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THE FOUNDER HANDBOOK

THE HOW-TO GUIDE FOR GETTING YOUR FIRST TEN ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS

Paperback
eBook

Why does this book matter?

There are no set rules on how to succeed in building and then scaling your startup.

However, we believe that there are universal lessons that every successful founder has to learn.

This wisdom is usually accumulated the hard way – doing something, failing at it, learning from it and then repeating the cycle.

In this book we share these experiences so that you can get a head start!

The founder handbook in the news

Barclays Eagle Labs

We are very proud and grateful for being featured on Barclays Eagle Labs suggested reading list by Steven Drost, CSO of CodeBase.

#5 Launchpad: the energy-focused unicorn factory

Amazing shout-out by Launchpad newsletter #5, “The energy-focused unicorn factory”, as a recommended reading for the week!

The woman behind The Founder Handbook

The University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School featured Siobhan Clarke in their MBA Guest Post.

Launchpad Frankly Podcast

Siobhan and Andrius discuss the how-to guide for getting your first 10 enterprise customers part of Launchpad Frankly podcast series.

Posts and essays

Startup churn rate

ChartMogul: Net vs. Gross Revenue Churn: Best Practices (chartmogul.com link) ProfitWell: How to Achieve Net Negative Churn for SaaS (profitwell.com link) Cover art by: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/negative-churn

What is product market fit

Tren Griffin: 12 Things about Product-Market Fit (a16z.com link) Also see: Cover art by: https://productcoalition.com/5-signs-youve-achieved-product-market-fit-9e0b645e5452

Zombie startups

Zombie startups are VC funded companies that don’t close their doors after funding runs out, but also does not grow significantly. They typically generate enough […]

Structure of VC investing

Jason Lemkin: Here’s How Much Your VCs Make (saastr.com link) Cover art by: https://www.salesforce.com/ca/blog/2016/07/steps-to-raise-venture-capital-funds.html

Perceived product value

A study by an assistant professor at The University of Texas at Arlington published in the Journal of Marketing shows that marketers of relatively high-priced […]

The mom test

Talking to customers is one of the foundational skills of both Customer Development and Lean Startup. They say you shouldn’t ask your mom whether your […]

To cry wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of Aesop’s Fables. From it is derived the English idiom “to cry wolf”, defined as “to give a false alarm” in Brewer’s […]

Leading indicators of relationship failure

Business Insider: 4 behaviors are the most reliable predictors of divorce (businessinsider.com link) – surprisingly applies to business relationships too. Cover art by: http://elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk/legal/item/helping-your-startup-survive-a-divorce

Survival of the fittest

The continued existence of organisms which are best adapted to their environment, with the extinction of others, as a concept in the Darwinian theory of […]

Build network effects

NFX: The Network Effects Bible (nfx.com link) NFX: The Network Effects Manual: 13 Different Network Effects (and counting) (nfx.com link) Cover art by: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4253043-sustainable-competitive-advantages-network-effects

Praise for the founder handbook

A must read for anyone thinking about starting a B2B SaaS company targeting enterprise customers. And frankly anyone considering investing in one. It’s packed with quality, very honest & matter of fact advice.

David Corthorn, co-founder and CPO at 2DA Analytics

The great thing Siobhan and Andrius are offering founders with this book is lessons that work in practice – this is not theoretical, it’s from the school of hard knocks.

Paul mcnabb, Co Managing Partner at Episode 1 Ventures

In 10 years of B2B investing every initial conversation with a startup entrepreneur distils down to the belief that “if we build a better product they will come” – they don’t. When this reality becomes general knowledge inside of the startup team then this is where this book steps in – a practical, grounded and structured grand insight on how to get the sales traction to the A round.

John Straw, Senior Advisor – McKinsey and Company

This book is an engaging and entertaining read – and one that packs a huge amount of hard-won wisdom into a relatively small space. Any founder will find their daunting journey a little easier having read this. One of the most valuable gifts to give anyone charting a course through uncertainty is a set of great questions to ask of yourself and others – Siobhan and Andrius more than deliver on this front.

Stephen Cook, Managing Partner at Bp launchpad

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Authors who have done it themselves

Andrius SutasFounder

Andrius is one of the founders and CEO of AimBrain, acquired by the market leader in the space at that time. Over the years, he tried many approaches to starting and scaling a startup that didn’t work and, with Siobhan’s help, a few that did.

Siobhan ClarkeInvestor, Sales Executive

Siobhan is an operating partner at BP Launchpad, investing in and scaling energy companies. She has past experience in sales and strategy roles in startups and big tech. Her expertise lies in finding the value exchange and getting the right things done.

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