence, video games, quantum physics, and referencing both speculative fiction and ancient eastern spiritual texts, Virk shows how all of these traditions come together to point to the idea that we may be inside a simulated reality like the Matrix. The Simulation Hypothesis is the idea that our physical reality, far from being a solid physical universe, is part of an increasingly sophisticated video game-like simulation, where we all have multiple lives, consisting of pixels with its own internal clock run by some giant Artificial Intelligence. Simulation theory explains some of the biggest mysteries of quantum and relativistic physics, such as quantum indeterminacy, parallel universes, and the integral nature of the speed of light. Recently, the idea that we may be living in a giant video game has received a lot of attention: “There’s a one in a billion chance we are not living in a simulation” -Elon Musk “I find it hard to argue we are not in a simulation.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson “We are living in computer generated reality.” -Philip K. Dick Video game technology has developed from basic arcade and text adventures to MMORPGs. Video game designer Riz Virk shows how these games may continue to evolve in the future, including virtual reality, augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence, and quantum computing. This book shows how this evolution could lead us to the point of being able to develop all encompassing virtual worlds like the Oasis in Ready Player One, or the simulated reality in the Matrix. While the idea sounds like science fiction, many scientists, engineers, and professors have given the Simulation Hypothesis serious consideration. Futurist Ray Kurzweil has popularized the idea of downloading our consciousness into a silicon based device, which would mean we are just digital information after all. Some, like Oxford lecturer Nick Bostrom, goes further and thinks we may in fact be artificially intelligent consciousness inside such a simulation already! But the Simulation Hypothesis is not just a modern idea. Philosophers like Plato have been telling us that we live in a “cave” and can only see shadows of the real world. Mystics of all traditions have long contended that we are living in some kind of “illusion “and that there are other realities which we can access with our minds. While even Judeo-Christian traditions have this idea, Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism make this idea part of their core tradition — that we are inside a dream world (“Maya” or illusion, or Vishnu’s Dream), and we have “multiple lives” playing different characters when one dies, continuing to gain experience and “level up” after completing certain challenges. Sounds a lot like a video game! Whether you are a computer scientist, a fan of science fiction like the Matrix movies, a video game enthusiast, or a spiritual seeker, The Simulation Hypothesis touches on all these areas, and you will never look at the world the same way again!

Startup Communities

Startup Communities PDF Author: Brad Feld
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118483316
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
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. Startup Communities documents the buzz, strategy, long-term perspective, and dynamics of building communities of entrepreneurs who can feed off of each other's talent, creativity, and support. Based on more than twenty years of Boulder-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist Brad Feld's experience in the field?as well as contributions from other innovative startup communities?this reliable resource skillfully explores what it takes to create an entrepreneurial community in any city, at any time. Along the way, it offers valuable insights into increasing the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by multiplying connections among entrepreneurs and mentors, improving access to entrepreneurial education, and much more. Details the four critical principles needed to form a sustainable startup community Perfect for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists seeking fresh ideas and new opportunities Written by Brad Feld, a thought-leader in this field who has been an early-stage investor and successful entrepreneur for more than twenty years Engaging and informative, this practical guide not only shows you how startup communities work, but it also shows you how to make them work anywhere in the world.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Scott A. Shane
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300150067
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
There are far more entrepreneurs than most people realize. But the failure rate of new businesses is disappointingly high, and the economic impact of most of them disappointingly low, suggesting that enthusiastic would-be entrepreneurs and their investors all too often operate under a false set of assumptions. This book shows that the reality of entrepreneurship is decidedly different from the myths that have come to surround it. Scott Shane, a leading expert in entrepreneurial activity in the United States and other countries, draws on the data from extensive research to provide accurate, useful information about who becomes an entrepreneur and why, how businesses are started, which factors lead to success, and which predict a likely failure. The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is an essential resource for everyone who has dreamed of starting a new business, for investors in start-ups, for policy makers attempting to facilitate the formation and survival of new businesses, and for researchers interested in the economic impact of entrepreneurial activity. Scott Shane offers research-based answers to these questions and many others: · Why do people start businesses? · What industries are popular for start-ups? · How many jobs do new businesses create? · How do entrepreneurs finance their start-ups? · What makes some locations and some countries more entrepreneurial than others? · What are the characteristics of the typical entrepreneur? · How well does the typical start-up perform? · What strategies contribute to the survival and profitability of new businesses over time?

