Startup Success - by Gordon Daugherty (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

You've got yourself a startup! But now where's the funding going to come from?

In this day and age, creating a startup seems to be an easy process. After some meetings with an equally passionate cofounder, you discover you have a creative idea, the outline of a business plan, and a willingness to spend nights and weekends doing really hard work. But most startup founders have never run a company--much less had to secure funding to reach crucial milestones. If you don't get the funding you need, you may either make progress at a snail's pace, or you may have to give up altogether.

With stakes this high, improving a startup founder's odds of fundraising successfully--even just a little--can make a huge difference in the outcome of a venture. In this informative and enlightening book, Gordon Daugherty demystifies the fundraising process that takes place during the early phases of a startup's evolution.

Every founder cares about the valuation they will be able to negotiate with investors, and anyone who has attempted fundraising has encountered numerous debates about the valuation they're asking for. Startup Success dedicates a whole chapter to negotiating valuation, which, in the end, involves a serious combination of art and science to execute effectively.

Daugherty's book serves as a valuable educational and planning tool for use before the fundraising campaign begins and a reference guide for interacting and negotiating with investors after things get underway. Startup Success is written in a logical sequence that follows the general life cycle of planning and executing a successful fundraising campaign. Actionable tips, tricks, and aha realizations will have readers dog-earing pages and highlighting passages for future reference. The author's own words tell it all: "I decided to write something different that best exploits the gray in my hair and the hard lessons I've learned." Any startup founder, advisor, or angel investor--regardless of their experience level--will come away with improved skills and an increased knowledge base.

Gordon Daugherty is a seasoned business executive, entrepreneur, startup advisor, and investor. He has made more than 200 investments in early-stage companies as a venture fund manager and angel investor, and he has been involved in raising more than $80 million in growth and venture capital.

Review Quotes

"Whether you're a first-time founder or have already raised millions from VCs, Startup Success is a book you want close by before hitting the fundraising trail! What makes this book really shine is Daugherty's pragmatic advice on the process of running a successful fundraising campaign."

--Andy O'Hara, Founder & CEO, Chiron Health

"Daugherty does an incredible job deconstructing an otherwise stressful and unfamiliar process."

--Yousef Kassim, Founder & CEO, Easy Expunctions

"Startup Success is so actionable that I immediately started applying the concepts as I read. Now I know not only exactly where I stand in the process, but also how much energy and focus I should spend at each stage."

--Ramon Berrios, CEO, Trend

"I meet lots of founders who don't fully understand fundraising strategy and best practices. They should read Startup Success before pitching VCs. One of Gordon's superpowers is explaining complex fundraising topics very clearly."

--Kelsi Kamin, Venture Capital Investor

"An entrepreneur will reference this book many times as they develop different lenses of their entrepreneurial journey."

--Lisa McComb, Founder & CEO, Rectify

"This book does an excellent job of taking all of Gordon's words of wisdom and communicating them in a way that is useful to any entrepreneur."

--David Zakariaie, Founder & CEO, Senseye

"Gordon has a way of explaining complex fundraising topics very clearly and in ways that are actionable."

--Gregg Alvarez

"As we move along the path towards a Series A, Gordon is giving incredibly concrete advice that we can actually act on. This is huge for us."

--Tony Nash