+353-1-416-8900REST OF WORLD
+44-20-3973-8888REST OF WORLD
1-917-300-0470EAST COAST U.S
1-800-526-8630U.S. (TOLL FREE)

Startup CEO. A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Business (Techstars). Edition No. 2

  • Book

  • 480 Pages
  • September 2020
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5842843

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xiii

About the Author xvii

Introduction xix

Chapter 1: The Importance of Authentic Leadership in Changing Times 1

Part One: Storytelling 11

Chapter 2: Dream the Possible Dream 13

Chapter 3: Defining and Testing the Story 21

Chapter 4: Telling the Story to Your Investors 31

Chapter 5: Telling the Story to Your Team 39

Chapter 6: Revising the Story 49

Chapter 7: Bringing the Story to Life 59

Part Two: Building the Company’s Human Capital 69

Chapter 8: Fielding a Great Team 71

Chapter 9: The CEO as Functional Supervisor 83

Chapter 10: Crafting Your Company’s Culture 89

Chapter 11: The Hiring Challenge 99

Chapter 12: Every Day in EveryWay,We Get a Little Better 113

Chapter 13: Compensation 125

Chapter 14: Promoting 133

Chapter 15: Rewarding: “It’s the Little Things” That Matter 141

Chapter 16: Managing Remote Offices and Employees 147

Chapter 17: Firing: When It’s Not Working 153

Part Three: Execution 161

Chapter 18: Creating a Company Operating System 163

Chapter 19: Creating Your Operating Plan and Setting Goals 167

Chapter 20: Making Sure There’s Enough Money in the Bank 177

Chapter 21: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Financing 185

Chapter 22: When and How to Raise Money 195

Chapter 23: Forecasting and Budgeting 201

Chapter 24: Collecting Data 209

Chapter 25: Managing in Tough Times 215

Chapter 26: Meeting Routines 223

Chapter 27: Driving Alignment 233

Chapter 28: Have You Learned Your Lesson? 239

Chapter 29: Going Global 247

Chapter 30: The Role of M&A 255

Chapter 31: Competition 265

Chapter 32: Failure 269

Part Four: Building and Leading a Board of Directors 277

Chapter 33: The Value of a Good Board 279

Chapter 34: Building Your Board 283

Chapter 35: Board Meeting Materials 293

Chapter 36: Running Effective Board Meetings 297

Chapter 37: Non-Board Meeting Time 305

Chapter 38: Decision Making and the Board 309

Chapter 39:Working with the Board on Your Compensation and Review 315

Chapter 40: Serving on Other Boards 321

Part Five: Managing Yourself So You Can Manage Others 329

Chapter 41: Creating a Personal Operating System 331

Chapter 42:Working with an Executive Assistant 339

Chapter 43:Working with a Coach 345

Chapter 44: The Importance of Peer Groups 351

Chapter 45: Staying Fresh 355

Chapter 46: Your Family 367

Chapter 47: Traveling 375

Chapter 48: Taking Stock of the Year 379

Part Six: Selling Your Company 385

Chapter 49: A Note on Exits 387

Chapter 50: Preparing Yourself for an Exit 391

Chapter 51: Preparing Your Company for an Exit 397

Chapter 52: The Sale Process 403

Chapter 53: Transition and Integration 415

Chapter 54: Thinking about Your Next Step 419

Conclusion 425

Bibliography 429

What’s Next? 433

Index 435

Authors

Matt Blumberg