"Advice for entrepreneurs looking to build a business people actually want to invest inDesigned to reduce waste by testing the market for a product early and often, the concept of the lean startup has been embraced around the world, and successful entrepreneurs and authors Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits join the conversation with their own personal experiences. The Lean Entrepreneur is designed to make lean startup and customer development principles immediately actionable no matter what the industry, size, or stage.This must-read book presents a lexicon of concepts and a universally applicable road map to success, as well as illustrative examples of innovative approaches to industry-specific disruption ranging from technology startups to consumer packaged goods to music to investment and finance. Providing a step-by-step approach to best practices, and giving readers a business model analysis guide, the book is rich in cases studies, illustrative graphics, worksheets, and exercises for a truly immersive guide to starting or improving a company. Invaluable reading for all readers in all businesses, the book teaches entrepreneurs how to approach risk head-on and test market ideas immediately, foster stronger customer relations, test different business model risks, and create a customer funnel based on buyers' process in order to eliminate unnecessary time and effort.A lean entrepreneur has already bought into lean startup, customer development, design thinking, and other iterative, customer-centric methods of product development. The lean entrepreneur wants to know how to apply these to their business. In other words: how to get started tomorrow. This book shows the way. Expands on the core ideas of the "Lean Startup" concept, adding the use of powerful, low-cost analytics to the mix Explains how earlier, more frequent market research can save a business time and money Incorporates cases studies, graphics, worksheets, and exercises to help readers better understand the key concepts expounded in the text Packed with information that can help business at all levels of development--from initial ideas to established companies looking to innovate--The Lean Entrepreneur is the field guide for creating innovative businesses"--

She's about to walk on the wild side . . . While filling the display case in her bakery, the bell over the door sounds and Tessa O'Hara looks up to see the man of her dreams. Within thirty seconds he asks her out for a beer. But after four months of dating, she discovers he's an undercover DEA agent-and he's investigating her possible role in her ex-husband's drug business. For Tess, this means their relationship is over. Brock disagrees. He's committed to his anti-drug mission, but he's fallen in love with the beautiful woman who's as sweet as her cupcakes-and he'll do anything to win her back. Standing between Tess and Brock are their own exes, one of them a drug lord who's determined to get what he wants. Now as danger threatens, can Brock break the rules he's lived by and let loose his wild side to protect the woman he loves?

"The social media craze has, ironically, given birth to one of the biggest booms in recent book publishing. The gaping hole in this market, however, is B2B. Nearly every social media book that's been published either targets the consumer market or treats B2B as an afterthought. If you search for "B2B social media marketing" on Amazon, the results revealed not a single relevant title. In fact, Paul's own two social media books both turn up in the top 10 results, despite the fact that neither of them directly targets this market. This is a stunning gap, given that some of the earliest adopters of social media were B2B companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Cisco. There is also plentiful evidence that B2B marketers are hungry for information about this topic. At the recent Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, a show of hands from the audience of 350 marketers revealed that about 70% identified themselves as B2B. The authors' own consulting and speaking engagements, which were principally to consumer audiences a couple of years ago, are now almost entirely to B2B companies and trade associations. The Business Marketing Association estimates B2B marketing spending at over $80 billion annually. Among the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500, nearly all have significant B2B sales. What's more, the B2B market tends to be less price sensitive than the consumer market, meaning that readers are more likely to pay a premium price for specialized guide and to buy in quantity. How Businesses Reach Businesses will build upon our extensive experience in this space, the authors' two successful social media books, and more than a decade of collective immersion in this topic. This will be a hands-on guide with plentiful examples, case studies and best practices. It will focus on the channels that are proving most effective for B2B marketers as well as on the topics that are unique to this segment, including prospecting for clients, long selling cycles and high-ticket items, using social media for long-term client relationships, corporate transparency and policies, etc"--