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| Foreword | |
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| Preface | |
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| About TechStars | |
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| Idea and Vision | |
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| Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless | |
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| Start With Your Passion | |
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| Look for the Pain | |
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| Get Feedback Early | |
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| Usage Is Like Oxygen for Ideas | |
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| Forget the Kitchen Sink | |
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| Find That One Thing They Love | |
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| Don't Plan. Prototype! | |
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| You Never Need Another Original Idea | |
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| Get It Out There | |
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| Avoid Tunnel Vision | |
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| Focus | |
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| Iterate Again | |
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| Fail Fast | |
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| Pull the Plug When You Know It's Time | |
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| People | |
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| Don't Go It Alone | |
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| Avoid Co-Founder Conflict | |
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| Hire People Better than You | |
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| Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly | |
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| If You Can Quit, You Should | |
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| Build a Balanced Team | |
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| Startups Seek Friends | |
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| Engage Great Mentors | |
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| Define Your Culture | |
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| Two Strikes and You Are Out | |
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| Karma Matters | |
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| Be Open to Randomness | |
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| Execution | |
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| Do More Faster | |
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| Assume that You're Wrong | |
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| Make Decisions Quickly | |
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| It's Just Data | |
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| Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut | |
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| Progress Equals Validated Learning | |
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| The Plural of Anecdote Is Not Data | |
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| Don't Suck at E-Mail | |
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| Use What's Free | |
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| Be Tiny Until You Shouldn't Be | |
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| Don't Celebrate the Wrong Things | |
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| Be Specific | |
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| Learn from Your Failures | |
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| Quality over Quantity | |
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| Have a Bias Toward Action | |
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| Do or Do Not, There Is No Try | |
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| Product | |
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| Don't Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product | |
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| Find Your Whitespace | |
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| Focus on What Matters | |
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| Obsess over Metrics | |
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| Avoid Distractions | |
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| Know Your Customer | |
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| Beware the Big Companies | |
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| Throw Things Away | |
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| Pivot | |
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| Fundraising | |
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| You Don't Have to Raise Money | |
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| There's More than One Way to Raise Money | |
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| Don't Forget about Bootstrapping | |
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| Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren't | |
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| Seed Investors Care about Three Things | |
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| Practice Like You Play | |
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| If You Want Money, Ask for Advice | |
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| Show, Don't Tell | |
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| Turn the Knife after You Stick It in | |
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| Don't Overoptimize on Valuations | |
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| Get Help with Your Term Sheet | |
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| Focus on the First One-Third | |
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| Legal and Structure | |
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| Form the Company Early | |
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| Choose the Right Company Structure | |
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| Default to Delaware | |
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| Lawyers Don't Have to Be Expensive | |
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| Vesting Is Good for You | |
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| Your Brother-in-Law Is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer | |
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| To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There Is No Question | |
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| Work-Life Balance | |
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| Discover Work-Life Balance | |
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| Practice Your Passion | |
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| Follow Your Heart | |
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| Turn Work into Play | |
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| Get Out from behind Your Computer | |
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| Stay Healthy | |
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| Get Away from It All | |
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| The Evolution of TechStars | |
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| What Motivated Me to Start TechStars? | |
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| Why TechStars Started in Boulder | |
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| How TechStars Came to Boston | |
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| How TechStars Came to Seattle | |
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| So You Want to Start TechStars in Your City? | |
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| Appendix: The TechStars Companies | |
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| About the Authors | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Index | |