Contents
Seeds of an idea 1
Contents 3
Introduction: Lifestyle vs Scalability 5
Doing the right thing 11
You need an idea 13
Your idea needs a market 16
Assessing the market 17
You need a business model your market will accept 18
You need a plan to take you from your idea all the way to success 20
Organic growth: a more certain way to succeed 23
You need a vision that goes beyond success 26
You need the ability to measure your progress 27
Strategic planning and the business plan 27
Doing things right 29
Usability is about convenience 32
Good days, bad days and consistency 34
Working with friends or relations 34
Why it works 34
Why it doesn’t work 35
The need to have everything in writing 35
Defining the company 36
Atmosphere 36
Vision 36
Culture 36
USPs 36
Recruitment 36
Finding the right people 36
Interviews 36
Methodologies (cf growing pains) 36
Charge by value not by cost 36
Calculating costs 38
Why you should charge by value. 38
Organic growth: a more certain way to survive, but does it lead to success? 40
Appendix A, different company formats: 44
Appendix B common mistakes and things start ups tell themselves 46
