The Ultimate Start-Up Guide

Most start-ups fail.

And they die remarkably young: The typical start-up lasts 20 months and burns through $1.3 million in financing before closing its doors.

So what’s the formula for success for those start-ups that make it through the early trials, leveraging their early success into either getting acquired or issuing an IPO (initial public offering)? What are the lessons that first-time entrepreneurs and employees need to know to navigate their way to success?

The Ultimate Start-Up Guide offers practical advice, insights, lessons, and best practices from the world of start-ups, including:
• Strategies for hiring and building your team, culture, and values.
• How to pitch your company, secure funding, and distribute equity.
• Best practices in launching your business.
• How venture capitalist investors think, evaluate new companies, and advise entrepreneurs.
• War stories and red flags from top VC partners and entrepreneurs.

Start-ups are a business model and culture of their own, changing the economic landscape as well as the way we live and work. The Ultimate Start-Up Guide offers an insider’s look at this world. It’s a fascinating read for anyone contemplating how to build or participate in a successful start-up.

“No matter what the level of your genius in thinking up new products and creating a start-up company, there are many things that you don’t know, which is the major point of this book. All of the facets of creating a business are covered, from dealing with angel investors and other venture capitalists to the slicing of the equity pie. This is a book that could be used in courses on entrepreneurship from community education to courses for university business majors. It is readable, and very little in the way of business knowledge is needed to understand it. Even people with no significant interest in creating a start-up can read it for enjoyment. Five out of five stars.”—charlesashbacherreviews.blogspot.com

“Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent understand the difficult truth: most start-ups fail. They also understand what it takes to succeed. This book imparts 25 years of insights, ideas from the top minds in VC, and war stories from CEOs that give any entrepreneur an edge.” —Maynard Webb, chairman of the board of Yahoo, former COO of eBay, and founder of the Webb Investment Network

“A must-read for any entrepreneur. Great advice from industry experts and fresh thinking from two of the brightest minds in marketing today.” —Jim Goetz, partner, Sequoia Capital
 Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent founded Crowded Ocean, Silicon Valley's top marketing firm for start-ups, in 2008. Hogan has more than 25 years of marketing experience, including roles as vice president of marketing at Oracle, Borland, Lucent, and VitalSigns Software. As Oracle's original creative director, he managed the global advertising, direct marketing, seminar/trade show, and creative departments. Hogan lives in Los Gatos, California.  Carol Broadbent was vice president of corporate marketing at Bay Networks, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Aspect Communications, and director of marketing at Sun Microsystems. In addition, she led marketing at two Kleiner Perkins-funded startups: vice president of marketing at Asera, and director of market development at GO Corporation. Broadbent lives in Menlo Park, California.