About the author
Gregory Shepard is a formidable business leader who has built and sold twelve businesses. Over his brilliant career he has worked with startups, turnarounds, cleanups and roll-ups. His crowning achievement, thus far, was the sale of two of his own businesses in 2016 as a part of a cross-brand deal totaling over $980 million.
Shepard, whose debut book, The Startup Lifecycle: The definitive guide to building a startup from idea to exit” was released by BenBella Books and distributed by Penguin Random House in 2024. The book has been described by John Cockburn, scientific advisor at Partnership for Economic Policy as “An incredibly powerful resource for startup entrepreneurs and even those who have been running enterprises for several years,”
Shepard has also written, or been quoted in, articles for Forbes, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The New York Observer, The DEAL and Thrive Global magazines. In addition, Shepard hosts the podcast Startup Science and the Forbes Radio podcast Meet the BOSS, named for the global investment syndicate BOSS Capital Partners, a series seed technology businesses which he founded in 2020.
With book in hand and a consummate knowledge of all facets of the startup process, Shepard has taken his startup business expertise on the road with a speaking tour. Prior speaking engagements include Tedx talks as well as keynotes speeches at many universities and conferences worldwide.
What separates Shepard from his peers is his remarkable personal journey in which he defied the odds by navigating his career around several significant barriers including dyslexia, neurodivergencies, and growing up in abject poverty. And yet Shepard, a calculated risk taker, peppers his talks, as he did with his book, by including amusing, inspiring and courageous tales from his days as a young rattlesnake salesman to guiding founders through the process of building and selling their startup companies for life-changing wealth.
Shepard lives in San Diego with his wife, two children, and his potbellied pig, Winnebago.
