The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success is a new kind of business book: It takes you step-by-step through all the critical business and legal information startups and growing businesses need, and provides charts, tips, and model forms you can’t get anywhere else. It’s fun, like a Rich Dad, Poor Dad for startups and growing businesses.
It covers all the basic information and much more, like having an expert lawyer and business consultant by your side at every step. It Includes both business and legal Information not available anywhere else to keep you from violating the many complex laws in hiring, fundraising, etc.
It provides practical advice and secrets to success from the author’s unique expertise as a corporate lawyer, federal prosecutor, serial CEO, investor, inventor, and teaching law, business, and entrepreneurship at Georgetown University. It prevents “Startup Suicide™.”
Unlike other books, it shows you not only what to do, but also what not to do to avoid the mistakes that lead to “Startup SuicideTM.” It calls for a new government/private sector program to stimulate startups and businesses to prevent the one trillion-dollar loss to the US economy from eight out of 10 startups failing.
Finally, a business book that’s fun to read! Every chapter ends with stories involving fictional professor Scooter Magee, inspired by actual cases, emphasizing principles in the chapter. Think Professor Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Arc meets Silicon Valley or Bar Rescue! \tThe one book every startup and growing business should read to succeed!
"Most startups run out of time and money in a year or two, and the inventions fail to cross the “Startup Grand Canyon”— the huge chasm between an idea and a financially viable business and end up in the “Valley of Death,” the place where companies die by running out of money before they cash flow is positive.
Eight out of ten new businesses fail, but surprisingly too little attention has been paid to why that is. Think of the tremendous economic loss to our country. We could have had thousands more of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but those potential businesses have been lost. So, “The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success,” identifies the causes of these failures and proposed a Federal moonshot – an action plan to allow entrepreneurs to go from an idea to commercialization in months, not years."
"The author of a new practical guide offers tips on parlaying your brainstorm into a viable business. David Muchow, GR ’66–’68, has spent decades as an attorney, entrepreneur, investor, and consultant. Now, he has channeled that experience into a hands-on guide: The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success. It covers a host of practical dos and don’ts—from creating a business plan and courting investors to managing risk and safeguarding intellectual property.”
“An Instant classic! This is the one book every startup and growing business should have! David Muchow’s an award-winning legal and business expert-and his legal examples read like a John Grisham novel!”
“The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success and How to Avoid Business Failure.” David Muchow’s new book provides practical business and legal information to take startups and growing companies step-by-step through what they need-to-do and never-to-do to be successful. It covers the necessary information like marketing, raising money, and management, plus material not available elsewhere, and legal tips and model forms. And it’s fun to read. It’s like Rich Dad Poor Dad for growing companies. To illustrate the principles in the book, after each chapter there’s an exciting adventure story involving Professor Scooter Magee of Georgetown University who fixes broken startups. Think: Professor Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Arc meets Silicon Valley!”
New York Times Best Selling Author, Byron Dorgan
“This trailblazing book is packed with the critical business and legal information you need to succeed and is lots of fun as well.”
Interview with Editor, Michaela Althouse
Entrepreneurial expert David Muchow just released a book on startup success — with a twist. As a business lawyer and former entrepreneur, DC’s David Muchow encounters a lot of the same questions every day. Questions like: “Should I incorporate in Delaware?” “How do I fire an employee without the worry of a lawsuit?” “How can I protect my intellectual property?” “But in my practice as a corporate lawyer, handling a lot of entrepreneurs and startup matters, I found it was a huge disconnect between the kinds of questions I get every day from entrepreneurs, and the types of books and resources that are out there.”
So, the managing partner of the corporate law firm MuchowLaw decided to do something about it by publishing his unique book in September. “The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success” is a 327-page practical guide to both the business and legal aspects of building a startup. It’s currently available at several bookstores and as an e-book. “The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success” draws from Muchow’s career, which he said has included working in startups and entrepreneurship for 30 years.
This is Muchow’s fifth published book. ”For this one, he decided to do something different to engage readers. This book features a fictional character named Scooter Magee (taken from a former nickname of Muchow’s son), a professional at Georgetown University (where Muchow also teaches) who travels around in a 1962 Austin-Healey convertible (the same car Muchow had as a kid) fixing troubled startups. In between mix-ups with the CIA and other entities, each chapter deals with substantive legal and business matters. All in all, it’s a bit “Raiders of the Lost Ark” meets Silicon Valley, Muchow said.
Through Scooter’s adventures, readers will learn about such basics of building and growing as management, fundraising, marketing, and intellectual property.
“It just makes it a lot more fun to read,” Muchow said of the narrative format. “This is probably the only business book that has a color picture of The Tombs, a famous restaurant at Georgetown, in it, as well as charts on intellectual property issues.”
Doug: “Listen in and learn how to avoid startup suicide. This [book] reads like a novel, not like a business book, which is really kind of cool. it’s like you’re sitting there in the middle of the room watching these characters go at it. This book is going to be good! You’re helping business people!”
“The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success” is the one book every entrepreneur and growing company should have. David Muchow, an award-winning, thirty-year serial entrepreneur and lawyer, who teaches Law, Business, and Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, gives you practical business advice and legal tips covering every aspect of entrepreneurship. It includes all the basics of building and growing a business—management, fundraising, marketing, intellectual property, and risk management—plus much more.
