photo by brianwallace

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup, by David Cohen and Brad Feld, is full of first person stories about getting positive business results faster. Most of the key points in the book deal with using communication skills effectively and deliberately to:

Listen and relate to the customer and the customer’s needs – “As long as I listen to the customers, I never need to have another original idea.” “Describing the pain is usually quite natural, but many people forget

to finish the job. Think of describing the pain as sticking the knife in.”

Deal with investors and gain financial support – “Show, don’t tell. This applies nicely to every pitch you ever do.” “When you want money, ask for advice.” “When you start your company, it’s likely that you will collaborate with some other, more established companies. If you are working on something of value to them, they will often be willing to figure out a financial arrangement to help fund some of the work you are doing together.”

Manage conflict – “A common reason for startup fatalities, particularly in the early days, is some sort of conflict between co-founders. One of the main reasons for co-founder conflict is that many aspects of the relationship were either ill-defined or misunderstood.” “I permit everyone I work with to screw me over once. When this happens, I confront them, forgive them, and move on. However, if they screw me over a second time, then I’m done with them forever.”

Harness time – “Great teams of people move much faster than teams of weak people, as great people feed off of each other.” “If there’s one competitive advantage that most startups have, it’s that they can do more faster. And because they can do more faster they can learn more faster.”