Joseph Doucet Jeff Lerner

Fantastic insight!

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2021

Taking a data-first approach to understanding what drives successful start-ups, and importantly de-bunking a lot of myths, is essential to know. Ali has delivered an extremely well researched and well-written book that was a pleasure to read.

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michael j. monahan

Real, Actual Data on Startups

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2021

A great read not based on hunches but actual data Ali culled from the startup world. From education, background, chance of success. A must read for anyone interested in startups or changing the world.

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Cretes

Wheewww!!! Great Book!!!!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021

If this book doesn’t give you all the insight you need to be a well informed founder then you’re naturally stupid. Thanks.

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Olivia

Amazing read! Awesome visuals and charts for deeper insight.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021

The book really dives into what makes a great company, and founder. One of my favorite hardcover reads of 2021.

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Patrick Yeoh

Amazing insights! Magic only happens with super founders’ relentlessness.

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021

concise, data-driven insights that calibrates utility of prevalent "advice"

Inspirational

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Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2021

In a very pithy, data-driven approach, Tamaseb provides very valuable observations on almost all prevalent "typical" advise dispensed for entrepreneurs - across all stages of a start-ups life (and demise). One word of caution, though - you are likely to gain more from this book if you are active in the start-up space in any capacity - founder/employee/advisor/investor.

In the first part, the author addresses issues related to the age, educational background, prior experience (corporate and start-up) and its impact (if any) on a start-up's probability of success. (Almost all advise I have received in these topics turn out to be questionable). In the second part, the focus shifts to ideation, product-market fit, decisions on pivots (excellent chapter, worth reading this book just for this short chapter), and differentiation. A start-up evaluating the right product-market fit and/or deciding on adjacencies or risk management strategies will benefit significantly from this discussion. The third part's focus on fund raising and external factors that impact ability to raise also provides a very valuable checklist for anyone trying to raise funds - seed or growth stage.

In each part, a pithy and well-focused chapter addresses exactly one topic without any stories for entertainment. Each chapter is mostly structured around one core myth/advise/hypothesis - a data analysis (retrospective, simple descriptive statistics) - and a set of observations along with some practical advise on that topic. The "interview" in each chapter is actually a very focused narrative by a successful founder/investor that reinforces the key message in the chapter (no extraneous stories about personalities and drama).

Overall, this book, along with a recent Eisenmann book (Why Start Ups Fail), will provide any entrepreneur or one aspiring to be one, a practical checklist to manage the experience and more importantly inform a reader on what advise or myth to dismiss.

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Kuzzat

From Founders to Growth

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2021

Great book for an entrepreneur who’s starting her new journey. Excellent book for founders in the growth stage. Meaningful insights from the most successful businesses around the world. Good storytelling. Easy to read and listen to.

Update: I could not stop listening to this book till I finish. 90% of my Amazon purchases are books. So far, this is one of the best, if not best. The author also included interviews from the most influential venture capitalists like Peter Thiel, how they evaluate startups and entrepreneurs from a VC perspective.

One thing I can’t appreciate enough is how less “sophisticated” this book is. The entire book is easy to read, with no unnecessary technical jargon to look “smart.” To the point, and great storytelling.

I made many mistakes in the past few years running my business. I wish I had the opportunity to learn the things in this book earlier.

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Thanks Nietzsche

Very happy I'm reading this early on in my PhD/Tech Entrepreneur journey

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2021

This was exactly what I was looking for! The author does his due diligence and comprises precisely what you want. Enumerates all of the qualities that would result in one being a Founder. Though he does say past performance doesn't predict future success. However for me at least, I'm willing to take that risk.

The author gives an overview of the market threats and type of funding each of these startups had.

A lot of his data comes up with trendless results. My inference is that this is because every founder and company will have a unique make up and some associated biases. So it makes sense that for some founders starting at a young age afforded them a billion dollar company but not so much for others. It just depends on the unique circumstance and maximizing their strengths, privileges', etc. Obviously if someone's an extreme introvert, they emigrated from another country and don't have family , and they hardly participated in college., obviously they're more positions to be a solo founder.

I believe the author wants us to double down on our strengths then focus our resources on other things like creating the technical expertise you might need, or merely courting the attention of the right VCs.

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J. Paul

Valuable lessons for anyone interested in working in venture capital backed firms

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021

I found the book to be an incredibly worthwhile read. As an investor in venture capital funds and companies, it provided some interesting data to consider when meeting with companies. For entrepreneurs, sections of the book will help explain your goals and talk to venture investors more effectively. For those considering joining a VC backed firm, the book provides some good insights to think about in terms of what milestones have been achieved and what will be required for the company to make it to the next stage. The writing was entertaining and understandable. I sent a copy to my son in an engineering undergrad program as well, because he and all of his friends are interested in venture capital but really know nothing about it. If they actually read it, this book will provide a huge boost to their understanding of the market!

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Joseph M. Maruschak