Starting a venture has never be easier exceeding has never been harder

Try to act normal

Aim for an order of magnitude improvement

Start small but be ambitious

Most failures result from poor execution not unsuccessful innovation

The best idea originates from founders who are users

Don't scale your technology until it works

Manage with maniacal focus

Target fast growing dynamic markets

Never hire the second-best

Conduct your hiring interviews as see if you're an airline pilot

A part-time game changer is preferable to a full time seat filler

Manager team like a jazz band

Instead of a free lunch, provide meaningful work

Team of professionals with a common mission makes the most attractive investment

Use your financials to tell your story

Create to business plans, an execution plan and a aspiration plan

Know your financial members and their interdependence by heart

Net income is an opinion but cash flow is a fact

Unity economics tell you whether you have a business

Manage working capital as if it were your only source of funds

excellent exercise district its financial discipline

Always be frugal

To get where you are going you need to know where you are going

Measurement comes with pitfalls

Operational setbacks require swift and deep cutbacks

Safe surprises for birthdays not for your stakeholders

Strategic pivots offer silver linings

Don't accept money from strangers

Incubators are good for finding investors but not for developing business

Avoid venture capital unless you absolutely need it

If you choose venture capital pick the right type of the investor

Conduct detailed due diligence on your investors

Personal wealth is not good investing

Choose investors who think like operators

Deal directly with the decision makers

Find stable investors

Select investors who can help future financings

Investors syndicates needs to be managed

Capital intensive ventures required deep financial pockets

Strategic investors pose unique challenges

Raise capital in stages as you remove risks

Minimizing dilutions is not your fund raising objective

Don't let a temporary fix become a permanent mistake

Pursue the lowest cost capital in light of your circumstances

Escape the traps of venture debt

Choose one of four approaches to determine how much money to raise

Always have your aspirational plans ready

More ventures fail from indigestion since from starvation

Never stop fundraising

Venture capital moves in cycles

Fund raising takes more time than you think

The pitch must answer the fundamental questions about your venture

Make it personal

When pitching carefully read the room

Use white papers for deep dive follow-ups

Prepare your financing document ahead of time

Obsessively drive the close

Constant communication is important in convincing investors

Milestones can solve irreconcilable valuation differences

Liquidation preference will change your outcome safe

Do not take rejections personally

Boards are deliberation bodies not collection of individuals

Conflicts of interest and conflicting interest are elephants in room

Your board should be operational rather than administrative

Small boards are better than big ones next one

Lead investors ask for board seats quantify them first

You need a lead director

Add independent board members for expertise and objectivity

True board diversity is a competitive advantage

Each director must commit to spending meaningful time

Review director performance regularly

Your chief financial officer has a special relationship with your board

The founder should choose the best CEO available

Find a coach

It is the CEOs job to run efficient productive meetings

Don't oversell your board

Board agenda should look like this

Prepare thoroughly for board meetings

Use your daily management materials for board meetings

Too many unanimous board decisions is a sign of trouble

Use a working sessions and committees to reinforce your priorities

Your board should spend time with your team

Building companies to last, providing liquidity along the way

Who liquidity is not limited to initial public offerings and acquisitions

If you go public don't slip and fall

Investors and management's interest in liquidity often conflicts

Individual needed liquidity too

Your evaluation will have a local maximum

Ventures aren't just bought they can also be sold

Choose an acquisitor, don’t wait to be chosen

If you want to sell your business you need to know the decision-makers

Determine whether you are a good fit for acquisition before contacting them

Know your acquisitor’s acquisition history in detail

Make yourself visible

Build a relationship with potential acquisitions don't cold call

Be ready when they are

Success is not linear

Prepare for your lucky break 

Learn the rules by heart so you know when to break them