The Startup Lifecycle Book Summary

Book Summary

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Brief Summary

This book can change your life if you read it carefully and understand the necessity of following the phases that make up the startup lifecycle. It will also provide the necessary motivation through his personal story of forging forward and overcoming obstacles while also undertaking risky adventures that align with his business risks.

Shepard will continually remind you that you are on a journey and should focus on moving from one phase to the next while keeping your exit from day one. It is however, imperative to recognize that you are following a highly accredited startup guru. If you decide to take shortcuts or believe you have a “better” plan of action, you may be sabotaging yourself.

The biggest takeaways are that: with enough drive and fortitude you can overcome all sorts of obstacles on your way to triumph

You are learning from someone who has been there / done that and is a proven expert in startup businesses.

And Shepard wants nothing more than to see people leave the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle and create a thriving started up business that that will attract prominent buyers from the lofty mega-companies that stand front and center on modern business horizon.

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.

Topics

Entrepreneurship

The Startup Lifecycle Book Summary Preview

What Will You Learn?

With a positive mindset and never-give-up attitude you can excel beyond your wildest dreams

How to find opportunities everywhere

The significance of visionaries and subject matter experts in startups
How to create and build a startup that will buck the odds of startup failures
The Seven vital stages that make up the startup lifecycle
How to work toward a successful startup sale (aka exit) from day one

Who is this book for?

Anyone looking to make a change from living paycheck to paycheck

Someone with a strong entrepreneurial curiosity

Those who believe in learning experiences and not just from a formal education

Someone who recognize what it means to follow a proven plan to success
People who are willing to take risks to achieve their dreams

The Startup Lifestyle

How to Build, Grow, and Optimize a Business from Vision to Exit by Gregory Shepard, published in 2024 by BenBella Books is an ideal primer or anyone looking to change their life significantly.

Yet, this is more than a book on creating a startup business. Shepard’s personal story weaves its way through the chapters serving as an ongoing motivational master class… with a touch of humor. His lifelong journey goes well beyond the conventional rags to riches story as he defied all odds from growing up well below the poverty line along with personal challenges including Synesthesia, Savant Syndrome, Severe Dyslexia and Autism (ADOS Level 1).

Told by teachers that he would have a very difficult time doing anything worthwhile, Shepard went from humble beginnings selling rattlesnakes (until his mom put him out of businesses) to numerous other positions which eventually led to him building his own startup, Affiliate Traction, with intent to sell. He later did just that, enjoying a remarkable nearly 10-figure exit.

He then paid his success forward guiding a dozen startup founders along the path from vision to highly lucrative exits.

Cautionary Chapters

After the opening chapter in which Shepard recalls his early years and before moving into the seven phases of the startup lifecycle, Shepard provides a couple of cautionary chapters, one of which talks about how Silicon Valley can swallow up startups quickly if you let them. Well aware of the enticing image put forth by Silicon Valley where venture capitalists thrive, Shepard is quick to warn newcomers that this may not be the best atmosphere for wide-eyed eager newcomers trying to gain funding for their fledgling startups.

In the following chapter he provides a necessary, yet often overlooked, discussion on why startups fail at a rate of 90 percent. Utilizing the research from various studies, articles, case studies, government records, academic studies, and 1,200 one-to-one interviews conducted by Shepard with founders, entrepreneurs, investors, Air Force Fighter Pilots, and even Navy Seals he presents actionable strategies for mapping out a plan to avoid failure. He proceeds to elaborate on the five key reasons startups fail.

Building the Wrong Management Team

Targeting the Wrong Customers,

Overlooking the significance of having an exit strategy from the start,

Overvaluing Your Startup

5.) The common mistake of Listening to Bad Advice.