The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture

Description

A complete guide to navigating your journey into entrepreneurship from start to finish Silicon Valley is full of start-up success stories; every day stories emerge of a new company with the potential for a billion-dollar valuation and plans for global domination. But what can we really learn from these stories? How many of these start-ups are genuinely successful in the long term? When nine out of ten start-ups end in spectacular burnout, how can we ensure our own success story? While most books and press focus on the more sensational moments of creation and conclusion, The Messy Middle argues that the real key to success is how you navigate the ups-and-downs after initial investment is secured. It will give you all the insights you need to build and optimize your team, improve your product and develop your own capacity to lead. Building on seven years' of meticulous research with entrepreneurs, small agencies, start-ups and billion-dollar companies, Scott Belsky offers indispensable lessons on how to endure and thrive in the long term.

Scott Belsky is an American entrepreneur, author and early-stage investor best known for co-creating the online portfolio platform, Behance, Inc. In 2010, Belsky was included in Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business list. In December 2012, Behance was acquired by Adobe where Belsky became VP of Products, Mobile and Community at Adobe. In February 2016 Belsky left Adobe and joined Benchmark as the firm's sixth general partner. Prior to joining Benchmark, Belsky had been an early-stage investor and active advisor to companies including Uber, Warby Parker, Pinterest, Periscope and Sweetgreen.

This is required reading for founders. Experienced entrepreneurs all know this period Scott refers to as 'the messy middle' and a few of us have worked our way out of it, but this is the first time I've seen an expert-both as a founder and as an investor-break down in such detail just how to endure, optimize, and make it through. -- Alexis Ohanian * cofounder of Initialized Capital and Reddit * Scott Belsky is a master of generous work worth doing. The Messy Middle will help you see that you have more control than you dare to admit, and the ability to make a difference if you care enough. -- Seth Godin * author of Linchpin * Building a lasting business is 1 percent idea and 99 percent resilience. The Messy Middle details the unglamorous but essential lessons every founder needs to learn. -- Jennifer Hyman * cofounder and CEO, Rent The Runway * Starting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute. -- Joe Gebbia * cofounder and chief product officer, Airbnb * Having been through the ups and downs of the messy middle many times, it's critical to understand the challenges ahead. This insightful book empowers you to approach them head-on. Belsky's powerful tool kit, based on hard-earned experiences, is an essential guide to building a compelling product, revolutionizing an organization, or growing your leader-ship abilities. -- Tony Fadell * inventor of the iPod, coinventor of the iPhone, founder and former CEO of Nest, principal at Future Shape *