Startup CEO - (Techstars) 2nd Edition by Matt Blumberg (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Not so unlike parents who are blessed by the birth of their first child, no founder or founders knows exactly what the ups and downs, successes and failures, will be like until they go from seed idea to running an actual startup company with customers, on-the-fly growth decisions, pivots, and scaling up ahead of them. It's a humbling experience, for every first-time entrepreneur. Unless someone is there to show you the way"--

Book Synopsis

You're only a startup CEO once. Do it well with Startup CEO, a "master class in building a business."
--Dick Costolo, Former CEO, Twitter

Being 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 exit

Startup CEO is the field guide every CEO needs throughout the growth of their company.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR STARTUP CEO

"One of the key principles of the Lean Startup movement is that entrepreneurship is management. In Startup CEO, Matt Blumberg provides a comprehensive guide to every facet of entrepreneurial management. An essential and practical guide for entrepreneurs everywhere."
--Eric Ries, author, The Lean Startup

"There's no silver bullet for building a great company. Startup CEO deciphers the challenging, complex, uncertain, and oftentimes lonely role of a first-time CEO without oversimplifying it."
--Ben Horowitz, cofounder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

"I've been on Matt's board for more than a decade, and I've watched him develop into one of the finest CEOs I've had the pleasure to work with. With Startup CEO, Matt allows other entrepreneurs to profit from his years of experience and emulate his remarkable example."
--Fred Wilson, cofounder, Union Square Ventures

"There is the one-in-a-million company that catches lightning in a bottle and grows like a weed without care and feeding. For the rest of us, there's Startup CEO, the how-to manual for getting there the old-fashioned way. This book will be your coach, mentor, and advisor in any situation you or your company are likely to encounter."
--David Rosenblatt, CEO, 1stdibs

"Startup CEO is the definitive book for any CEO--first time or otherwise--of a high-growth company. While dozens of books have been written about starting businesses, it's time for entrepreneurs to focus on scaling them. Matt shows them how."
--Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group

About the Author

Matt Blumberg founded Return Path in 1999, grew it to 500 employees and $100 million in revenues, and sold it to Validity in 2019. Matt is chair of Path Forward, a nonprofit that helps mothers and caregivers reenter the workforce. He is creating his next startup and writing a companion volume to Startup CEO.