Chapter
Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup
News Flash-Entrepreneurship Can Be Taught!
Three Common Myths That Must Go
What Explains MIT's Success in Entrepreneurship?
Distinguishing Two Distinct Types of Entrepreneurship
Our Focus Is Innovation-Driven Enterprise
Six Themes of the 24 Steps
Three Ways to Start a New Venture
How to Go from "I Have a Passion" to "I Have an Idea or Technology"
Finding a Founding Team: Entrepreneurship Is Not a Solo Sport
Step 1: Market Segmentation
The Single Necessary and Sufficient Condition for a Business
Create a New Market That You Will Dominate
When "Paying Customers" Lead You Astray
Complex Paying Customers: Primary Versus Secondary Customers and Two-Sided Markets
How to Do a Market Segmentation
Step IC: Primary Market Research
How Long Should I Spend on Market Segmentation?
Step 2: Select a Beachhead Market
How to Choose Your Beachhead Market
Your Beachhead Market Still Needs to Be Segmented Further
Three Conditions That Define a Market
Step 3: Build an End User Profile
Why Target a Specific Demographic?
Does Your Founding Team Include Someone in the End User Profile?
Ride-Sharing Company, Russia
Step 4: Calculate the Total Addressable Market (TAM) Size for the Beachhead Market
From "How Many End Users?" to "Show Me the Money"
Step 5: Profile the Persona for the Beachhead Market
How to Choose and Profile Your Persona
The Persona Is More Than Just an Exercise
Should I Create Multiple Personas? If So, When?
The Persona Helps You Focus on What to Do—and What Not to Do
Mechanical Water Filtration Systems Persona (B2B)
Step 6: Full Life Cycle Use Case
What to Include in a Full Life Cycle Use Case
The "How Will They Use Your Product" Section of a Use Case: Satisfier
A More Robust Use Case: FillBee
Step 7: High-Level Product Specification
Creating a High-Level Product Specification
Then, Make a Product Brochure
Example of a Brochure: Lifetime Supply
Step 8: Quantify the Value Proposition
Aligning Your Value Proposition with the Persona's Priorities
Keep It Simple: The "As-Is" State versus the "Possible" State with Your Product
Step 9: Identify Your Next 10 Customers
How to Complete This Step
Is the Current Persona Valid?
Dealing with Negative Feedback
Methane Capture of Landfill Sites
Virtual Arts Academy: A B2C Two-Sided Market Example
Step 10: Define Your Core
What About Intellectual Property? or Culture?
Core Is Different Than Competitive Position
First-Mover Advantage Is Not a Core
Locking Up Suppliers Is Typically Not a Core
Step 11: Chart Your Competitive Position
The Toughest Competitor of All: The Customer's Status Quo
How to Chart Your Competitive Position
Step 12: Determine the Customer's Decision-Making Unit (DMU)
Primary Roles in the Decision-Making Unit
Additional Roles in the Decision-Making Unit (DMU)
How to Determine the Decision-Making Unit
B2B Example: Mechanical Water Filtration Systems
B2B Example: The Curious Case of Healthy Air
Consumer Example: LARK Technologies
Step 13: Map the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer
Budgeting/Purchasing Authority
Mechanical Water Filtration Systems
When Regulations Make a Market Difficult to Enter: "PayPal for Kids"
Step 14: Calculate the Total Addressable Market Size for Follow-on Markets
How to Calculate Broader TAM
Step 15: Design a Business Model
A Business Model Is Not Pricing
Key Factors When Designing a Business Model
Free Is Not a Business Model
Generalized Categories of Business Models
Think Outside the Existing Categories
Step 16: Set Your Pricing Framework
Step 17: Calculate the Lifetime Value (LTV) of an Acquired Customer
