A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs (Columbia Business School Publishing) - Hardcover

Griffin, Tren

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231184824 ISBN 13: 9780231184823

Publisher: Columbia Business School Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs shows how the insights of leading venture capitalists can teach readers to create a unique approach to building a successful business. Through profiles and interviews of figures such as Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitz, and Jenny Lee of GGV Capital, Tren Griffin draws out the fundamental lessons from their ideas and experiences. Entrepreneurs should learn from past successes but also be prepared to break new ground. While there are best practices, there is no single recipe they should follow. By better understanding the views and experiences of a wide range of successful venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, readers can discern which of many possible paths will lead to success.

With insight and verve, Griffin argues that innovation and best practices are discovered by the experimentation of entrepreneurs as they establish the evolutionary fitness of their business. The products and services created through this experimentation that have greater fitness survive, and less-fit products and services die. Entrepreneurs have always experimented when creating or altering a business. What is different today is the existence of modern tools and systems that allow experiments to be conducted more cheaply and rapidly than ever before. Griffin shows that listening to what the best venture capitalists have to say is invaluable for entrepreneurs. Their experiences, if studied carefully, teach bedrock methods and guiding principles for approaching business.

About this title

About the Author

Tren Griffin works at Microsoft. He writes the www.25iq.com blog and is active on Twitter (@TrenGriffin). He was formerly a partner at Eagle River, a private equity firm controlled by Craig McCaw with investments in telecommunications and startups. From 1999 to 2001 he was vice president of strategy at XO Communications.In 1994, Griffin was the fourth person to join Teledesic, a global broadband satellite communications startup, which raised over a billion dollars at a valuation of more than $3 billion. Griffin previously worked as a consultant in Australia and Korea. He is the author of six other books, including Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (Columbia, 2015).

Review

When I first came to Silicon Valley, I was struck by how much people teach and learn from one another. In this book, Tren continues that spirit by sharing his own learning from others―and explains how investment judgments and decisions are made in the world of tech start-ups. (Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz)

As an entrepreneur and investor, I have long enjoyed Tren’s famous ‘Twelve Lessons” posts over the years. Tren captures invaluable wisdom on entrepreneurship from every angle. Tren does not proclaim to have the ‘right answers,’ nor does he subscribe to a plan for the unforeseeable. Instead, he captures and analyzes the gems from a long list of enterprising minds that break new ground in their respective fields. (from the foreword by Scott Belsky)

The book is among a select few to categorize the key learnings of leading VCs. (Chris Goulakos)

This perceptive guide captures instrumental advice that serious entrepreneurs would do well to adapt. (Publishers Weekly)

This book is a treasure trove of wisdom that delivers a blueprint across the entrepreneurial spectrum. (Booklist)

A YourStory Top 10 Books of 2017 for Entrepreneurs. (YourStory)

The book is a testimony to the power of open startup ecosystems, where entrepreneurs and investors reinforce each other’s learnings and experiences. (YourStory)

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia Business School Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0231184824
• ISBN 13: 9780231184823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344