What do you think?
Rate this book
Reignition: Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners
A Secret Playbook for Transforming Stuck Startups
Nine out of ten startups fail. Even venture capital firms make most of their returns on one out of ten investments hitting the proverbial “home run.” But in the media—and our culture—we glorify those success stories, leaving little room for the difficult side of entrepreneurship. Naturally, founders attempt to replicate the success of those winners by raising too much, scaling too quickly, and destroying themselves in pursuit of the much-celebrated “unicorn” status. But for those that aren’t in that 10% of hyper-growth companies, there is another path.
In Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor Dave Hersh skillfully outlines how to transform a stuck startup into a lean, disciplined, focused organization with the time, space, and market position to find a breakout move.
Dave’s perspective on startup transformation is unique, timeless, and in high demand from entrepreneurs worldwide who feel stuck. Drawing on his own experience and others’ stories of triumph and failure, Dave shows how companies can recover from a near-death experience and have a profoundly successful second act on a grand stage. Readers will learn how to shed unnecessary weight, adapt their leadership style, find their “best in the world” offering, optimize culture, and patiently navigate toward larger-scale success.
Dave Hersh has a clear and vital message for startup founders, leaders, and stakeholders who find themselves All hope is not lost, but you must transform to survive. Bolstered by real-life stories of successful turnarounds, interviews with industry experts, and “hard lessons” from Dave’s own experiences, Reignition provides a clear and practical playbook for getting a company through the transition from stuck to great.
Reignition is for anyone involved in the hard work of launching a successful second act, including startups and growth companies with $1M to $100M in revenue that have tasted success but need a different game plan to make it to the next level. Whether you are a founder, CEO, executive, advisor, or board member, this book will show you the path to successful transformation.
Dave’s ability to go deep into the human side of company-building—along with his vulnerability, accessibility, and real-world experience—makes the reader feel like Dave is “in the boat” with them as they go through the difficult journey of rebooting their startup. Readers will gain the confidence to transform their companies, the skills to do it, and the reassurance that they are not alone.
Nine out of ten startups fail. Even venture capital firms make most of their returns on one out of ten investments hitting the proverbial “home run.” But in the media—and our culture—we glorify those success stories, leaving little room for the difficult side of entrepreneurship. Naturally, founders attempt to replicate the success of those winners by raising too much, scaling too quickly, and destroying themselves in pursuit of the much-celebrated “unicorn” status. But for those that aren’t in that 10% of hyper-growth companies, there is another path.
In Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor Dave Hersh skillfully outlines how to transform a stuck startup into a lean, disciplined, focused organization with the time, space, and market position to find a breakout move.
Dave’s perspective on startup transformation is unique, timeless, and in high demand from entrepreneurs worldwide who feel stuck. Drawing on his own experience and others’ stories of triumph and failure, Dave shows how companies can recover from a near-death experience and have a profoundly successful second act on a grand stage. Readers will learn how to shed unnecessary weight, adapt their leadership style, find their “best in the world” offering, optimize culture, and patiently navigate toward larger-scale success.
Dave Hersh has a clear and vital message for startup founders, leaders, and stakeholders who find themselves All hope is not lost, but you must transform to survive. Bolstered by real-life stories of successful turnarounds, interviews with industry experts, and “hard lessons” from Dave’s own experiences, Reignition provides a clear and practical playbook for getting a company through the transition from stuck to great.
Reignition is for anyone involved in the hard work of launching a successful second act, including startups and growth companies with $1M to $100M in revenue that have tasted success but need a different game plan to make it to the next level. Whether you are a founder, CEO, executive, advisor, or board member, this book will show you the path to successful transformation.
Dave’s ability to go deep into the human side of company-building—along with his vulnerability, accessibility, and real-world experience—makes the reader feel like Dave is “in the boat” with them as they go through the difficult journey of rebooting their startup. Readers will gain the confidence to transform their companies, the skills to do it, and the reassurance that they are not alone.
245 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 22, 2024
8 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 26, 2025
Reignition offers a playbook for startups that have moved beyond the initial euphoria into the reality that success is not inevitable. Although framed around organizational transformation, its lessons apply broadly to any startup wanting to (re)gain momentum.
What I love is the book's balance of business rigor and human-centered thinking. The author treats difficult moments like layoffs and restructuring with honesty and empathy, acknowledging the real human cost without losing sight of business realities. One limitation of the book is its reliance on personal anecdotes. While the author includes both personal anecdotes and anecdotes from others, it's all anecdotes. The book lacks the rigor of feeling researched.
Hersh begins by diagnosing being "stuck": not necessarily a lack of cash, but a lack of strategic options. Many startups fall into this trap not because of bad luck, but because they adopt a hypergrowth model that serves venture capitalists better than it serves a company's long-term health. By chasing funding milestones rather than business fundamentals, they burn out before building something sustainable.
Against this backdrop, the author lays out a transformation process: first, leaders must confront how their company got stuck. Then they must ask the hard question: does it make sense to keep going? If the answer is yes, transformation starts within. Leaders must examine their own mindsets, addressing the insecurities, pride, or fear that may have contributed to the company's challenges. Only then can the organization restructure around its core—the one thing it can be best in the world at delivering—and ruthlessly cut away distractions. Next they must heal the team: establish clarity, set realistic goals, engage in inclusive communication, and create a cultural sense of winning again.
Once healthy, companies earn the right to thoughtfully seek growth. Instead of forcing expansion, they should look for a “breakaway move” that builds logically from their core. This isn’t guesswork: it involves assembling a diverse team, rigorously testing hypotheses, deeply researching markets, and only committing when the data and energy align. If a breakaway move doesn’t materialize, companies shoudl double down on profitability rather than chasing risky bets. Growth must be supported by customer traction, not external expectations. A company is strongest when it doesn't need to raise more money—capital should be a tool, not the engine. Strategic growth planning replaces the typical “raise fast, grow faster” mentality.