Key Inputs to Calculate the LTV
How to Calculate Lifetime Value
How to Calculate the LTV: ``Widget´´ Plus Yearly Maintenance Fee
Extreme Example of LTV: Pet Rock
Step 18: Map the Sales Process to Acquire a Customer
Four Factors Entrepreneurs Often Overlook About Customer Acquisition Costs
Your Sales Process Changes Over Time
How to Map Your Sales Process
Sales Process Comparisons: Zynga, Groupon, LinkedIn, Facebook
Step 19: Calculate the Cost of Customer Acquisition (COCA)
How Not to Calculate COCA: A Bottom-Up Perspective
The Right Way to Calculate COCA: A Top-Down Perspective
Associated Gas Energy: Using a Direct Sales Model
Example of Using Benchmarking: Speakeasy
Example of a Way to Creatively Drive Down COCA: Dollar Shave Club
Step 20: Identify Key Assumptions
How to Identify Your Key Assumptions
Step 21: Test Key Assumptions
Now That We Have Identified the Assumptions, Let's Test Them
Examples of Easily Testable Assumptions: Student Teams
Assumption: Smartphone Users Aged 25–34 Access Weather Forecasts on Their Phone to Decide What to Wear
Assumption: "Neohippies" Aged 25–35 Use Their Smartphones to Help Them Shop in the Grocery Store
Assumption: Conducting Opinion Polls Is Much Better on Facebook Than with Traditional Telephone-Based Methods
Assumption: People Will Be Inspired to Contribute to Chalkboards That Have Writing Prompts on Them
Step 22: Define the Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP)
Three Conditions of a Minimum Viable Business Product
Step 23: Show That "The Dogs Will Eat the Dog Food"
Step 24: Develop a Product Plan
Postlude: A Business Is More Than 24 Steps
Become A Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide To Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What You Do
2: A Brief History of Franchising, Briefly
3: Take the Franchise Quiz!
4: Explained: The Franchise Business Model with Benefits
5: Are You Right or Wrong for Franchise Ownership? Reviewing the Quiz's Results
6: Search for a Franchise without Searching for a Franchise
9: Should You Have One of Those Free Franchise Consultations?
10: It All Comes Down to Your Franchise Research
11: Loans, Legalities, and Luggage
A Royal Collection of Resources for Franchise Buyers and Franchise Owners
Attention Franchise Buyers!
101 Weird Ways to Make Money: Cricket Farming, Repossessing Cars, and Other Jobs with Big Upside and Not Much Competition
Part 1: Fun Ways to Make Money
Nevette Michael, Craps Dealer
Chapter 1: Stealing Cars for Fun and Profit
Chapter 2: Drinking on the Job
Chapter 3: Creating Beauty and the Beast
Chapter 4: Count to Twenty-One
Chapter 6: Exploding on the Job
Chapter 7: Maybe It’s Not So Funny
Chapter 8: The Business of Chasing Criminals
Chapter 9: Hilarious Income
Chapter 10: Juggling Burning Bowling Pins
Chapter 11: Digging Up Old Coins
Part 2: Making Money Outdoors
David Marcks, Geese Police
Chapter 12: Have Fun Frightening Geese
Chapter 13: Killing Small Trees
Chapter 14: Swimming at the Golf Course
Chapter 15: Medicating Maple Trees
Chapter 16: Chop Wood, Make Money
Specialty Firewood Seller
Chapter 17: Wintertime Profits
Chapter 18: Paid to Exercise
Chapter 19: Your Product Cost Is Zero
Worm Grunting and Farming
Part 3: Dirty and Ugly Jobs
Eric and Melinda Johnson, Melrics Mobile Lube
Chapter 20: Jiminy Cricket!
Chapter 21: Mopping Up Brains
Chapter 23: Traveling Grease Monkey
Chapter 24: Another Pooportunity
Chapter 25: Preparing the Way for Santa
Chapter 26: Capturing Wild Animals
Animal-Control Specialist
Chapter 27: Clean Up with This Dirty Job
Chapter 28: Work in a Sewer
Wastewater-Treatment Worker
Chapter 29: Perhaps the Stinkiest Job?
