Hungry Start-up Strategy : Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision

After years of working with startups Peter Cohan discovered that, contrary to the conventional wisdom entrepreneurs start companies to feed their hunger to create the world they want to live in--not to maximize shareholder value or create a fortune for financiers. Based on first-hand work and research with hundreds of start-ups, Peter Cohan has created a strategy handbook to allow entrepreneurs to start small and finish big. He emphasizes that strategy for start-ups is always short-term strategy--often with a six-month window or less. By keeping focus on the short-term, entrepreneurs can keep their visions--and their companies--under their own control. The game is to postpone any need for outside finance for as long as possible. Most existing strategy guides are geared to larger companies and are of limited use to small startups. Cohan's strategic model focuses on six decision points where the strategy for small companies is radically different than that for large compenies: 1. Setting Goals, 2. Picking Markets, 3. Raising Capital, 4. Building Teams, 5. Gaining Market Share, and 6, Adapting to Change.

Peter S. Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm that has conducted 150 consulting projects and invested in six private companies, three of which were sold for $2 billion. He blogs on start-ups for Forbes and Entrepreneur magazines and teaches strategy at Babson College.

Preface
Introduction

Part I. Six Start-up Choices
1. Setting Goals: What Makes You Hungry?
2. Picking Markets: Feed Your Customers and They’ll Feed You
3. Raising Capital: Maintain Your Fighting Weight
4. Building the Team: Whom Do You Invite to the Table?
5. Gaining Share: Satisfy Your Customers’ Cravings
6. Adapting to Change: Don’t Let Others Eat Your Lunch

Part II. Implications for Stakeholders and Others
7. Straight Talk from Start-up Capital Providers
8. Can Big Companies Train Entrepreneurs
Resources
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Author Biography