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How to Be a Founder: How Entrepreneurs can Identify, Fund and Launch their Best Ideas
An essential guide to equip the next generation of founders with the mindset and tools they need to take the leap to become globally successful entrepreneurs.
Featuring a foreword by Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, this fascinating handbook inspires potential founders and provides essential guidance and advice for people who want to create their own start-up and build a successful company. This book answers the question “how do I get started?” It takes the reader from making the decision to plunge into entrepreneurship, through the process of choosing and developing an idea and team, all the way to raising capital and working with VCs and angel investors.
Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford are the co-founders of Entrepreneur First (EF). Over the last decade, they have worked with thousands of ambitious individuals across the world, supporting them to become founders. Those individuals have now built companies worth billions of dollars that are taking on some of the world's biggest challenges, including finding hard-to-spot cancers, tackling climate change and building new financial platforms. In How to Be a Founder , the authors share advice, insights and lessons from their decade of experience working with individuals to become successful founders. The book covers what you need to do today to start your journey as a founder and the steps to take to maximise your chances of building a high-growth, scalable company. You'll also hear advice from some of the world's best investors and entrepreneurs who have built some of most iconic technology companies of our time.
Featuring a foreword by Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, this fascinating handbook inspires potential founders and provides essential guidance and advice for people who want to create their own start-up and build a successful company. This book answers the question “how do I get started?” It takes the reader from making the decision to plunge into entrepreneurship, through the process of choosing and developing an idea and team, all the way to raising capital and working with VCs and angel investors.
Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford are the co-founders of Entrepreneur First (EF). Over the last decade, they have worked with thousands of ambitious individuals across the world, supporting them to become founders. Those individuals have now built companies worth billions of dollars that are taking on some of the world's biggest challenges, including finding hard-to-spot cancers, tackling climate change and building new financial platforms. In How to Be a Founder , the authors share advice, insights and lessons from their decade of experience working with individuals to become successful founders. The book covers what you need to do today to start your journey as a founder and the steps to take to maximise your chances of building a high-growth, scalable company. You'll also hear advice from some of the world's best investors and entrepreneurs who have built some of most iconic technology companies of our time.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 25, 2022
67 people are currently reading
409 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 31, 2023
Excellent
Excellent book, probably the best I’ve read on the subject matter. Not a huge surprise given Clifford’s previous writing. I must admit however, this makes founding a company sound like a dreadful exercise in masochism.
Excellent book, probably the best I’ve read on the subject matter. Not a huge surprise given Clifford’s previous writing. I must admit however, this makes founding a company sound like a dreadful exercise in masochism.
September 18, 2022
The amazing Entrepreneur First has created a new model for helping people become founders and create amazing companies, and I loved listening to Matt & Alice narrate the audiobook.
The book holds many great truths about starting a company, as well as links to other tips. Here are five I agreed so much with that I nodded fiercely on my bike about how to be a great founder:
1. Keep the drive without scoreboards, promotions, or career ladders. Sadly, we are all trained in school and at work to get reviews, promotions, and reviews. As a founder, you often have no clue how you are doing, and you have to find methods of handling that.
2. Handle the identity crisis of being a nobody. Even if you have an amazing CV and track record, when you start a company, you are a noob. For some, it is unchangeable to explain to friends, family, and former colleagues why you are "throwing away your career and potential."
3. The focus on learning and moving forward and not on "being right." It is hard not to get angry and want to prove people wrong. The risk is that the startup and your process lose focus on what is most important in the beginning; quick learning.
4. As the team grows, getting joy from leading and building a great team and culture and realizing that you become the bottleneck if it should be all about you.
5. Communicating in an engaging way and with clarity of thought- making people around you want to be part of your journey, without making the delta between what you say and what you truly feel to be damaging to your mental health.
Thanks, Matt & Alice, for a great book!
The book holds many great truths about starting a company, as well as links to other tips. Here are five I agreed so much with that I nodded fiercely on my bike about how to be a great founder:
1. Keep the drive without scoreboards, promotions, or career ladders. Sadly, we are all trained in school and at work to get reviews, promotions, and reviews. As a founder, you often have no clue how you are doing, and you have to find methods of handling that.