Chapter 30: Blood-Sucking Profits
Part 4: Internet Opportunities
Mister X, Domain-Name Investor
Chapter 31: A Laptop in Bangkok
Selling Writing Services from Anywhere
Chapter 32: Get Rich with Unreal Estate
Chapter 33: Give It Away and Make It Pay
Chapter 34: Automatic Profits from Writing
Auto-Responder E-Mail Newsletters
Chapter 35: Paid to Write about Feet
Chapter 36: Be Master of Your Domains
Internet Names Buyer and Seller
Chapter 37: What’s Your Opinion Worth?
Part 5: Green Jobs and Businesses
Dave Hartkop, Solar Roast Coffee
Environmentally Friendly Funerals
Chapter 39: Sleep on This Idea
Chapter 40: Computer Garbage Man
Electronic-Waste Recycling
Chapter 41: Be an Oil-Tank Tycoon
Chapter 42: Cash from Catalytic Converters
Scrap Metals Salvager and Seller
Chapter 43: Solar-Roasted Coffee
Unique Green Foods and Drinks Seller
Part 6: Home-Based Money Makers
Mark Shapiro, Judgment Broker
Chapter 44: Be a Home-Based Slumlord
Chapter 45: Driving Home Your Profits
Used Car Seller from Your Yard
Chapter 46: Making People Pay
Chapter 47: Big Money in Metal Houses
Chapter 48: Judging a Book by Its Cover
Used Book Seller from Home
Chapter 49: Sell Your Dating, Design, or Dog Expertise
Chapter 50: Staying Home Monday Morning
Part 7: Working with People
Mike Kopczynski, Bartender
Chapter 51: Handicapped Kids and Other Day-Care Niches
Chapter 52: The Life of a Traveling Bartender
Chapter 53: Professor without a Degree
Noncredit College Teacher
Chapter 54: Coming into the Closet
Home-Organizing Consultant
Chapter 55: Students Pay You $50 per Hour
Chapter 56: Prepping Grandpa’s Condo
Chapter 57: Paid to Travel the World
Part 8: Working with Animals
Lisa Kelly, Kitty Cat Condos
Chapter 58: Hooking Up Lady and the Tramp
Chapter 59: Making Pets Beautiful
Chapter 60: Paid to Visit Animals
Chapter 61: It’s a Walk in the Park
Chapter 62: Managing Noah’s Ark
Chapter 63: A Car Full of Animals
Chapter 64: Sit, Fetch, and Roll Over
Chapter 65: Caging Wild Kittens
Part 9: Creative and Artistic Work
Phil Black, Inventor of FitDeck
Chapter 66: Bird-Poop Earrings
Chapter 67: You’ll Like the Sound of This
Chapter 68: Paint Yourself a Profit
Chapter 69: Putting Antlers on Dogs
Gadgets and Gifts Inventor
Chapter 70: A Burning Desire to Create?