Finally, the transformation must extend outward through storytelling. Positioning the company’s second act demands authenticity, clarity, and the ability to rally employees, customers, and investors around a renewed mission. Narrative isn’t just marketing; it’s strategy.
What resonated most with me was the book’s call for patience and discipline. True transformation demands slowing down, focusing, and earning the right to scale. Success requires clarity of purpose, resilience, and humility. The advice is not just operational but deeply human.
What I love is the book's balance of business rigor and human-centered thinking. The author treats difficult moments like layoffs and restructuring with honesty and empathy, acknowledging the real human cost without losing sight of business realities. One limitation of the book is its reliance on personal anecdotes. While the author includes both personal anecdotes and anecdotes from others, it's all anecdotes. The book lacks the rigor of feeling researched.
Hersh begins by diagnosing being "stuck": not necessarily a lack of cash, but a lack of strategic options. Many startups fall into this trap not because of bad luck, but because they adopt a hypergrowth model that serves venture capitalists better than it serves a company's long-term health. By chasing funding milestones rather than business fundamentals, they burn out before building something sustainable.
Against this backdrop, the author lays out a transformation process: first, leaders must confront how their company got stuck. Then they must ask the hard question: does it make sense to keep going? If the answer is yes, transformation starts within. Leaders must examine their own mindsets, addressing the insecurities, pride, or fear that may have contributed to the company's challenges. Only then can the organization restructure around its core—the one thing it can be best in the world at delivering—and ruthlessly cut away distractions. Next they must heal the team: establish clarity, set realistic goals, engage in inclusive communication, and create a cultural sense of winning again.
Once healthy, companies earn the right to thoughtfully seek growth. Instead of forcing expansion, they should look for a “breakaway move” that builds logically from their core. This isn’t guesswork: it involves assembling a diverse team, rigorously testing hypotheses, deeply researching markets, and only committing when the data and energy align. If a breakaway move doesn’t materialize, companies shoudl double down on profitability rather than chasing risky bets. Growth must be supported by customer traction, not external expectations. A company is strongest when it doesn't need to raise more money—capital should be a tool, not the engine. Strategic growth planning replaces the typical “raise fast, grow faster” mentality.
Finally, the transformation must extend outward through storytelling. Positioning the company’s second act demands authenticity, clarity, and the ability to rally employees, customers, and investors around a renewed mission. Narrative isn’t just marketing; it’s strategy.
What resonated most with me was the book’s call for patience and discipline. True transformation demands slowing down, focusing, and earning the right to scale. Success requires clarity of purpose, resilience, and humility. The advice is not just operational but deeply human.
August 20, 2024
A pragmatic book of personal and professional wisdom that read like a GSB course summary! Reminded me of a hybrid managing growing enterprises / bastardized formation of new ventures to resurrection of stalled ventures. Full of case studies of successful pivots (commerceIQ), m&a (qpass, docsend), business model shift (simply measured), and closure - Dave peppers in good frameworks with which to evaluate and develop mental models to helps assess the situation you are in and what might be appropriate for you.
I like his simple framework that starts with you the leader at the core… developing a personal board of directors (more than just a mentor) in coming to an honest evaluation of what drives you and why are you here. Lots of humility in his own stories, as evidenced by the counterpoint to the successful reigniting of each chapter where he highlights his own failure as an example. Like writing a book, the only reason to start a business is if it’s more painful for you not to start it - if your motivation is pride, proving self-doubt, or ego… that can actually serve business formation but almost never business reignition. Whether there is a strong core to the business (paramount from my experience… you’re doomed without one) and a move to be made (move can be to just stay stagnant and focus on getting lean for cashflow), there’s nowhere to go if you’re not driven by the right reason.
At first I thought that I’m happy to not see my own name / collaborations with Dave show up in this book… then I thought that might have actually been nice to see his thoughtful reflection. It was great to read how many friends I didn’t know we had in common whose stories, lessons, struggles, and triumphs he did feature. Being in the venture restructuring world for 8 years my mindset and POV are about as close as can be, and I even found myself nodding at how often I tell the same messages written in this book (venture is great but right for far fewer than take it, pride yourself on how little your raised not how much). This is a book I’ll proudly display on my shelf… and pragmatically if I ever have the hubris to think I’m wise enough to write a book on this topic, I’ll have a reminder that it was already done way better than I could.
I like his simple framework that starts with you the leader at the core… developing a personal board of directors (more than just a mentor) in coming to an honest evaluation of what drives you and why are you here. Lots of humility in his own stories, as evidenced by the counterpoint to the successful reigniting of each chapter where he highlights his own failure as an example. Like writing a book, the only reason to start a business is if it’s more painful for you not to start it - if your motivation is pride, proving self-doubt, or ego… that can actually serve business formation but almost never business reignition. Whether there is a strong core to the business (paramount from my experience… you’re doomed without one) and a move to be made (move can be to just stay stagnant and focus on getting lean for cashflow), there’s nowhere to go if you’re not driven by the right reason.
At first I thought that I’m happy to not see my own name / collaborations with Dave show up in this book… then I thought that might have actually been nice to see his thoughtful reflection. It was great to read how many friends I didn’t know we had in common whose stories, lessons, struggles, and triumphs he did feature. Being in the venture restructuring world for 8 years my mindset and POV are about as close as can be, and I even found myself nodding at how often I tell the same messages written in this book (venture is great but right for far fewer than take it, pride yourself on how little your raised not how much). This is a book I’ll proudly display on my shelf… and pragmatically if I ever have the hubris to think I’m wise enough to write a book on this topic, I’ll have a reminder that it was already done way better than I could.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews