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Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups

Available at all major bookstores and online for digital reading devices

Most startups do not succeed. Those that do all have one thing in common: a collection of philosophies and strategies for winning in a complex and unforgiving marketplaces. Whether it’s implicit or explicit, every founder has their own “startup playbook.” They just haven’t revealed it—until now.

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The Pioneers

Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups

Entrepreneurs are pioneers. In creating new businesses, they venture out across the market-scape to discover and build new products and services. Like pioneers, these journeys are frequently long, lonely, and risky. But, also like pioneers, these journeys are essential for the growth of our society — to build new economies, new ecosystems of work and life.

 

This book offers lessons in pioneering from key entrepreneurs. Pioneers needed to know locations, weather, supply logistics, travel, and various technologies like maps, navigation, and transport. Entrepreneurs need to understand markets, industry transformations, finance, business operations, and various technologies involved in products, services, and modern business…

 

…We are all familiar with the heroic stories of entrepreneurs. These stories tell of easy, quick, or inevitable success. In reality, there are almost always massive challenges, delays, setbacks, risks, and uncertainties. Indeed, the entrepreneurs and pioneers have belief that their journeys will be successful; they would never have set out without that belief. But the journey is almost always hard.

 

This book brings the perspectives of entrepreneurs who have taken those journeys. They share key lessons from their journeys — in the hope that those who then set out on their own new travels will make new mistakes rather than their old ones. They also hope to make the journey somewhat less lonely by sharing their experiences.

 

— excerpts from Reid Hoffman’s Foreword

 

FOUNDERS


Chris Anderson

Founder:
Future Publishing
  CEO:
TED Talks
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Charles Best

Founder:
DonorsChoose.org
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Sara Blakely

Founder:
Spanx
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Steve Blank

Founder:
E.Piphany
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Matt Blumberg

Founder:
Return Path
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Rodney Brooks

Founder:
IROBOT
Heartland Robotics
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Jeff Bussgang

Founder:
Open Market
UPromise
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Steve Case

Founder:
America Online
Chairman & CEO:
Revolution LLC
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Marc Cenedella

Founder:
TheLadders
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Robin Chase

Founder:
Zipcar
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Chip Conley

Founder:
Joie de Vivre Hospitality
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Jeff Dachis

Founder:
Razorfish
The Dachis Group
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Michael Diamant

Founder:
SkipHop
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Ellen Diamant

Founder:
SkipHop
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Chris Dixon

Founder:
Siteadvisor
Founder Collective
Hunch
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Marc Ecko

Founder:
Marc Ecko Enterprises
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Kevin Efrusy

Founder:
IronPlanet
General Partner:
Accel
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Caterina Fake

Founder:
Flickr
Chairman:
Etsy
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Mitch Free

Founder:
MFG.com
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Lisa Gansky

Founder:
Ofoto
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Tom Gardner

Founder:
The Motley Fool
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Eileen Gittins

Founder:
Blurb
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Seth Goldman

Founder:
Honest Tea
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Joe Green

Founder:
Causes
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Scott Harrison

Founder:
Charity, Water
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Scott Heiferman

Founder:
I-traffic
Fotolog
Meetup
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Reid Hoffman

Founder:
Linkedin
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Jeffrey Hollender

Founder:
Seventh Generation
American Sustainable
Business Council
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Ben Horowitz

Founder:
Opsware
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Tony Hsieh

Founder:
Linkexchange
Venture Frogs
CEO:
Zappos
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Cyrus Massoumi

Founder:
ZocDoc
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Jim McCann

Founder:
1-800-Flowers.com
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Stephen Messer

Founder:
Linkshare
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Heidi Messer

Founder:
Linkshare
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Elon Musk

Founder:
PayPal
SpaceX
Tesla Motors
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Jacqueline Novogratz

Founder:
Acumen Fund
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Hosain Rahman

Founder:
Jawbone
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Adeo Ressi

Founder:
TheFunded.com
The Founder Institute
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Linda Rottenberg

Founder:
Endeavor Global
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Kevin Ryan

Founder:
Alleycorp
CEO:
Gilt Groupe
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Kirill Sheynkman

Founder:
Plumtree Software
Elastra Corporation
Managing Director:
RTP Ventures
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Jeff Stewart

Founder:
Mimeo
Urgent Career
Lenddo
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Jay Walker

Founder:
Walker Digital
Priceline
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About the author

David S. Kidder

David S. Kidder is an entrepreneur with a wide range of web-based application expertise focused on social-media, mobile, and digital advertising. David is the co-founder and CEO of Bionic, an enterprise social innovation platform. Prior to Bionic, David served as the co-founder and CEO of Clickable, an online advertising software as a service (acquired by Syncapse). Prior to Clickable, Kidder co-founded SmartRay Network, a mobile advertising pioneer (acquired by LifeMinders), and Net-X, a web-authoring platform (acquired by Target Vision). Kidder is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, and received ID Magazine’s International Design Award and Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008. David is an active angel investor through his fund, Alt Option Return, is a founding member of the The Acumen Fund One Percent Fund, and serves on the National Board of the Smithsonian. He is the creator and co-author of the two-time New York Times bestselling five book series, The Intellectual Devotional, published by Rodale. His latest book, The Startup Playbook, was published by Chronicle Books and released in January 2013. He lives outside Manhattan with his wife and three sons.

  1. “The world needs more entrepreneurs. By taking the hard part of building a business so seriously, this book should help more people get to the fun part—success. David Kidder brings both a writer’s mind and a startup veteran’s urgency to an entertaining and useful trip inside the minds of today’s most successful creators of organizations—both for profit and for purpose.”
    — David Kirkpatrick
    Founder, host, and CEO, Techonomy Media; author of The Facebook Effect
  2. “‘I wish I had this idea’ is my highest praise. It is truly unique. Kidder is one of the rare people who could pull this astounding volume of talent and wisdom together. This is driven by his generosity, judgment, and connectedness. The power of the content in this book is that it has been created by an experienced insider, not an intrigued outsider. This is David’s special mastery, and the book is a gift.”
    — Andreas Weigend
    Professor, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and Tsinghua University; former chief scientist, Amazon
  3. “From technological entrepreneurs to social entrepreneurs, The Startup Playbook features important tips from top American innovators that will change the way you think about your job, your business, and maybe even your industry.”
    — Alexis Maybank
    Cofounder and chief strategy officer, Gilt Groupe
  4. “David Kidder is a master at getting people to reveal themselves. These are all entrepreneurs I have heard from before, but David somehow got them to expose things about themselves—and to distill lessons from their experiences—that no one else has been able to do.”
    — Laurel Touby
    Founder, www.mediabistro.com
  5. “Bravo! David Kidder’s latest book is a gift to aspiring entrepreneurs. His interviews with our era’s most successful startup players reveal what we need to know about turning dreams into businesses that last. Readers will benefit from the Playbook’s practical advice and the inspiration in every story.”
    — Wenda Harris Millard
    President and COO, MediaLink; former co-CEO, Martha Stewart Living; former chief marketing officer, Yahoo
  6. “David has done it again! The Startup Playbook is a glorious mix of easily accessible, super-condensed information and elegantly distilled wisdom from some of the most successful disruptors of our generation. A great read full of everything you need to be inspired to start up your own business.”
    — Sunny Bates
    Founder, Sunny Bates Associates and Redthread
  7. “David Kidder writes from experience and passion about what it means to succeed from startup to successful enterprise. Whether old company or new, big or small, Kidder reminds us of the entrepreneurial spirit that can propel many great companies and nations.”
    — Beth Comstock
    Senior vice president and chief marketing officer, GE
  8. “In The Startup Playbook, David Kidder has distilled the challenges of entrepreneurship into a digestible treat that should be required reading for all who embark on the mission of starting their own company. As a veteran of multiple startups, I’m reminded that there are rarely straight paths and easy decisions. Rather, the road from startup to successful exits is long and bumpy, with unforeseen obstacles popping up all the time. The Startup Playbook is the how-to manual that summarizes lessons from many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and helps you navigate your own way.”
    — Alan B. Masarek
    Founder and CEO, Quickoffice
  9. “David Kidder is a passionate and gifted entrepreneur who has brought together an amazing set of entrepreneurs to share practical insights in an easy-to-digest and fun format. Great lessons everywhere in this book for anyone building a business.”
    — Tony Tjan
    Managing partner, Cue Ball Capital; author of Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck
  10. “Entrepreneurs create the present and the future while, in Newton’s language, ‘standing on the shoulders of giants.’ This book gives its audience the ability to stand on the shoulders of these giants and enter into their philosophical how and why. David’s own 7:1 concept of good actions over bad is revolutionary in and of itself.”
    — Martin Schoffstall
    Founder, PSI Net
  11. “The future of the world will be defined by people who run plays just like the ones in this playbook.”
    — Howard Lerman
    Cofounder, Yext
  12. “By shedding light on the insights of top entrepreneurial minds, David Kidder breaks down the secrets to startup success in simple and actionable terms. The diverse mix of entrepreneurs and the thoughtfully posed questions make for an engaging and inspiring read.”
    — Jennifer Fleiss
    Cofounder, Rent the Runway
  13. “For anyone contemplating, starting, or scaling a startup, this book is a masterpiece of wisdom from some of the greatest creators in the market today. This book can profoundly alter the decisions entrepreneurs make that determine the outcome of their dreams. Read and thrive.”
    — Jonathan Miller
    Former CEO, Digital Media Group; former chief digital officer, News Corp
  14. “The Startup Playbook is a roadmap for entrepreneurial success, sharing detailed insights into the techniques and experiences of startup hall of famers. David Kidder’s brilliant business guidebook is a must-have if you’re launching a new business or just thinking about it. Every corporate leader who cares about the future of business should read The Startup Playbook and use it to inspire and guide entrepreneurship in their organizations.”
    — Jack Myers
    Media ecologist, Media Advisory Group; author of Hooked Up
  15. “Is entrepreneurship in your blood? If yes, then this is your family album.”
    — Peter Thum
    Founder and CEO, Fonderie 47; founder, Ethos Water
  16. “David Kidder has curated, aggregated, and synthesized an opus for the entrepreneur—whether current or aspiring. The openness with which these great entrepreneurs shared their experiences and insights is an invaluable asset conveniently packaged by Kidder. The Startup Playbook is not some trendy tech book that captures the zeitgeist of the moment, but rather a timeless, actionable reference tool to be read and re-read and kept within reach.”
    — Terence Kawaja
    Founder and CEO, LUMA Partners
  17. “Kidder brilliantly synthesizes the hard- learned lessons of the Internet’s leading entrepreneurs. Think of this book as forty Harvard Business School case studies with the answer key included!”
    — Court Cunningham
    CEO, Yodel

BUY THE BOOK

The Startup Playbook is available at all major bookstores and digital devices.

Buy from:
Chronicle Books
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indie Bound

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