Zen Entrepreneurship

Zen Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Rizwan Virk
Publisher: Bayview Books, LLC
ISBN: 0983056943
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
“Tales of Power meets the Peaceful Warrior... in Silicon Valley! It's entertaining, humble, insightful and valuable - not just to entrepreneurs, but to anyone looking to manifest their dreams and make a difference in the world.” —Foster Gamble, Creator and Host, Thrive: What on Earth Will It Take “You will come away with insight about yourself, guidance … and knowledge that you may not be able to acquire anywhere else save the mountaintops of the Himalayas.” —Bookreview.com Read Zen Entrepreneurship, the book that has inspired entrepreneurs and spiritual seekers worldwide! Based on a true story, this book is about succeeding in life while walking a spiritual path. Follow the travels of a young entrepreneur as he starts and grows a multi-million dollar business, only to discover that real success is tied to the hidden worlds and learn the secrets of being a Career Warrior. This book is not just for entrepreneurs, but for anyone who wants to find their work and place in life, who want to bring more integrity into their work and be more successful personally and financially. “Riz Virk brings the wisdom of ancient Eastern traditions into a purely Western setting. The result is an often hilarious but always insightful book that will change how you view career success and help you discover and walk your own unique path.” —Marc Allen, author of Visionary Business, CEO and co-founder of New World Library Zen Entrepreneurship will teach you the 14 hidden keys for success, including: how to use your work for spiritual growth how to achieve success using the Four Keys to Manifestation how to discover and transcend your Energetic Pattern, rather than letting it run you how to bring the magic and mystery of a treasure hunt into your career. how to find the 7 Clues that are pointing you to the person you were meant to be! How to utilize your dreams and synchronicity to serve as your guide How to find and utilize Places of Power, and Times of Power to be more successful How to manifest appropriately to propel you to financial and business success How to find and walk your own Warrior’s Path, the unique combination of lesson and contributions you are here for “Zen Entrepreneurship changed my life, it confirmed for me that 'clues' exist in the world around us and are powerful. I shared this book with every one of my clients from that point forward. Powerful. A must read... it reinforces that there is a bigger guide within us if we choose to listen” —Lorin Beller, author of From Entrepreneur to Big Fish: 7 Principles of Wild Success

Disciplined Entrepreneurship

Disciplined Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Bill Aulet
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118692284
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
24 Steps to Success! Disciplined Entrepreneurship will change the way you think about starting a company. Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren’t born with something special – they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply. You will learn: Why the “F” word – focus – is crucial to a startup’s success Common obstacles that entrepreneurs face – and how to overcome them How to use innovation to stand out in the crowd – it’s not just about technology Whether you’re a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, Disciplined Entrepreneurship gives you the tools you need to improve your odds of making a product people want. Author Bill Aulet is the managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship as well as a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. For more please visit http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/

The Myths of Innovation

The Myths of Innovation PDF Author: Scott Berkun
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1449399614
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
In this new paperback edition of the classic bestseller, you'll be taken on a hilarious, fast-paced ride through the history of ideas. Author Scott Berkun will show you how to transcend the false stories that many business experts, scientists, and much of pop culture foolishly use to guide their thinking about how ideas change the world. With four new chapters on putting the ideas in the book to work, updated references and over 50 corrections and improvements, now is the time to get past the myths, and change the world. You'll have fun while you learn: Where ideas come from The true history of history Why most people don't like ideas How great managers make ideas thrive The importance of problem finding The simple plan (new for paperback) Since its initial publication, this classic bestseller has been discussed on NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and at Yale University, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Google, Amazon.com, and other major media, corporations, and universities around the world. It has changed the way thousands of leaders and creators understand the world. Now in an updated and expanded paperback edition, it's a fantastic time to explore or rediscover this powerful view of the world of ideas. "Sets us free to try and change the world."--Guy Kawasaki, Author of Art of The Start "Small, simple, powerful: an innovative book about innovation."--Don Norman, author of Design of Everyday Things "Insightful, inspiring, evocative, and just plain fun to read. It's totally great."--John Seely Brown, Former Director, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) "Methodically and entertainingly dismantling the cliches that surround the process of innovation."--Scott Rosenberg, author of Dreaming in Code; cofounder of Salon.com "Will inspire you to come up with breakthrough ideas of your own."--Alan Cooper, Father of Visual Basic and author of The Inmates are Running the Asylum "Brimming with insights and historical examples, Berkun's book not only debunks widely held myths about innovation, it also points the ways toward making your new ideas stick."--Tom Kelley, GM, IDEO; author of The Ten Faces of Innovation

The Corporate Startup

The Corporate Startup PDF Author: Tendayi Viki
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789462763074
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A key reading for leaders that outlines how to effectively innovate for the future and boost growth, while running the core business. - Alex Osterwalder, Co-author of Business Model Generation. Winner of the 2018 CMI Management Book of the Year Award for Innovation and Entrepeneurship The Corporate Startup is a practical guide for established companies that aspire to develop and sustain their innovation capabilities. * The world around us is changing rapidly. There is now more pressure on established companies to innovate. * The challenge most companies face is how to develop new products for new markets, while managing their core business at the same time. * The principles and practices outlined in this book provide companies with a blueprint of how to manage innovation while they execute on their core business. * The Corporate Startup provides frameworks, visualizations, templates, tools and methods that can be easily applied to develop new products and business models. This book helps organisations of all sizes to manage innovation. This playbook uses illustrated step-by- step guides to lead the reader through the processes to create an ecosystem that nurtures innovation at every level in a business. - Jury CMI Management Book of the Year. Big companies need to innovate or die. The question is how. Companies need a playbook; a process by which they can start the process of transforming their organizations into innovation engines. The Corporate Startup is that playbook. It provides a proven methodology --applying Lean Startup principles and more-- for building a culture of innovation. - Ben Yoskovitz, Co-Author of Lean Analytics and Founding Partner at Highline BETA.