Download Our Fall 2012 Catalog PDF - Berrett-Koehler Publishers

BK Business
Peter S. Cohan
Hungry Start-up Strategy
Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and
Unlimited Vision
• The first research-based book on business strategy for start-ups
• Based on Cohan’s venture investment experience and on his
interviews with over 150 start-up CEOs
• Offers specific approaches, designed for the unique needs and
dynamics of start-ups, for making six critical business decisions
Entrepreneurs are hungry. But it’s not just because they’re living on ramen and
adrenaline while they pour their all into their business. Peter Cohan has found
it’s something deeper: a hunger to create the kind of world they want to work in.
To leave a legacy, they build carefully with limited resources and maintain control
of the venture’s direction.
For years, students have told Cohan that the seminal business strategy guide,
Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy, was too big-company focused. So Cohan—
who once worked with Porter—has written the first business strategy book to
address start-ups’ very different challenges.
Cohan focuses on six key start-up choices—setting goals, picking markets, raising
capital, building teams, gaining market share, and adapting to change—explaining
the unique rules start-ups must follow. For example, when setting goals, large
corporations try to maximize their long-term return on equity, but resource-poor
start-ups have to plan by setting a series of short-term goals—and how they do
this will mean the difference between blazing a trail or flaming out. When entering
a new market, well-fed companies can invest substantial time and capital before
ever launching a product, but hungry start-ups must get an adequate prototype in
front of customers fast, get feedback, and quickly develop a viable business model
or they’ll starve to death.
For each of these six areas, Cohan provides a decision-making approach and lively
case studies of what actual entrepreneurs have done. He extracts hard-hitting
lessons not only for start-ups but also for investors and even established companies.
Hungry Start-up Strategy offers a full menu of vital information for anyone seeking
to cook up a thriving business from scratch.
Peter S. Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management
consulting and venture capital firm that has conducted 150 consulting projects for
companies and governments and invested in six private companies, three of which
were sold for $2 billion. He teaches strategy at Babson College and entrepreneur -
ship at the Olin College of Engineering. He has taught at Stanford University,
Columbia University, MIT, and Barcelona’s EADA and has conducted management
development programs sponsored by IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Fidelity
Investments, and Procter & Gamble. He has written nine books and coauthored two.
Publication date: November 2012
$27.95, paperback, 264 pages
6¹/8" x 9¼"
ISBN 978-1-60994-528-2
PDF ebook, ISBN 978-1-60994-529-9
Business
Rights: world
You might also enjoy
Bob Johansen
Leaders Make the
Future
Ten New Leadership Skills
for an Uncertain World,
Second Edition
$29.95, hardcover
ISBN 978-1-60994-487-2
PDF ebook
ISBN 978-1-60994-488-9
Chip R. Bell and
John R. Patterson
Wired and Dangerous
How Your Customers Have
Changed and What to Do
About It
$19.95, paperback
ISBN 978-1-60509-975-0
PDF ebook
ISBN 978-1-60509-976-7
U.S. Orders (800) 929-2929 11