Smart Startups: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know by Catalina Daniels & James H. Sherman - Hardback - Business & Entrepreneurship Non Fiction

Details Condition: New Format: Hardback ISBN: 9780063316317 Publisher: Harper Business Age Range: Adult / Business Readers Overview Smart Startups: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know is a candid, field-tested guide to building a company that lasts. Written by two Harvard Business School classmates turned founders and angel investors, it goes beyond classroom theory to show what actually happens inside eighteen startups launched by fellow HBS graduates. Packed with honest case studies, hard-won lessons, and unexpected pitfalls, this hardback is essential reading for anyone serious about turning an idea into a viable, scalable business. About the Book Catalina Daniels and James H. Sherman met as classmates at Harvard Business School, where they studied the fundamentals of entrepreneurship together. Years later, after each had founded and exited multiple companies and become active angel investors, they discovered that their real-world experiences often diverged sharply from the conventional wisdom taught in business school. Smart Startups was born from that gap. Rather than relying on abstract frameworks, the authors went inside eighteen companies founded by their fellow HBS graduates, interviewing founders about what genuinely worked, what failed, and why. The result is a startup playbook grounded in evidence rather than assumption, covering the full arc of building a company: validating an idea, securing early funding, building and motivating a team, navigating investor relationships, and scaling operations without losing sight of the original vision. Chapters are structured around specific challenges founders face at each stage, with direct quotes and case studies illustrating both successes and cautionary tales. The tone is direct and unsentimental, treating readers as capable adults who want substance over slogans. For MBA students, first-time founders, or anyone advising early-stage businesses, it offers a rare combination of academic rigour and street-level