Foreword xiii Preface xv About Techstars xix Foreword to Do More Faster India xxiii Do More Faster India xxvii Why Entrepreneurs in India Need Techstars xxix Mentor-Backed Entrepreneurship in India xxxiii Legal Tips for Indian Startups xxxvii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Do More Faster 3 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 2 Do or Do Not; There is No Try 7 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Theme One: Idea and Vision 9 Chapter 3 Trust Me, Your Idea is Worthless 13 Tim Ferriss, 4-Hour Workweek Chapter 4 Start with Your Passion 17 Kevin Mann, Graphic.ly Chapter 5 Look for the Pain 21 Isaac Saldana, SendGrid Chapter 6 Get Feedback Early 25 Nate Abbott and Natty Zola, Everlater Chapter 7 Usage is Like Oxygen for Ideas 29 Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Chapter 8 Forget the Kitchen Sink 33 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 9 Find That One Thing They Love 37 Darren Crystal, Photobucket Chapter 10 Don''t Plan. Prototype! 39 Greg Reinacker, Newsgator Chapter 11 You Never Need Another Original Idea 43 Niel Robertson, Trada Chapter 12 Get It Out There 45 Sean Corbett, HaveMyShift Chapter 13 Avoid Tunnel Vision 49 Bijan Sabet, Spark Capital Chapter 14 Focus 51 Jared Polis, State of Colorado Chapter 15 Iterate Again 55 Colin Angle, iRobot Chapter 16 Fail Fast 59 Alex White, Next Big Sound Chapter 17 Pull the Plug When You Know It''s Time 63 Paul Berberian, Zenie Bottle Chapter 18 Love Doesn''t Scale, or Does it? 67 Nicole Glaros, Techstars Chapter 19 Reconciling Vision and Focus 71 David Cohen, Techstars Theme Two: People 73 Chapter 20 Be Open to Randomness 75 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 21 Entrepreneurship is a Group Sport 79 Mark O''Sullivan, Vanilla Chapter 22 Avoid Cofounder Conflict 83 Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot Chapter 23 Hire People Better than You 87 Will Herman Chapter 24 How to Find and Engage Mentors 91 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 25 Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly 99 Matt Blumberg, Return Path Chapter 26 If You Can Quit, You Should 103 Laura Fitton, Oneforty Chapter 27 Build a Balanced Team 107 Alex White, Next Big Sound Chapter 28 Startups Seek Friends 111 Micah Baldwin, Graphic.ly Chapter 29 Engage Great Mentors 115 Emily Olson, Foodzie Chapter 30 The Mentor Manifesto 119 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 31 Define Your Culture 123 Greg Gottesman, Pioneer Square Labs Chapter 32 Two Strikes and You Are Out 129 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 33 Karma Matters 133 Warren Katz, MAK Technologies Theme Three: Working Effectively 137 Chapter 34 Assume That You''re Wrong 139 Howard Diamond, Performance One Media Chapter 35 Make Decisions Quickly 143 Ari Newman, Filtrbox Chapter 36 It''s Just Data 145 Bill Warner, Avid Technologies Chapter 37 Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut 149 Ryan McIntyre, Excite.com Chapter 38 Progress Equals Validated Learning 153 Eric Ries, Lean Startup Methodology Chapter 39 The Plural of Anecdote is Not Data 157 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 40 Don''t Suck at Email 161 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 41 Use What''s Free 165 Jason Seats, Techstars Chapter 42 Be Tiny Until You Shouldn''t Be 169 Jeffrey Powers, Occipital Chapter 43 Don''t Celebrate the Wrong Things 173 Rob Johnson, EventVue Chapter 44 Be Specific 179 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 45 Learn from Your Failures 181 Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures Chapter 46 Quality over Quantity 183 Andy Smith, DailyBurn Chapter 47 Have a Bias Toward Action 187 Ben Casnocha, Village Global Theme Four: Product 191 Chapter 48 Don''t Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product 193 Ajay Kulkarni and Andy Cheung, Sensobi Chapter 49 Find Your Whitespace 197 Raj Aggarwal, Localytics Chapter 50 Focus on What Matters 201 Dick Costolo, Twitter Chapter 51 Obsess over Metrics 203 Dave McClure Chapter 52 Avoid Distractions 205 Andy Sack, Founder''s Co-op Chapter 53 Know Your Customer 209 Bill Flagg, RegOnline Chapter 54 Beware the Big Companies 213 Michael Zeisser, XO Group Chapter 55 Throw Things Away 215 Eric Marcoullier, OneTrueFan Chapter 56 Pivot 219 Rob Hayes, First Round Capital Theme Five: Fundraising 221 Chapter 57 There''s More than One Way to Raise Money 223 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 58 Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren''t 227 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 59 Don''t Forget about Bootstrapping 231 David Brown, Techstars Chapter 60 You Don''t Have to Raise Money 235 Joe Aigboboh and Jesse Tevelow, PlayQ Chapter 61 Seed Investors Care about Three Things 239 Jeff Clavier, Uncork Capital Chapter 62 Practice Like You Play 243 Alex White, Next Big Sound Chapter 63 If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 247 Nicole Glaros, Techstars Chapter 64 Show, Don''t Tell 251 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 65 Turn the Knife after You Stick It In 253 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 66 Don''t Overoptimize on Valuations 257 Kirk Holland, Access Venture Partners Chapter 67 Get Help with Your Term Sheet 261 Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group Chapter 68 Focus on the First One-Third 265 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Theme Six: Legal and Structure 267 Chapter 69 Choose the Right Company Structure 269 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 70 Form the Company Early 273 Brad Bernthal, University of Colorado Chapter 71 Default to Delaware 277 Jon Taylor, KO Chapter 72 Lawyers Don''t Have to Be Expensive 279 Michael Platt, Cooley LLP Chapter 73 Vesting is Good for You 283 Jon Fox, Intense Debate Chapter 74 Your Brother-in-Law is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer 287 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 75 To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There is No Question 291 Matt Galligan, Socialthing Theme Seven: Work-Life Harmony 295 Chapter 76 Discover Work-Life Harmony 297 Brad Feld, Foundry Group Chapter 77 Practice Your Passion 301 Eran Egozy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chapter 78 Follow Your Heart 305 Mark Solon, Techstars Chapter 79 Turn Work into Play 309 Howard Lindzon, StockTwits Chapter 80 Don''t Make Yourself Indispensable 313 David Cohen, Techstars Chapter 81 Get Out from Behind Your Computer 315 Seth Levine, Foundry Group Chapter 82 Stay Healthy 319 Andy Smith, DailyBurn Chapter 83 Get Away from It All 323 Amy Batchelor, Anchor Point Foundation Conclusion 327 Appendix 1: The Evolution of Techstars 331 What Motivated Us to Start Techstars? 331 Why Techstars Started in Boulder 334 How Techstars Came to Boston 336 How Techstars Came to Seattle 338 So You Want to Start a Techstars Accelerator in Your Community or Company? 340 Techstars in 2019 and Beyond 341 Techstars Foundation: Increasing Diversity in Entrepreneurship 342 Appendix 2: Original Edition''s Foreword 345 Appendix 3: Where are the Techstars Companies Now? 349 About the Authors 355 Acknowledgments 357 Index 359.