Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook

What avoidable problem destroys more young startups than any other?
Why is it a mistake to ask for introductions to investors?
When do you play the Ceo card?
Should you sell out?

Author and four-time founder/Ceo Dan Shapiro tells the stories of dozens of startups whose companies lived and died by the advice in these pages. From inception to destruction and triumph to despair, this rollercoaster read takes aspiring entrepreneurs from the highs of billion-dollar payouts and market-smashing success to the depths of impostor syndrome and bankruptcy.

Hot Seat is divided into the five phases of the startup Ceo experience:

• Founding explains how to formulate your idea, allocate equity, and not argue yourself to death
• Funding provides the keys to venture capital, angels, and crowdfunding, plus clear advice on which approach to choose
• Leadership lays out a path to build a strategy and culture for your team that will survive good times and bad
• Management reveals how to manage your board, argue with your team, and play the Ceo card
• Endgame explains how to finish a company’s existence with grace, wealth, and minimal litigation

Table of Contents

Part I. Founding
Chapter 1. The Virtues of an Early Bankruptcy
Chapter 2. The Cofounder Dilemma
Chapter 3. Deciding on the Dream
Chapter 4. Sharing Shares
Chapter 5. Vesting Is a Hack
Chapter 6. Spending Money
Chapter 7. Conclusion

Part II. Funding
Chapter 8. The Fun of Funding
Chapter 9. Don’t Ask for Introductions
Chapter 10. The Standard Pitch Deck
Chapter 11. The Nonstandard Pitch Deck
Chapter 12. Business Plans
Chapter 13. The Pyramid Pitch
Chapter 14. Pitching Twitter; Pitching Hoverboards
Chapter 15. Why Taxi Drivers Don’t Take Venture Capital
Chapter 16. Angels and Demons
Chapter 17. The Lead Investor
Chapter 18. Winning at Crowdfunding
Chapter 19. Miscellaneous Financing Sources
Chapter 20. How Much You’re Worth
Chapter 21. How Much You Need
Chapter 22. Notes or Priced?
Chapter 23. Conclusion

Part III. Leadership
Chapter 24. The Six Things You Cannot Delegate
Chapter 25. Repeat Your Strategy
Chapter 26. Contrarian Segmentation
Chapter 27. Hypocrisy Is a Symptom of Values
Chapter 28. Impostor
Chapter 29. A Drummer for Spinal Tap
Chapter 30. Your Company Culture Is a Meaningless Platitude
Chapter 31. Creating Culture
Chapter 32. Conclusion

Part IV. Management
Chapter 33. How to Make Your Company Half as Effective
Chapter 34. The CEO Card
Chapter 35. Building a Sublime Organization
Chapter 36. The Lies of Big-Company Life
Chapter 37. 14 Answers That Will Save You 100 Hours
Chapter 38. The Board of Directors: Your Peers, Your Obligation, Your Bosses
Chapter 39. Conclusion

Part V. Endgame
Chapter 40. Of Course This Company’s for Sale
Chapter 41. Why to Sell
Chapter 42. There Are Three Exits—Remember, the Nearest Exit May Be Behind You
Chapter 43. Obligations Before Negotiations
Chapter 44. Negotiations
Chapter 45. Exiting with Grace
Chapter 46. Sparkbuy’s Story
Chapter 47. Conclusion