Böcker av Jothy Rosenberg

Essential advice for anyone aspiring to start up a technology company, based on decades of business experience.In Tech Startup Toolkit, you’ll discover the good, the bad, and the ugly of succeeding with a tech startup. Author Jothy Rosenberg reveals the insights he’s learned from an entrepreneurial career that’s seen both $100 million sales, dramatic failures, and everything in between. Tech Startup Toolkit gives you concrete, actionable advice on how to: • Succeed as a first-time CEO • Pitch and raise money from various types of investors • Develop a go-to-market strategy • Create a strong positive culture • Understand what makes a VC tick • Write an elevator pitch • Understand investment deal terms • Hone and align teams • Effectively downsize or wind down a company • Position a company to be acquired In Tech Startup Toolkit Jothy tells stories from his incredible career that will give guidance and inspiration to anyone who’s ever thought of creating or running a company. Every personal story teaches a vital lesson for any would-be startup founder, ensuring you avoid the pitfalls that end less-prepared companies. Foreword by Vivjan Myrto. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology Why do eight out of ten tech startups fail? Is it inevitable? In Tech Startup Toolkit, nine-time tech startup founder Jothy Rosenberg tells you how to beat the odds. Part memoir and part survival guide, this book delivers battle-tested, unvarnished advice on capital, culture, boards, marketing, and management. About the book Tech Startup Toolkit covers everything a new founder needs to ensure a great idea can become a stable tech company that’s ripe for acquisition. In 31 short anecdotes from Jothy’s extensive experience, you’ll learn how to pitch investors, develop a go-to-market strategy, and build the leadership skills that really matter for a great startup CEO. And since forewarned is forearmed, you’ll also find strategies to handle challenges like funding loss, competition, and unpredictable crises like Covid-19 that break lesser startups. What's inside • Succeed as a first-time CEO • Create a strong positive culture • Understand what makes a VC tick • Position a company to be acquired About the reader For prospective founders, early-stage teams, and anyone interested in tech entrepreneurship. About the author Jothy Rosenberg has been an incorrigible entrepreneur since 1988. Formerly the VP of Borland’s developer division, Jothy has founded and run nine technology startups, two of which had $100 million exits. Table of Contents PART 1 1 Scratching the startup itch: How I became an incorrigible entrepreneur 2 What makes you think you are CEO material? 3 A venture-backed turnaround: A dangerous place to be 4 The founding team. Who’s in and who’s not? PART 2 5 Friends and family, angels, venture capital, or strategic? 6 Angels: Your bridge financing solution 7 The art of pitching to institutional investors 8 Investors aren’t your friends 9 Understand the VC business model. Raise money faster 10 Seed: The first priced round 11 Term sheets: An institutional investor wants to invest in you 12 Due Diligence: An exam you must pass PART 3 13 Your business model. The beating heart of your business 14 Getting to a minimum viable product with lighthouse customers 15 Product-Market Fit. Making sure the dogs will eat your dog food 16 Go-to-Market: How to make your business viable and grow 17 A formal business plan in ten steps 18 Burn rate and runway—or where is the edge of that cliff? 19 Achieving cash-flow positive: A startup’s Holy Grail 20 Your startup’s valuation: Up, up, up (hopefully) PART 4 21 Hire slowly—and correctly 22 Beyond foosball: Crafting a positive culture that retains your team 23 Does a startup need both a CEO and COO? 24 Marketing: Too often a startup’s afterthought 25 The right character for sales leader—and when to hire them PART 5 26 Startup boards: The good, (and how to prevent) the bad, and the ugly 27 Board observers: Observe only please 28 Investor communications. They needn’t be cod liver oil 29 Heaven forbid if you must downsize 30 Heaven forbid if you must wind it up 31 Acquisition: Your financial dream come true Appendix

Two words have the power to change a person's outlook: good . . . considering. Jothy Rosenberg has heard this nearly his whole life, starting at age sixteen when bone cancer led to an above-knee amputation of his right leg. Three years later, when cancer forced the removal of a lung and acted like a death sentence, this epithet continued. Rosenberg grew tired of only being "good considering" his disability. In the decades since he beat cancer, he has used athletics to overcome this social stigma. He turned his disability into a superability, often performing in challenging open water swims, cancer-fundraising bike rides, and treacherous skiing adventures better than "two-leggers." And in the business world, when working in a reliable position failed to quench his need for risk-taking, he plunged into entrepreneurship, launching several high-tech startup companies. In Who Says I Can't, Rosenberg teaches by example how everyone can overcome life's obstacles to achieve and overachieve. Through his stories, he shows that when the world says you can't, courage and determination prove you can be more than "good considering." You can be better than the rest. Not only that, you can use a positive attitude to inspire and stomp out stereotypes one leg at a time.ENDORSEMENTS"The PMC coined the term Living Proof some 15 years ago. Nobody epitomizes that phrase, or our mission, better than Jothy Rosenberg. The challenges he has faced in his life have been hurdles, not walls, to leading a fulfilling life. In a world overflowing with hype and artifice, Jothy's journey and triumph is real and inspirational. He is a true role model."-- Billy Starr, Founder/Executive Director, Pan-Mass ChallengeJothy Rosenberg is not a celebrity but an Everyman, which gives his wrenching story of astonishing grit its inspirational power. After being told when he was 19 that he had no chance of surviving the cancer that had already cost him one leg and one lung, Jothy made a decision. He would ski until he died. Instead, he became one of the first beneficiaries of then-primitive chemotherapy, a champion one-legged, one-lunged skier, swimmer, and cyclist, and an early model of how to triumph over cancer and disability. For anyone trying to turn a cancer diagnosis, major disability, or even a major life challenge into a character-building experience, this well-written book is indispensable.-- Jonathan Alter, author, MSNBC commentator, cancer survivor

Adventures On The Can Do Trail is a richly illustrated large format picture book for 4-9 year olds with a strong positive message about fighting back against challenges that seemingly hold one back but which can be conquered. The book consists of seven fables about a human boy named Alex visiting and helping animals along a trail he is hiking called the CAN DO trail. Each fable is about a different animal who has a physical challenge (i.e. disability) and hears CAN'T constantly. There is the oh too short giraffe who everyone says can't eat the leaves at the tops of the trees, the horse with no back legs who his friends believe can't run and play outside with them, and the owl without the ability to see at night who is missing out on the choicest nocturnal morsels. Every one of them-as well as the five others in the book-conquer their limitations with Alex's help and CAN DO what others thought they couldn't empowering that animal to proudly proclaim: WHO SAYS I CAN'T!On the last page, the biggest surprise is, after seeing all the amazing things Alex does to help his animal friends, that Alex has no arms and had to do all of that with his feet and arm stubs.This book is about cleverness, determination, fortitude and the joy of overcoming what everyone else thinks You CAN'T do. The "overcoming" absolutely delights the child being read to. The fables are brought to life beautifully through the full color artwork of Mary Garcia. A large illustration, covering left and right page, explains an animal's dilemma; then when the child turns the page the outcome of what Alex and the adaptation the animal come up with is revealed on another 2-page spread.In this book I leave it to the child's imagination why and how these situations occur-that leads to lots of great dialog with the adult reader. I never use the word disability or handicap in the book because these are situations that happen with no real reason like in the real life each child is living. Instead the child will just think about challenges and accomplishments. This positive message resonates with children and I find children coming away with a resolve to never say the word CAN'T.