The Fundable Startup: How Disruptive Companies Attract Capital

Haney, who has cofounded four tech start-ups, offers a thorough, if at times plodding, guide to planning a new business venture that won’t die at the idea stage. In his experience, far more startups fail than is commonly realized, as many of them go bust before even incorporating and thus never become statistics. Haney has set out to provide a wealth of strategies for bringing a startup from idea to IPO, though his main advice for how to do so—“create value and attract capital”—won’t come as a revelation to many businesspeople. He earnestly covers skills an experienced CEO should have, namely learning from the errors of those who have already failed, determining (and increasing) a company’s value, and assembling a winning team that is capable of attracting investment. His tips are punctuated with not-particularly-quotable quotes (“Success doesn’t teach as many lessons as failure does”) and illustrative but less-than-revelatory case studies, such as how the inventor of a mobile crime-reporting app was inspired by the experience of being mugged. Startup guides need the kind of energy and excitement it takes to launch one, and Haney doesn’t bring enough enthusiasm to his compilation of solid advice. (Feb. 2018)