Disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics

A hands-on, practical roadmap to get from great idea to successful company In Disciplined Entrepreneurship: Startup Tactics, renowned entrepreneur and Executive Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship Paul Cheek delivers an actionable field guide to transforming your one great idea into a functional, funded, and staffed startup. Building on the ideas presented in the bestselling Disciplined Entrepreneurship, the author delivers a startlingly complete and comprehensive set of solutions you can implement immediately to advance your company to its next stage of growth. This is not a theoretical book. You’ll find ground-level, down-and-dirty entrepreneurial tactics—like how to conduct advanced primary market research, market and sell to your first customers, and take a scrappy approach to building your first products—that keep your firm growing. These tactics maximize your impact with limited resources. You’ll also discover: Effective marketing tactics specific to early startups that go beyond cookie-cutter digital MarTech solutions Tactics for designing and testing your product concepts yourself before investing limited resources in developing a fully functional product Methods for equity distribution that minimize conflict and maximize investor return An invaluable resource for founders and entrepreneurs, Disciplined Entrepreneurship: Startup Tactics will also benefit any professional working at an early-stage startup or launching new products looking for concrete solutions to the most common and difficult problems faced by young companies and the people who work in them.

Foreword xv Acknowledgments xvii Introduction to Tactics 1 Stage 1 Foundations 24 Tactic 1 Goals: Operational Goals and KPIs—Charting the Course to Major Milestones 27 Tactic 2 Systems: Startup Tooling and Systems 39 Stage 2 Market Testing 48 Tactic 3 Market Research: Advanced Primary and Secondary Market Research— Quantifying Qualitative Research 51 Tactic 4 Assets: Developing Startup Visual Assets 77 Tactic 5 Marketing: Proving Persona Assumptions with Digital Advertising 91 Tactic 6 Sales: Early Customer Demand Generation 107 Stage 3 Product Development 120 Tactic 7 Product Roadmap: Building Your Product’s Roadmap 123 Tactic 8 Design: Minimum Viable Business Product Design 129 Tactic 9 User Testing: Validating the Product Actually Works 143 Tactic 10 Engineering: Transitioning from Product Design to Development 161 Stage 4 Resource Acquisition 174 Tactic 11 Legal: Incorporation and Legal Documents for Your Startup 177 Tactic 12 Finance: Path to Greatness—Building the Financial Model and Setting Up the Piggy Bank 191 Tactic 13 Pitch Deck Design: Pitch Decks for Startups 201 Tactic 14 Fundraising: Executing Your Venture’s Fundraising Plan 213 Tactic 15 Hiring: Finding and Onboarding Your First Ten Employees 235 Next Steps 251 Educator Materials 261 Index 263