In If You Build It Will They Come, business professor and strategy consultant Rob Adams shows you how to make sure you hit your target market before you spend a lot of money. He shows you the fast, systematic and proven approach of performing Market Validation in advance of making a large product investment.Adams outlines a simple and effective market validation and testing strategy that is proven, giving entrepreneurs and managers the ability to dramatically improve the prospect of product success. He explains how to quickly gather information on competitors, directly interview members of your target market, and figure out what the market really wants to buy, versus what customers say they want.The steps to quickly understanding the viability of your market Where to go to gather the information needed to hit the market requirements How to follow through with the right product launched in the right way Adams cuts through the fancy terms and expensive market research that gives lots of data but no real product oriented information about usage, pricing, features and competitive forces. In the end you'll produce results on your first release of a far more mature product, shipped in a faster timeframe with features customers will actually use. This book is for anyone involved with designing, developing and launching new products. Its examples and advice cover everything from the fledgling start-up that needs their first product to work just to survive to the successful Fortune Class company establishing new worldwide markets. Examples cut across all major industrial sectors including consumer, retail, manufacturing, technology, life sciences and services. This book offers the step-based guidance you need to make sure failure is not an option.

    Why did this happen? Based on extensive research, including transcripts of FBI-wiretap conversations, Fallen Angel is an insightful account of a remarkable man and the extraordinary events surrounding him: this is the real story of Rajat Gupta, an orphaned immigrant from India who managed to reach dizzying heights in the US corporate sector. Although the verdict is out, the mystery remains: several jury members were in tears after delivering the verdict, and nearly everyone who has known Gupta believes he is innocent so what really happened? With its almost thriller-like cast of real-life characters, Fallen Angel is a page-turner that explores the complex layers of this human drama.

    Second only to the sewing machine.'So writes entrepreneur David Hieatt who has based his entire marketing strategy around a simple email newsletter. And it's worked. His company has grown into a creative global jeans business with a fiercely loyal community. Now, David shares his insight, strategy and methodology so you can do the same. In Do Open you will discover:Why giving is your secret to successHow to get people's attention when time is your biggest competitorWhy creating beats sharingHow a small team can winBuild community. Build your brand. Build long-term growth. Discover why the humble newsletter is pure and utter gold.

    Greenburger risked it all to buy three older loft buildings at 50 West Street near the current 9/11 Memorial. He ultimately dreamed of one day erecting a magnificent skyscraper in their place. But disaster struck in 2008, just as his plans were coming together, and development came to a screeching halt. The global financial crisis had made the land practically worthless and it would be years before he could get back on track, but he refused to give up on his dream.Today, 50 West is a striking 780-foot skyscraper with curved glass windows that has become an iconic feature on the city skyline—but it took much more than a financial investment to get there. It required Greenburger to do what he does best—take huge risks at every turn.During his parallel careers, Francis J. Greenburger has made publishing and real-estate history. Whether risking the reputation of his agency for the super -star authors of tomorrow, such as James Patterson to Dan Brown, or pioneering the New York co-op market by taking “hopeless” properties and turning them into prized homes, he has successfully navigated the worlds of business, politics, and social change to become the quintessential American entrepreneur.A math and business prodigy who started working for his father at the age of 12. After a stop–and-start academic career, he voluntarily left one of the most elite and academically distinguished New York City high schools and started his adult life at 15. Greenburger has made it his life’s work to find value where others never thought to look, and his keen instincts and innovative strategies have taken him from a high-school "dropout" to a well-educated self-made billionaire.Francis has mastered the "risk game." Now, with Rebecca Paley’s gripping prose, he takes us behind the scenes in Risk Game and reveals firsthand how he has become a self-made force in the competitive world of New York real estate—and a champion for nonprofit organizations in the fields of art, education, and, most recently, social and criminal justice.

    The Answer The good news is you have more opportunity today to earn income in your spare time than ever before. And you don’t need a killer new business idea or millions of dollars in startup capital to do it.The good news is there isn't a shortage of customers. They're out there!This book will share specifics on how to increase your earning power–on your own time, on your own terms, and without getting another job. We’ll look at real-life examples of people just like you making it happen.I’m going to arm you with dozens of income-generating ideas that don’t require a ton of time or money to get started. And spoiler alert: there are no get-rich-quick schemes inside. Instead, you’ll learn proven strategies for tapping into the growing peer-to-peer economy to supplement your income, diversify your revenue sources, and reduce your reliance on your day job for your livelihood. Go Where the Cash Is Already Flowing Buy Buttons focuses on marketplaces that already exist, where you can put your expertise, time, and assets up for sale or rent. There are hundreds of platforms that you can add your “buy buttons” to.You don’t have to build a customer base from scratch, design a website, or even worry about payment processing. Each platform already has an eager audience of buyers looking for what you have to sell.Not sure what to sell? In the 300+ platforms featured inside, you're bound to find an idea or two that's a fit.These platforms are the “gateway drugs” of entrepreneurship. They’re easy to get started on, to get the high from your first sale, and to keep coming back for more. Does It Really Work? I’ve used the same "buy buttons" marketplace strategy over and over again for the last 15 years as an entrepreneur. Even more exciting, thousands of SideHustleNation.com readers and Side Hustle Show listeners just like you are already seeing results by implementing the strategies in this book.The common thread is they set up their businesses on pre-existing platforms that made it easy for buyers to find them and spend money with them. This book will show you exactly where and how to set up your “buy buttons” to generate hundreds or thousands of dollars a month in side income.

