My book with 21 founders under 30

 If you want to learn from people who successfully raised fundings from top investors like Mark Cuban, Jerry Yang, from people who give Ted talks, go on Shark Tank, get invited to the World Economic Forum, who are on the list of Forbes 30 under 30, this is the book for you. 

My favorite comedian Judd Apatow created a comedy book called, Sick in the Head. In it he interviewed a number of famous comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, and others. His purpose was to learn from these people about their comedy careers, their secrets to success, and the steps that led to their success. Thus, he learned the tricks of the comedic trade and was able to share them with the world.

           I’m aiming to do something similar on the business side of life. The successful company founders who first came to mind were Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs. After reading their biographies, I concluded that their successes are hard to recreate because they founded their companies over a decade ago or more. The resources they used and the market of those times are not really applicable today. So I decided to look to current entrepreneurs for current guidance. 

           In January of 2016, I saw that some of my Facebook friends were on the list of Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30.” I started to ask them how they started their companies. I also went to multiple start-up events and found that other people had the same questions. I decided to find over twenty successful entrepreneurs who created their own companies recently. They are all living in different places and come from different backgrounds. 

           I created a set of thirteen questions to prompt their responses. I asked them to address at least two of the questions in their responses to me. 

Here’s what I sent to them: 

1. How do you start a company?
(A holistic view of starting a company, what milestones do you need to set? How does someone get started by doing minor things that don’t scale? What is the timeline for each step to be accomplished? How do you budget for your company? What was your starting point? Was it at school? A previous job? How do you plan to execute your idea? What were your working hours?)

2. What are your resources, experiences, and strengths?
(Describe how you see your strengths and weaknesses. How do you deal with your weaknesses and maximize your strengths? How do you create your own startup environment and leverage your resources? What experiences or resources did you need?)

3. Cofounders, teammates, and mentors
(How did you meet your cofounder? Describe where you met them and how you feel about them. What challenges did you face while you were with them? When conflict arises, how do you resolve it? Who is your mentor? Who do you call when you need help?)

4. Supporting yourself financially and mentality
(How do you make money while creating your own company? How do you calculate your budget and stay within the budget? Who encouraged or supported you along the way? Who do you call when you fail? Who do you ask for advice? How did you meet them? How did your life change around the time you started your company? What was your personal life like? How do you balance your life? What were your working hours?)

5. Product (How did you come up with your product? How do you design your product? What goal do you have in mind? How did you set up your time schedule? Who do you hire? How do you test out your products in the market? How do you know which product to pursue and which one to cut? If you are creating a community, how do you find the audience and the contributors? How do you attract them to invest in your product?)

6. Competition and trends
(How do you find your core competency? What do you think is your core competency and your company’s core competency? Are those two related? How do you do market research? Who are your competitors? How did you find your target audiences? How did they react to your product? What’s your plan to compete or stay away from the competition?)

7. Produce, Operate, and Manage
(How do you produce your product? Do you outsource? Where do you find outsourcing companies? What problems arise with employees you manage? What are some challenges you are facing during company operation? Please talk about problems that really exist.)

8. Raising money and a business model
(How did you get the first round of funding to get the project started? How did you come up with the business model? Who supported you financially from the beginning? How do you minimize cost and maximize revenue? What are some specific things that you did?)

9. Scalability and Growth
(What was a good market for you to enter? How did you discover it? How do you envision society and yourself in ten years? How do you plan to grow your company? You can also talk about what you thought when you started, it doesn’t have to be a prediction.)

10. Sales and marketing
(What are some tactics you use to promote your company? What do you think is the best marketing tool for your company specifically? How do you promote yourself? How do you catch press attention? Did you send them emails about your company? How did you find them? How do you stand out on social media? What media do you use to target your audience? How did you find the best way to promote your company?)

11. Visa and legal processes in a global market
(How do you view the global market? What does the global market mean to your company? Do you have factories abroad or do you manufacture with others abroad? How did you find them? What was your visa status? How did you get a visa? Did you find the legal system challenging for your company?)

12. Dealing with failures
(How many times did you fail before you succeeded? What motivated you to keep going? When do you know if it is a good time to drop the project? When do you keep going? Can you give a specific example to prove your point? When was your lowest point? How did you over come that point? What hurt you the most during the process of creating a company? What’s the hardest thing about starting a startup? What’s the best thing about creating a company? Did other people betray you? Did you run out of money? Did you have a break up during a company downfall? Did you lose people from your personal life during this period?)

13. Values, self-improvement, and advice
(What do you think is one quality that matters the most when you are creating a company? What advice would you give yourself if you were to start a company again? What’s your advice for first-time founders? What do you think is the most important quality a person could have? What’s your favorite book?) 

After reading the engrossing responses that I got back, I phoned each person to discuss them. They were all wonderfully gracious with their time. After probing a bit, I chose the most interesting and unique parts of their business journeys. I asked them to elaborate and add a subtitle for each section they wrote. I encouraged them to include their visionary insights, to describe lucky breaks, and to share the tricks of their trades. I wanted to know their step-by-step guide to raising funds, and even what their pitch decks looked like. I even asked them to take pictures of their bookshelves and other places in their homes or offices. I was delighted with how much they shared.

           I considered taking my manuscript to a traditional book publisher. Then I reflected on my goal of making current insights currently available. I considered what the customary bureaucracy and editing requirements of a traditional publisher would be. Of course, I concluded that I needed to get this to the public in a leaner, quicker, more entrepreneurial way. If nothing else, I have been inspired to this end by these entrepreneurs’ stories. I am also aiming to connect entrepreneurs around the world. This book is my first step.      

           I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I do, and I hope these insights will help drive your business successes!

Book website: http://www.thelastkeytosuccess.com 

Amazon order page: goo.gl/oMTVaj

Grace Gong | gracegong.com

January 2017