A summary of things you should know about Startup Mixology according to Frank Gruber

Introduction

In this episode Tech Cocktail’s own Frank Gruber takes you inside his book Startup Mixology. His book is the perfect all-in-one strategy for serial entrepreneurs who plan on creating multiple businesses over time.

The Book’s Unique Quality

I wanted to create a book that had, start to finish, the ingredients or elements that go in to starting up. I tell the story about the harsh reality so that as you are starting up you realize that you’re going to hit those ups and downs. I explain how to get out of those dips and using celebration to help push you through and guide you as you continue to propel towards your goal.

The Reader’s Takeaway

The point of this book is to help inspire people that may be on the fence about applying some of these things to either their startup journey or internally in their company. My goal is if they have an idea that they want to launch, hopefully this is a good guide to start. It won’t be an easy path but this book will help you understand that. It should be a great starting point for anyone who has an idea and doesn’t know where to start or maybe is afraid to.

A Deep Dive Into The Book

Part one is getting started and how to think like an Entrepreneur. The first four chapters are about thinking like an entrepreneur, coming up with ideas and turning those into actions. Also, how to formulate a company by getting all your documentation in place, business documents, everything filed and ready to go with both the accounting and legal side.

Part two is about the product. You start with coming up with a marketing fit, take that idea and launch it to your audience. You can start with a simple launch, with a small group of enthusiastic people and build from there. I also talk about how you measure success and how important it is to know what you need to build a business. I give the example of how Uber has done really well and grown very quickly.

Part three is about team and people. Team is crucial with starting and running a business. I show you how to find those people and what you should be looking for. We focus a lot on culture in this chapter. Culture is really everything when it comes to building a team that can execute and make sure everyone continues to move ahead. We also focus on celebration and being able to acknowledge the fact that something happened and how important that is. It’s also important to treat everyone with respect along the way and I think it’s something we sometimes forget.

Part four is sales and marketing. One chapter is sales and the other is marketing. Figuring out your marketing and sales is very important and these two chapters talk about that.

Part five is about money, bootstrapping and funding. We bootstrapped for seven years, didn’t pay ourselves for a long time and you can go pretty far with that. And we also talk about the different aspects or raising money as well. Both viable options, it just depends on your business and what your goals are.

Part six is about growth and change. Chapter 16 is about failure and failure is a big part of starting and running a business. No one wants to fail but if you do you need to learn from it, grow and go figure out what the next step is. If the company doesn’t make it, that’s not you, that’s the company. You will be fine and you need to move on from that. Managing expectations are very important and that’s why this chapter is in the book.

The final chapter is about success and it covers what success looks like, how to scale and gives a story on success. In the conclusion we share about what the path has looked like for us and talk about other resources that are available through the book.

Notable Quotes From The Book

“The best day to start is today. Not tomorrow, not the next day, today.” “Get it going and you’ll figure it out along the way.” – Frank Gruber

The Credibility/Inspiration Of The Author

I am the CEO and co-founder of Tech Cocktail. Tech Cocktail is a news and events organization that is focused on startups, technology and entrepreneurship. I try to help better connect both online and off as well as connecting brands with that audience. We try to make the startup journey more memorable and fun.

It took me ten years to figure out how to jump off the entrepreneurial diving board and I wanted to jump start this for other people. It tells a little about my story but also tells the stories of companies like Uber, Zappos and WordPress and uses their stories to illustrate the ingredients that go in to starting and running a business.

Other Books Recommended By The Author

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

More Information About This Book and The Author

Buy Startup Mixology by Frank Gruber on Amazon today

Visit Startupmixology.Tech.co to get extra exclusive content

Visit FrankGruber.co to learn more about Frank

Follow Frank Gruber on Twitter

More Information About This Episode

Download the full transcript here

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud

Related books: All In Startup by Diana Kander | Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Gabriel Weinberg | Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

Relevant advice and tips: 5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding | 5 Important Things That Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting a New Business

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Wade Danielson

Wade is a 4-time serial entrepreneur and is the Founder/Host of The Entrepreneurs Library. With a long time passion for reading books, Wade created an online resource and podcast for entrepreneurs who love to read personal and business development books. His long-term goal in life is to start an entrepreneurial home schooling program for children of business-minded families.