    His account of his rise from a self-described below-average student, to becoming a poster boy for the ambitious, successful young entrepreneur, to nearly destroying himself in the process is the subject of A Practical Way to Get Rich . . . and Die Trying. Roa's twenty-year-long journey from being dead-broke to wealth he never imagined is an absurd and often comical story of talent, luck, risk, rapidly changing technology, larger-than-life personalities, sex, gambling, and excessive alcohol and drug consumption. Roa's intention for his memoir is not to present a glamorous rags-to-riches saga, but, instead, to serve as a cautionary tale of the toll that entrepreneurship can take on ambitious young people unprepared for the physical and mental costs that "making it" can take. Those pitfalls eventually took their toll on Roa, who, in the face of round-the-clock pressure and risk taking, ultimately suffered a psychotic breakdown from which he almost didn't walk away. As he healed in the aftermath, he began to question the ethos that had brought him to that dark place, and he learned from other entrepreneurs that they, too, had experienced similar debilitating issues that they felt unable to admit, let alone discuss.A Practical Way to Get Rich . . . and Die Trying is a compelling memoir and the foundation for a campaign of honesty and vulnerability in an industry that currently allows neither. Roa aims to be the bridge to helping young leaders confront the mental health issues and abuse that too often accompany the tech startup that so many have embraced as their salvation for their future.

    Those who hunt Rabbits are rarely able to rope in Elephants. Many organizations, even those that may have a brilliant start, falter in their attempts to achieve transformational growth in their later phases. In The Elephant Catchers, Subroto Bagchi distils his years of on-the-ground learning to explore why this happens and what such organizations and their people must do to climb to the next level and beyond. Through a combination of engaging anecdotes from his experiences as co-founder and subsequently Chairman of Mindtree Ltd and insightful stories from our everyday world, Bagchi demonstrates a crucial point: Organizations with real ambition to get to the top need to embrace the idea of scale and then ensure that it systematically pervades every aspect of its functioning. In doing this, he leads you to evaluate: Is your organization's infrastructure designed to evolve and ultimately mimic the simultaneity of a living organism? Are you constantly nurturing and renewing your brand identity or letting it stagnate and decay? Does your sales force have as many hunters as it has farmers or is it dominated by a grizzly who just waits for the salmon to land in its mouth? In a fiercely competitive environment, are you really stepping 'out of the box' and learning from unusual sources? Are leaders in your organization truly building capacity or merely solving problems?Practical advice on real issues, from how to deal with consultants to the question of succession, words of caution on strategy traps and M&A's and invaluable insights into a whole range of growth-related issues - The Elephant Catchers has it all. Engaging, wise and thoroughly accessible, this book is a must-read for everyone in every organization seeking breakout success.

    Flip Your Future is for anyone wanting to break free from the nine to five and live the life of their dreams. Whether you're new or experienced in real estate investing, Flip Your Future will teach you everything you need to know about flipping houses to ensure maximum profitability—and security for your future.

    Renowned tech investor and start-up guru Brad Feld lights YOU on fire with this insider's book that will teach you how to launch, fund and run your own company. If you're already an entrepreneur or have always dreamed of being one, douse yourself in “Feld Thoughts” and catch the spark. You'll be burning, entrepreneur, with this e-book!. Brad's blog is a backstage pass to the 24/7 rock show that is tech startups. It is a master class in startup investing for givers and takers of funds. It is a rolling critique of tech products vast and simple (with enough edge to make the most scathing restaurant critic in Manhattan blush). And it is the journal of a peripatetic marathoner who still believes he will crack the four-hour mark someday. From such Feld Thoughts, we have constructed “The Burning Entrepreneur,” the e-book on startups that you would take to a desert island if it had electricity, a decent Internet connection and angel investors. “The Burning Entrepreneur” illuminates the actions and attitudes required to launch, fund and ignite your startup. Brad Feld is on fire. Find out what happens when you stand too close. TABLE OF CONTENTS - Introduction - Be on Fire - Be In Love With Your Business - Don't Be in the 99% - Ignorance Is Success - Meet the New Boss, NOT the Same as the Old Boss - Hire the Right People - It's the Product, Stupid! - Learning to Program: A Case Study - I Don't Hate Marketing: Neither Should You - OK, It's Really the Money, Stupid - Keeping Your You-Know-What Together - Burning Examples - Conclusion - Recommended Books for Burning Entrepreneurs GREAT EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK It was during that car ride that my dad hit me with words that would prove to be fundamental for me: “If you aren’t standing on the edge you are taking up too much space.” Thirty years later that line continues to be a defining characteristic for how I live my life. I’m constantly pushing, looking for the edge of whatever I do. (pg 14) Over time, I’ve learned that none of the short-term moves in the stock market matter at all in my life. It’s occasionally entertaining to turn on CNBC and see my friend Paul Kedrosky in the octobox telling all the other people that they don’t actually understand macro-economics, but it’s no different than watching McEnroe when he’s announcing a Nadal–Federer match. It’s just sport. (pg 33) I don’t create products anymore (I invest in companies that create them), but I’m a great alpha tester. I’ve always been good at this for some reason — bugs just find me. While my UX design skills are merely adequate, I’ve got a great feel for how to simplify things and make them cleaner. (pg 58) If you are someone who spends 30 minutes or more a day “organizing yourself,” I encourage you to step back and think about what you could change and how that might shift you from focusing on organizing to working toward outcomes. It’s liberating. (pg 103) ...buy a copy to read more!