2. Handle the identity crisis of being a nobody. Even if you have an amazing CV and track record, when you start a company, you are a noob. For some, it is unchangeable to explain to friends, family, and former colleagues why you are "throwing away your career and potential."
3. The focus on learning and moving forward and not on "being right." It is hard not to get angry and want to prove people wrong. The risk is that the startup and your process lose focus on what is most important in the beginning; quick learning.
4. As the team grows, getting joy from leading and building a great team and culture and realizing that you become the bottleneck if it should be all about you.
5. Communicating in an engaging way and with clarity of thought- making people around you want to be part of your journey, without making the delta between what you say and what you truly feel to be damaging to your mental health.
Thanks, Matt & Alice, for a great book!
January 6, 2024
Very insightful, made me think about life differently.
August 25, 2024
Heavily biased towards software companies (which is ironic, since the authors' company, Entrepreneur First, isn't software) and founders looking for funding. Still some insightful advice on being a good founder and prioritizing mission over money.
"One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is that, in exchange for additional work-life risk (such as lack of clarity about progression and what it's actually going to take to succeed), you have the potential for uncapped upside. That's true at a financial level, of course, but it's also true for intellectual stimulation, for personal and professional growth, for pursuing your interests, for being able to focus on what you're good at, and for designing roles and problems to work on that are most fulfilling. All these dimensions are uncapped when you start a company—as long as you start the right company for you" (page 36).
"One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is that, in exchange for additional work-life risk (such as lack of clarity about progression and what it's actually going to take to succeed), you have the potential for uncapped upside. That's true at a financial level, of course, but it's also true for intellectual stimulation, for personal and professional growth, for pursuing your interests, for being able to focus on what you're good at, and for designing roles and problems to work on that are most fulfilling. All these dimensions are uncapped when you start a company—as long as you start the right company for you" (page 36).
July 29, 2024
There is a lot of literature on the process of starting a startup. Naturally, a book written by the founders of EF is going to have a narrative that strongly aligns with their perspectives on the process.
The result of this is a book that presents the startup journey as one that requires intrinsic knowledge of the self first before beginning. EF calls this self-awareness Edge, along with having a belief of where the world is going. The next step after this (and one that EF use to separate themselves from other investors) is to find a Co-founder. These two fundamental pillars are the bedrock of starting an EF-inspired startup.
The book serves as a comprehensive linear overview of the main elements to start a startup. In this regard, it is highly valuable for first-timers. The linearity is also one of the book’s pitfalls, as the main focus on iterative development is solely on the refinement of one’s hunch. It’s likely too difficult to cover the interplay between linear segments in one book, so EF limit the scope to the most salient benchmarks that founders are likely aware of. For this reason, the book is useful but not revolutionary.
The result of this is a book that presents the startup journey as one that requires intrinsic knowledge of the self first before beginning. EF calls this self-awareness Edge, along with having a belief of where the world is going. The next step after this (and one that EF use to separate themselves from other investors) is to find a Co-founder. These two fundamental pillars are the bedrock of starting an EF-inspired startup.
The book serves as a comprehensive linear overview of the main elements to start a startup. In this regard, it is highly valuable for first-timers. The linearity is also one of the book’s pitfalls, as the main focus on iterative development is solely on the refinement of one’s hunch. It’s likely too difficult to cover the interplay between linear segments in one book, so EF limit the scope to the most salient benchmarks that founders are likely aware of. For this reason, the book is useful but not revolutionary.
May 21, 2023
Great overview of the dos and don'ts of startup land.
The book offers great insights into each aspect of the founding journey, which are further presented in ways that challenges linear thinking and make you see/think about particular issues in a different light.
Positively optimistic (I think entrepreneurship is an important force for humanity), this was a refreshing read even though I've worked in startups for most of my career.
For people who want to work in startups rather than found one, this book is equally important: use their framework to evaluate the founders/company you want to join.
The book offers great insights into each aspect of the founding journey, which are further presented in ways that challenges linear thinking and make you see/think about particular issues in a different light.
Positively optimistic (I think entrepreneurship is an important force for humanity), this was a refreshing read even though I've worked in startups for most of my career.
For people who want to work in startups rather than found one, this book is equally important: use their framework to evaluate the founders/company you want to join.
