Low cost business: What Actually Kills Undercapitalised Businesses.

Then the rest, always in the same order. We were undercapitalised. We had the product vision but we hit the end of the runway right before we reached real scale. Follow-on investors got nervous. The market turned. Timing.

From chapter 2: What actually kills undercapitalised businesses

In September 2007 a cognitive psychologist named Gary Klein published a short piece in the Harvard Business Review describing a technique he called the premortem. A postmortem asks why the patient died. A premortem assumes your patient is already dead and asks what killed him, before anything at all has gone wrong.

From chapter 2: What actually kills undercapitalised businesses

That is how the book looks at “low cost business”: one idea at a time, with a step you can take right away. Of course, this is only one idea from the book. So, if this passage speaks to you, the full chapter goes further, and it ends with an exercise you can do the same evening.

In short, the book has 11 chapters, and each one ends with a practical exercise. Therefore, you can read it in order, or you can go straight to the part about “low cost business”.

1. The data that destroys the "need money" myth
2. What actually kills undercapitalised businesses
3. The bird in hand: you already have what you need
4. Customers are better investors than vcs
5. The first dollar
6. The float: how to get paid before you pay
7. Why you will price too low
8. The service to product pivot
9. Money you did not know existed
10. The growth loop
11. How many days you have left

Finally, you can get What Actually Kills Undercapitalised Businesses: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent in the stores below. Because every title of this book shares the same text, you can simply pick the one you like best. Also, the book is available in 19 languages.

In addition, each title below highlights a different idea from the same book. So, pick the one that speaks to you.

• The Bird in Hand: You Already Have What You Need: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• Customers Are Better Investors Than VCs: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• The First Dollar: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money
• The Float: How to Get Paid Before You Pay: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• Why You Will Price Too Low: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• The Service to Product Pivot: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• Money You Did Not Know Existed: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• The Growth Loop: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent
• How Many Days You Have Left: Get Paid Before You Spend a Cent

See all 19 titles. Go to the book page.