book-notes

Do More Faster

by David Cohen and Brad Feld

I, Michael Parker, own this book and took these notes to further my own learning. If you enjoy these notes, please purchase the book!

pg 12: If you can raise your prices and customers still buy your product, you’ve found a pain point to exploit.
pg 20: If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version, you’ve waited too long.
pg 21: Shipping early and often gives you the unique competitive advantage of getting useful feedback on your product.
pg 24: By focusing on a niche, you can be the best at what you do with less work, and position and market yourself easier.
pg 28: Find what your users love, and then obsessively make it easier for them to do it.
pg 38: Bad experiences with half-baked products doesn’t travel quickly; people don’t talk about services they don’t get value out of.
pg 50: If you feel like you’re treading water, remember you’re actually learning things to help you down the road.
pg 58: You must be proud of your product every minute of every day, and not only if it becomes a tremendous success.

pg 68: A cofounder hanging out out of guilt or ambiguity is bad, especially if they claim equity you don’t believe is due.
pg 72: Always strive to hire people better than you; better people are easier to manage and are more self-directed.
pg 74: The time and effort to “fix” a new employee is likely greater than hiring a better person, so fire early if needed.
pg 83: In the early stages you should have at most one non-technical cofounder; any more and they might get bored.
pg 88: Startups screw up a lot; build relationships with your customers and audience, and they’ll forgive you.
pg 92: When mentors give advice, always close the loop; they may learn something, and you’ll keep them coming back.
pg 97: Communication to all stakeholders should increase in bad times; fight the tendency to keep it inside.

pg 115: Don’t be afraid to throw things away; you can’t protect a brand that doesn’t exist, so no one cares anyway.
pg 119: It’s important to create an environment where everyone can admit mistakes; this has to be driven from the top.
pg 130: Gather as much data as you can and measure every aspect of your business, and constantly revisit the data.
pg 134: Sales that require handholding by the founders is not scalable; only a self-serve process is.
pg 142: Send and receive e-mail from your company domain so that it is treated as a branding opportunity.
pg 143: If contacting someone you don’t know, limit your e-mail to three sentences; put any question as the last one.
pg 148: Stay small and take incrementally harder technology steps; don’t shoot for the moon at the start.
pg 152: Celebrating without continued meaningful progress creates a debt of energy, momentum, and credibility.
pg 162: The new big feature you’re working on may not be so big; measure the impact of each feature you release.

pg 179: Don’t be afraid of competitors; learn from them, but even reach out to them and get to know them.
pg 182: Always ask what is the thing that matters most to making progress right now, and let the other bright ideas wait.
pg 184: Key metrics to measuring behavior and happiness are acquisition, activation, retention, referral, and revenue.
pg 187: Set an achievable and worthwhile goal; staying with it will keep you focused through any rough spots.
pg 194: Beware of big companies; the risk is completely imbalanced, and they are a time sink so fail fast with them.

pg 203: The dynamics with your investors peak the day after you close the investment; your job is to sustain it.
pg 206: Early hires may seek the peace of mind offered by backing of a VC despite growing revenues and profitability.
pg 210: If you work with an established company as a partner, don’t be bashful in asking for funding.
pg 214: Take the time to fine-tune and get your idea right, and you’ll find that competitors aren’t as close as you think.
pg 217: Beware angel group members; ask how long they’ve been in it, recent investments, amounts, and references.
pg 223: When pitching, present a compelling product and have the right answers to any conceivable question.
pg 228: Engaging mentors and investors before fundraising mitigates their aversion to risk and builds their excitement.
pg 223: When pitching, describe the problem, and make sure they really feel the pain before presenting your solution.
pg 236: Good early investors take 20 to 33 percent; any more creates dilution later and leaves too little for the founders.
pg 241: Lead angel investors will say no quickly; don’t waste time trying to hesitant ones into leads.

pg 250: Conversion from an LLC to a C-corp requires going through a complete merger; an S-Corp to C-Corp is easy.
pg 254: Delaware law provides stakeholders with certainty and uniformity regarding their relationship to the company.
pg 258: Find a lawyer who has worked with companies you want to emulate, and develop a collaborative relationship.
pg 259: You lose quickly by iterating on drafts because the terms weren’t clear; clarify with cofounders up front.
pg 262: Through vesting, you don’t tie up equity with someone who leaves, which isn’t fair and scares investors.
pg 263: Owning lots of stock outright may save you from investors, but vesting saves you from cofounders.
pg 270: The 83(b) election trades income tax for lower capital gains tax upon vesting; the option expires after 30 days.

pg 292: Going for walks, hikes, or rides with coworkers allow for talk without interruption and feeling confined.
pg 296: Exercise five to six days a week for 20 minutes, eat right 80 percent of the time, and sleep at least 7 hours.
pg 301: Taking a break sets the good example that no one is indispensable, and builds trust throughout your team.