September 9, 2022
As an aspiring VC, there were great examples for what to look out for in pre seed stage companies and the aspects of founders you would be looking for. There's also great advice for founders, setting up your company and an emphasis on "edges" or personal characteristics that give you an unfair advantage in the marketplace. Additionally, the real world examples were useful too.
Having come across Alice on the JBM 40 minute mentor podcast, and learning more about Entrepreneur First and Code first girls, I'd highly recommend this book.
Having come across Alice on the JBM 40 minute mentor podcast, and learning more about Entrepreneur First and Code first girls, I'd highly recommend this book.
February 4, 2023
Explains the thought process behind what EF looks for in founders. Very interesting for pre-seed investors who want to understand better how EF process has been a success. How seemingly impossible for investors is to understand that people who know each other for very little can come together in incubators like EF and turn them into a great team , which will eventually help them to become a great company
A must read for all the founders out there who are currently at a very early stage in their journeys
A must read for all the founders out there who are currently at a very early stage in their journeys
May 28, 2023
For the would-be founders out there: this book should be the first thing you read when you realise that a traditional career path is not for you. It helps to build a solid foundation to launch into finding a cofounder, finding your edge as a founder, refining your startup idea and fundraising. There are dozens of hidden edges to becoming a founder, and this book helps to navigate a few of those. If you want to go down this path, it's essential reading.
Beyond that, this is a book for everyone who's ambitious. Whether you are interested in being a founder or not, there are lessons in here that can be applied to many facets of life - health, relationships, career.
Thinking of yourself as a founder of your life is a really empowering position, and can supercharge all these aspects. Using the frameworks mentioned in this book may even help.
Beyond that, this is a book for everyone who's ambitious. Whether you are interested in being a founder or not, there are lessons in here that can be applied to many facets of life - health, relationships, career.
Thinking of yourself as a founder of your life is a really empowering position, and can supercharge all these aspects. Using the frameworks mentioned in this book may even help.
August 23, 2022
Interesting useful book for founders, although the definition of a founder is fairly narrow here. Those who seek to start up in tech and grow and scale a venture backed business. Still it is easy to read and contains relevant current examples of businesses that have made it, which is quite refreshing compared to the average business book. I found the examples on founder traits, business myths and practical content on finding business partners useful.
September 6, 2022
Even if you've been in startups for a while, I think you'll get something out of this book; especially the back half. It was recommended in an unrelated newsletter (Moontower Meta) that I follow, so I picked it up and came away with a lot of good notes. Listened on Audible.
October 2, 2023
The authors are the founders of "Entrepreneur First", it's an interesting book discussing all the topics that someone who is starting a business would need to think about. Overall I would highly recommend for inspiring entrepreneurs.
January 2, 2024
'Manifesto' of Entrepreneurs First's principles on how to systematically launch a start-up. I found particularly interesting the Part 2 on 'The Founding Process', providing concrete guidelines for the ideation process and co-founder matching.
August 26, 2022
A thoughtful and practical guide about the key considerations of starting a tech business. It is great that the authors’ views are informed by lots of relevant experience.
September 18, 2022
Dense guide to founding an org. One of two books I'd recommend to would-be founders (the other is charity Entrepreneurship's "how to start an effective non-profit"
September 22, 2022
Excellent tips and practical examples
If you’re looking for actionable tips and clarifying examples on how to build a business from scratch: this is your book
If you’re looking for actionable tips and clarifying examples on how to build a business from scratch: this is your book
January 10, 2023
Helpful framework for entrepreneurs to think about their “edge” - their unique skill combination. Otherwise - good starter for early entrepreneurs who would benefit from the foundations.
April 1, 2023
This is a serious book.
August 6, 2023
A great tldr high level summary of being a founder that makes you feel pretty optimistic. I picked it up from a hackathon I attended and it's a pretty breezy book to skim through.
March 3, 2024
big takeaway: I'm a founder! lots of 'obvious in retrospect but glad I'm reminded to think about it"-type content in here
April 5, 2024
Very eye opening and learned so much. Will read it repeatedly.
January 4, 2025
Great book for foundational knowledge.
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April 1, 2025i get the idea
November 10, 2024
i found it very useful, specially the parts about VC funding and managing co-founder expectations. will need to re read
January 3, 2023
Allows you to define your edge and focus on the stuff that matters.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews