The Founder's Manual by Ryan Frederick

Founder Flow: Do you have what it takes to be a Founder?

Not everyone is cut out to start a business. In fact, starting a company is an irrational act. Most successful Founders bring a unique combination of drive, determination, product knowledge, creative problem-solving skills, business acumen, stamina, and a keen sense of timing, to their fledgling enterprises. And the best of these know how to communicate with a variety of audiences by telling a great story. In the first section of this manual, author Ryan Frederick creates a profile of the combination of skills, personality, and discipline that are common to successful Founders.

A Founder has many audiences that compete for attention—The Core Team, Investors, Suppliers, and Customers to name a few. Each is critical to the success of a new enterprise and the ability to prioritize, communicate with them, and engage them at just the right time, is essential to the success of any start-up. With limited resources, failure to engage with any one of these important audiences at the right moment can be the difference between success and shutting down. 

Start-Up Flow: Do you have a winning idea?

More than any one factor, the key to a successful start-up is solving a high-value problem that customers care about and will pay for at a level that provides the business outcomes desired by the product owner. It’s that simple, but it’s not easy!

The second section of the Founder’s Manual focuses on strategy and the business decisions that go into moving from a concept to producing a deliverable and building a customer base. In a dozen concise chapters, Frederick focuses on defining a niche, becoming investable, finding customers, finding investors, working with accelerators, timing, and knowing limitations. Another important focus of this section is a Founder’s role in establishing a culture that will ultimately define the enterprise, affect operations, and shape brand messaging as the organization evolves.

Product Flow: Building a Successful Product

The third section of this guidebook focuses on the process of creating a product that customers care about and will pay for. In addition to sound advice for managing your product and business relative to competing products, this section focuses on getting to know your customers, understanding the problem along with changing requirements, and designing solutions that customers will appreciate. It covers the important topics of timing, releasing early versions of a product, adding features, and keeping customers engaged throughout the process. In the end, the best product always wins. 

In this essential guide, Ryan Frederick shares his experience as a Founder along with countless insights, gained from years spent working closely with scores of start-up companies, that are guaranteed to help you on your journey to becoming a successful Founder.

View author profile: Ryan Frederick

(202 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-941688-68-7; April 2020)

Also available for Kindle readers

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