A comprehensive blueprint for building and selling a successful startup from idea to exit, bypassing failure, and making the planet a better, more equitable place.Due to a range of frequent and unavoidable mistakes, only 10% of startups make it beyond 5 years. In this game-changing guide, startup veteran and serial entrepreneur Gregory Shepard combines 12 startup exits, 4 private equity awards, and decades’ worth of expert insight and industry experience—including ...

A comprehensive blueprint for building and selling a successful startup from idea to exit, bypassing failure, and making the planet a better, more equitable place.Due to a range of frequent and unavoidable mistakes, only ten percent of startups make it beyond five years. In this game-changing guide, startup veteran and serial entrepreneur Gregory Shepard combines twelve startup exits, four private equity awards, and decades' worth of expert insight and industry exp...

How do the really exceptional CEOs get more done in less time than everyone else? What is their technique for getting their work done while still having the time to spend pursuing hobbies and spending quality time with their friends and family? The truth is that great and lazy CEOs know a secret when it comes to time management. Rather than spending a little time on a lot of things, the best CEOs spend most of their time eliminating the single biggest constraint to the growth of their busi...

Bring the miracle of Lean Six Sigma improvement out of manufacturing and into servicesMuch of the U.S. economy is now based on services rather than manufacturing. Yet the majority of books on Six Sigma and Lean--today's major quality improvement initiatives--explain only how to implement these techniques in a manufacturing environment.Lean Six Sigma for Services fills the need for a service-based approach, explaining how companies of all types can ...

The Long-Awaited Update for Building a Thriving ConsultancyCompletely updated for today’s busier-than-ever consultants, this classic guide covers the ins and outs for competing and winning in this ultracompetitive field. You’ll find step-by-step advice on how to raise capital, attract clients, create a marketing plan, and grow your business into a $1 million-per-year firm, plus brand-new material on:Blogging and social networkingGlobal consu...

A predictable pattern of successEntrepreneurs who have read early drafts of The Start-Up J Curve responded, ''I wish I had this book years ago.''A start-up unfolds in a predictable pattern; the more aware entrepreneurs are of this pattern, the better able they will be to capitalize on it. Author Howard Love calls this pattern the start-up J Curve: The toughest part of the endeavor is the time between the actual start of a new business and when the p...

Bestselling author of Million Dollar Consulting shares the secrets of writing winning proposalsIntended for consultants, speakers, and other professional services providers, Million Dollar Consulting® Proposals ends forever the time-consuming and often frustrating process of writing a consulting proposal. It begins with the basics—defining these proposals and why they are necessary—and coaches you through the entire proposal process. In this book,...

Most companies have massive amounts of data at their disposal, yet fail to utilize it in any meaningful way. But a powerful new business tool - analytics - is enabling many firms to aggressively leverage their data in key business decisions and processes, with impressive results.In their previous book, Competing on Analytics, Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris showed how pioneering firms were building their entire strategies around their analytical capabilities. Rather tha...

Master the basics of project management.You've been asked to manage a key project—or perhaps you've volunteered for an assignment that could advance your career. So how do you make sure the project succeeds? Managing Projects walks you quickly through the basics, including:Drawing up a realistic schedule and project planMonitoring key tasks and benchmarksCommunicating with stakeholdersBringing th...

Six-Figure Freelancer: How to Find, Price, and Manage Corporate Writing Assignments - Revised & Improved! With more ideas, more detail, more examples, more inspiration and more exercises to get you started and keep you going!Paul Lima was a busy technology freelance writer, earning a six-figure income, during the dot-com boom. When it went bust, so did many of his Information Technology corporate clients. Paul developed new business and marketing plans and within 18 months...

This essential step-by-step guide for anyone launching or expanding a successful business has been used by over a million entrepreneurs. It includes expert help, worksheets to jumpstart the process, a sample business plan, tips on impressing funders, winning tips for competitions, and more. Used in the top business schools throughout the nation, the book covers every aspect of a successful business plan, from the components of the actual plan, to making the plan compelling, to presentation...

A concise extension of the business classic Topgrading, targeted to sales managersBrad Smart's Topgrading has sold more than 150,000 copies since 1999, making it the definitive book for executives who want to hire, coach, and retain top talent. Now Smart has teamed up with Greg Alexander, who used Topgrading to radically improve his sales force at EMC.In Topgrading for Sales, they have boiled down the key Topgrading ideas to a pithy 112 p...