Aromatherapy-Candle Maker
Chapter 71: Carving Out a Niche
Chapter 72: Profits from Painting People
Part 10: Buying and Selling Things
Rusty and Debbie Lake, Classic Furniture
Chapter 73: I See Dead People Profits
Chapter 74: Their Loss Is Your Gain
Chapter 75: The Middleman Always Gets His Cut
Chapter 76: Barber Chairs and Other Opportunities
Used and Unusual Furniture Seller
Chapter 77: Finding New Owners for Old Shirts
Chapter 78: One Man’s Trash
Chapter 79: A Little Here and a Little There
Chapter 80: A Store with No Overhead
Chapter 81: Profiting from the End Times
Survival Supplies and More Seller
Part 11: Cleaning Jobs and Businesses
Chris Gillman, Carpet Cleaner
Chapter 82: Sucking Up Dirt
Chapter 83: Get Paid by the Banks
Chapter 84: The Money Is in the Details
Chapter 85: Cleaning Up after Trash Collectors
Chapter 86: Cleaning Up after Carnies
Part 12: Still More Unusual Ways to Make Money
Jason Gillman, Surveillance Equipment Sales
Chapter 87: Be a Human Guinea Pig
Chapter 88: Deep-Fried Butter
Unique Food Concession Businesses
Chapter 89: Secretly Watching People
Chapter 90: The Parts Are Greater Than the Whole
Chapter 91: You’ve Got Their Number
House-Number Curb-Painter
Chapter 92: Playing with Plastic People
Chapter 94: Putting It All on the Table
Chapter 95: Small Cracks Equal Big Profits
Mobile Windshield Repairer
Chapter 96: Driving Other People’s Cars
Chapter 97: Making Room for More Stuff
Shed-Installation Business
Chapter 98: Rugs for Students
Necessities Renter to College Students
Chapter 99: Beating the House
Chapter 100: What to Do with an IOU
Chapter 101: Animal Poop Coffee Anyone?
Rare and Unusual Foods Seller
Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke
Introduction: Never Get a “Real” Job
What You Can Expect to Get From This Book
All Aboard the Death to the “Real” Job Express!
Chapter 1: Everyone Poops. Yours Isn’t Special
College: The Drunken Road to Easy Street
Dude, Where’s My Dream Job?
Welcome to Your “Real” Job, Mr. Janitor
Chapter 2: No One Cares About You—Unless You Them Care
Claiming to Be a Winner does Not Make You One
You’re Brilliant . . . So What?
Lifestyles of the Poor and Vain
Chapter 3: Darwin + Murphy = Reality
Your Business Is Not the Exception to Any Rule
The Worst-Case Scenario Is the Only Scenario
No One Will Invest in Your Idea
Part II: Building a Foundation
Chapter 4: Get Off Your Ass and Start Up!
Get Real with Your Finances
Those Who Reinvent the Wheel Are Doomed to Be Run Over By It
What Do You Know, Anyway?
Can Your SWOT Team Do CPR?
Chapter 5: Business Plans Suck
Toss the Old-School Business Plan
The One-Paragraph Start-Up Plan
Chapter 6: To Partner or Not to Partner
The Worst Partners for Your Start-Up
Don’t Consider Letting Worthless Flaky People Try Out
Never Jump Right In: The Water’s Not Fine
Part III: From the Ground Up
Chapter 7: Act Like a Start-Up, Stupid
Surviving a “Real” Day in the Life
Get Your Head in the Game, Chump
Design Your Entrepreneurial Life
Chapter 8: Shoestrapping (Because the Boot Is Too Damn Expensive)
The Only Team Your Money Can Buy
Chapter 9: Those Phones Won’t Ring Themselves: The 15 Principles of a Power Seller
Come Out! Come Out! Wherever You Are!
Sell Like There’s No Tomorrow—Or There Won’t Be
Principle #1: Know What You’re Selling
Principle #2: Tell Your Customers You Have “U.S.P.”
Principle #3: Pitch Prospects as If They Are Two-Year-Olds
Principle #4: Go for Base Hits versus Home Runs
Principle #5: Underprice and Overdeliver
Principle #6: Read the Lead
Principle #7: Shut Up and Listen to the Customer!
Principle #8: Pull Out the Good Guy Deals
Principle #9: Push No-Brainer Up-Sells on Clients
Principle #10: Build a Spy Network
Principle #11: Avoid Fine-Print Thinking
Principle #12: Don’t Eliminate the Word “Customer” from Customer Service
Principle #13: Look Like a Titan, but Act Like a Local
Principle #14: Force Clients to Sign Away Their Rights to Fight
Principle #15: Make It Easy to Do Business with You
Chapter 10: Facebook Isn’t a Marketing Strategy
Think Guerrilla, Not Godzilla
Start Up a Business Digital Book Set
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