The 7 secret keys to startup success What you need to know to win

An expert offers a comprehensive overview of how to achieve startup success. "This is not your uncle's or aunt's business book," writes startup veteran Muchow in this work, which, he promises, "breaks the mold by providing more of the essential, practical, legal, and business information that growing businesses need to succeed." He covers the basics of incorporating, dividing equity among partners, compensating workers, and raising capital while observing Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. He breaks down these basics under seven broad headings, from planning your startup and finding the right partners to carefully assessing early risks, giving due importance to intellectual property (convincingly described by the author as an essential key to startups), and dealing with workers and managing sales and marketing. Winningly, Muchow illustrates each of these discussions with fictionalized dramatizations--this is a business book with a novel's amount of dialogue, and here the author is playing to his strength. His scenarios very effectively bring the complexities of his main points to life. He also helps this along with charts and bullet points designed to make the huge amount of information he's dispensing more digestible. "Your startup's like a car," he writes. "You, the entrepreneur, are the driver, the shareholders are the passengers, and money built the car and fuels it." Basic nuts-and-bolts summations like this one run throughout the volume, very much enhancing the pervasive feeling of an experienced older colleague taking readers aside for confidential chats about routes to follow and pitfalls to avoid. Muchow opens his book by pointing out how vital startups and entrepreneurs have been to the American business world. He then expertly balances broader insights with useful, granular operational tactics on the organizational, legal, and ideological levels of a new company. A briskly written, valuable, and confident guide to gaining success in a startup business. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments Foreword Preface About the Author List of Characters   1. PLAN FOR SUCCESS Your Basic Startup Plan: Step-by-Step Find Partners For Early Funding Select an Experienced Lawyer to Avoid Razor Blades in the Soup Build a Solid Core Team Select the Right Business Entity and State for Registration Get Your Company's Paperwork in Order Use Non-Disclosure (NDA) and Non-Compete Agreements Protect Your Intellectual Property Create Personnel and Offering Documents Hire an Accountant and Minimize Tax Surprises Select the Best Ways to Compensate Employees Create a Board of Directors/Board of Advisors Do Extensive Market Research--Define What "It" Is Design a Simple Prototype, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Field Test It Examples of the Failure to Plan: Fire, Ready, Aim at the Cowboy Café   2. MANAGE YOUR STARTUP'S RISKS Big Risks in Sheep's Clothing What is Risk Management? Identify the Risk Evaluate the Risk Control the Risk Monitor, Rinse, and Repeat Some of the Most Common Startup Mistakes: "Piercing the Corporate Veil" and More Examples of Risks: Cold Fingers Gelato at The TOMBS   3. LOCK UP YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Intellectual Property and Ivanka Trump's Lawsuit The Four Basic Types of Intellectual Property (IP) Why IP Matters Trade Secrets Copyright and Fair Use--Charlie Chaplin's One Minute Result Trademarks--Oprah's O Magazine Win Patents--How Blogging Can Kill Your Patent Chances Business Issues and Strategies--The Patent Mine Field Strategy Contracting With the Government Examples of Intellectual Property Challenges: "I Lost my Intellectual Property and Can't Get Up!"   4. BE SMARTER ABOUT PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Partnership Agreements and Issues Hiring Prohibited Employment Practices and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Compliance--Avoiding Violations Employment Agreements and Compensation The "Employment at Will Doctrine" Terminating Employees and Others without Getting Sued Employee Handbook Examples of Employment Issues and Solutions: Do-si-do or Let 'em Go!     5. HOW TO SHAKE THE MONEY TREE -- LEGALLY "Honey, the SEC's Calling About Your Stock Offering." How Much Money Do You Need? Funding Sources: Self-Funding, Angels, Crowdfunding, and More The Funding Cycle Making the Investment Pitch: Teasers, Slide Deck, and Business Plan Valuing Your Company and Return on Investment (ROI) Get Inside the Investor's Head Investment Evaluator Legal Requirements for Offerings: SEC, Blue Sky Laws, and Jobs Act Good Money, Spider Web Money(tm), and Fishhook Money(tm) Examples of Funding Strategies in Confidential Transactions and How Criminals Launder Their Money   6. THE SMARTER ROAD TO MARKETINGAND SALES The Difference Between Marketing and Sales--Lessons from a Head of Lettuce What Makes a Good Product or Service? Customer Discovery--Listen, Don't Talk Test, Test, Test Consider Filing a Patent Application Marketing and Sales Strategy What Are you Selling--A Product, Service, or Both? Publicity Sales Programs, Advertising, and Tactics Avoiding Legal Liability Product and Service Promotions Government Sales--Don't Give Your Rights Away! Examples of Marketing Legal Issues     7. USE "MANAGEMENT ZEN" TO REDUCESTARTUP CHAOS Managing Yourself--Life Balance amid Startup Chaos Being an Entrepreneur--The Good, Bad, and the Ugly Management Zen(tm) Managing with Minimum Smart Management(tm) (MSM) The Five Core Startup Activities Leadership Managing Lawyers--Getting High Quality Services at Reasonable Prices "Methics"(tm)--Management Ethics Examples of Using Management Zen to Reduce Startup Chaos   CONCLUSION: CALL TO ACTION FOR A NATIONALECO-SYSTEM TO SUPPORT STARTUPS (NESS) The Problem: Thousands of Silos The Startup Grand Canyon Three Steps to Bake the Startup Cake   Appendices Notes Index Excerpted from The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success: What You Need to Know to Win by David J. Muchow All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.