    Barbara S. Peterson has been reporting on JetBlue since the “Jet who?” days when few outsiders believed in the company. Drawing on exclusive interviews with more than seventy-five insiders, from mechanics on the tarmac to the CEO, she weaves together a dynamic story of how JetBlue has blended outstanding customer service, inspirational leadership, savvy marketing, and disciplined financial management to come out on top. “It’s fun to read about simple ideas that change the way we do things . . . and it’s always fun to watch the whoosh of good ideas hit the brick walls of habit and bureaucracy. . . .The smart, fast, little guy wins!” —Los Angeles Times “A quick, breezy read studded with mini-profiles, snippets of aviation history and amusing anecdotes.” —The Wall Street Journal “An engaging peek into the open cockpits of the airline industry, its foibles and pitfalls, written by someone who knows the industry, yet still loves to fly. This book is the chronicle of one little airline that could.” —Book Page “Peterson moves beyond personalities to detail how Neeleman crafted more of a branded travel experience than an airline.” —BusinessWeek “[Peterson] gets the inside scoop on JetBlue’s quirky corporate culture and Neeleman’s fresh approach to an antiquated business model.” —Advertising Age

    This guide provides a quick reference to all of the key topics around early-stage startup valuation and provides step-by-step examples for several valuation methods. In more detail, this Founder’s Pocket Guide helps startup founders learn: What a startup valuation is and when you need to start worrying about it. Key terms and definitions associated with valuation, such as pre-money, post-money, and dilution. How investors view the valuation task, and what their expectations are for early-stage companies. How the valuation fits with your target raise amount and resulting founder equity ownership. How to do the simple math for calculating valuation percentages. How to estimate your company valuation using several accepted methods. What accounting valuation methods are and why they are not well suited for early-stage startups.

    The entrepreneur shuns the comfort of a cushy corporate job and a seven-figure salary to set sail on unchartered waters with a single-minded zeal and only an idea as an anchor. But it is this idea and passion that makes all the difference and catapults him into a world of infinite possibilities.The Game Changers brings to you 20 success stories of IITians who went on to live the big dream. These include: Suhas Patil, Vijay Kumar, Vinod Gupta, Sam Dalal, Sridhar Mitta, Arjun Malhotra, Kiran Seth, Prabhakant Sinha, Ranbir Singh Gupta, Bikram Dasgupta, Praful Kulkarni, Sunil Gaitonde, Anand Deshpande, Arvind Kejriwal, Harish Hande, Anuradha Acharya, Venkata Subramanian, Bikash Barai, Vikram Kumar, and Krishna Mehra.With a Foreword by Dr Duvvuri Subbarao, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and an Introduction by Dr Damodar Acharya, Director, IIT Kharagpur, this book marks sixty golden years of India’s finest institute. Come, be a part of their journey, get inspired to dream, and make your own story.

    Now you can study at the office, on a plane or even in your car with RMC’s portable and extremely valuable Hot Topics PMP® Exam Flashcards—in hard copy or audio CD format. Over 300 of the most important and difficult to recall PMP® exam-related terms and concepts are now available for study as you drive, fly or take your lunch break. Order them both! This product is aligned with the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition (2005).

    They're burning through cash, sales have stalled, and investors are nowhere to be found. Welcome to the reality of the new tech boom. Sure, it has produced its glittering share of billion-dollar "exits." But for the vast majority of startups life is nasty, brutish, and short on glamour. NO EXIT explores the feverish world of company founders who are desperately trying to keep their dream afloat. It’s a harrowing and hilarious look at the Silicon Valley no one sees. This is an extended version of a story that appears in the May 2014 issue of WIRED magazine.

    With fresh insights and a penetrating eye, New York Times reporter Constance L. Hays examines a century of Coca-Cola history through deft portraits of the charismatic, driven men who used luck, spin, and the open door of enterprise to turn a beverage with no nutritional value into a remedy, a refreshment, and an international object of consumer desire. The rise of Coke is also a catalog of carbonation, soda fountains, dynastic bottling businesses, global expansion, and outsize promotional campaigns, not all of which succeeded. By examining relationships at every level of the company, Hays reveals the psyche of a great American corporation–and also tells a larger story about business and this nation’s culture.