Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises

by Derek Lidow

Only a small fraction of entrepreneurs lead their enterprises to a successful reality. But, sadly, even if their enterprise does become successful, they can still fail when their companies succeed. As the enterprise becomes more successful, the boards of directors and other stakeholders want to see that business succeed in the future--and they don't usually see that future with the founding entrepreneur leading the way.It happened to Steve Jobs. It has happened to thousands of other entrepreneurs and it can happen to you--unless you learn how to be more than just an entrepreneur and more than just a leader. In order to avoid their mistakes you need to walk the walk of an Entrepreneurial Leader, right on the razor's edge.Being an Entrepreneurial Leader is more than just being an "entrepreneur plus leader." Entrepreneurs have certain needs, wants, and desires for their companies. But so do the people who make up that enterprise. It's difficult for founding entrepreneurs to make room for others' thoughts, concerns, opinions, and desires when it comes to "their babies." Why? Because entrepreneurship is a fundamentally selfish act. You began your company because you wanted to be your own boss. Most of your motivations for starting the business were about you. And running a company in this mode of thinking ultimately leads to failure. Leadership, on the other hand, is about selflessness and making those around you feel they will be successful. A leader can take a team of individuals with differing wants, needs, and visions and get everyone on the same page. A leader makes everyone feel like they are being heard, are appreciated, and are winning.But to be a successful entrepreneur, you can't just be the selfless commander-in-chief. In order for you to be successful and grow with your enterprise you must somehow balance the two opposing natures of the entrepreneur and the leader. In "Startup Leadership "entrepreneur and professor Derek Lidow describes the narrow boundary between these two opposing domains and provides you with the skills and tools to become an Entrepreneurial Leader.Based on Lidow's popular and well-respected class Entrepreneurial Leadership, "Startup Leadership "distills Lidow's insights gained from his experience and others who have struggled as entrepreneurs and leaders--as well as from extensive research--to present the best practices for growing with the company you created. It provides the tools needed to avoid the unseen traps most entrepreneurs fall victim to and needed to achieve the delicate balancing act that all Entrepreneurial Leaders must perform in order to successfully lead their team, enterprise, and themselves to lasting success.

Genres: Business, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Leadership

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Derek Lidow is a global CEO, startup coach, writer, and researcher. He founded iSuppli, a leading market research firm, which he sold in 2010 for $100 million to global information leader IHS. He currently teaches entrepreneurship at Princeton University and is the author of two books: Startup Leadership and Building on Bedrock. Lidow is also a frequent media commentator in outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Economist, Nikkei, Reuters, and Taipei Times.

Reviews

[Han Boon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learnt the 4 stages of company growth:
1) customer validation
2) operational validation
3) financial validation
4) self-sustainability

[Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting book to read in terms of leadership and thoughts to think about as an entrepreneur leader. Not a CEO for a big established book, but focused on the stages one has to go through to get the startup up and running.

So if you are curious about the caveats out there when trying to start and scale a company, this book gives you good insight!

[Ashik Uzzaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today I finished the audiobook "Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises". In this book author Derek Lidow outlined the 4 stages of a company's growth and the leadership requirements for each of those stages. He mentions that the entrepreneur must move passed being just an entrepreneur to becoming an entrepreneurial leader (EL).

Stage One: "Customer Validation" starts once the idea becomes reality and ends as soon as customers commit.

Stage Two: "Operational Validation" starts as customers use the product and ends when processes ensure customer satisfaction.

Stage Three: "Financial Validation" starts when the value proposition delivers on its promise through a viable business model and ends when the company scales and is consistent.

Stage Four: Self-Sustainability starts when the leader develops not only new customers, but new products and ends (or never ends) with a process of continuous development of both.

Source: https://ashikuzzaman.com/2023/04/16/s...

[Renee Nickerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gave me one absolutely fantastic nugget, which is why it gets 2 stars as opposed to 1. And then it did all the things I hate in modern non-fiction. This book should have been a blog post. The opening chapters are all you need. The most valuable info is when he described the 4 stages of a business. It is super helpful for identifying where you are and setting goals. After that, it’s simply impossible to read. Too many examples and stories, so much fluff. Yuck. Grab it from a library, read chapter 1, and call it a day.

[Brad Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The framework of the book outlining the 4 stages of a company and the leadership requirements for each is excellent but the book was very difficult to read and get through for me. I love reading and I found myself at times dreading reading this book.

In summary, I think the concepts are spot on but it could have been much better written.

[Stuart Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book about the dynamics of companies in the early years. Good advice about managing one. Also good if you work at a startup and want better insights into the challenges facing the company.
This is better than "The Hard Thing about Hard Things".

[Isaac Cockfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tremendous resource!

Great information. I would love to find business valuation resources in the appendix. Can you recommend any for your readers?

[Toan Ho Huu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Có rất nhiều doanh nghiệp ra đời từ các ý tưởng nào đó rồi sau đó nhanh chóng biến mất, và chỉ rất ít doanh nghiệp khởi nghiệp có thể tạo ra giá trị cụ thể lâu dài. Đau lòng hơn, có nhiều doanh nhân bước đầu gầy dựng thành công một doanh nghiệp nhưng rồi sau đó nó rơi vào cảnh hoạt động trì trệ, chết dần chết mòn. Khi doanh nghiệp xuất hiện nhà đầu tư bên ngoài, người khởi nghiệp rất thường bị sa thải. Khi đọc xuyên suốt các chương của quyển sách này, bạn sẽ dần nhận ra các doanh nhân khởi nghiệp chỉ có thể thành công khi đã được trang bị những kỹ năng lãnh đạo khởi nghiệp cơ bản.

[Detrick DeBurr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have loved a clearer action plan. But I think the idea of understanding that the entrepreneur must move passed being just an entrepreneur to becoming an entrepreneurial leader is profound. Most businesses are limited by the leadership ability of the founders.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good suggestions and checklists to follow. I particularly liked the simplified business plan approach.

[Alex Doss · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books on how to operate in all the stages of a start-up and how you have to evolve with the company. I highly recommend it to anyone who starts a business or works within one.