The Startup Playbook by Rajat Bhargava and Will Herman, first published by Lioncrest Publishing in 2018 with a foreword by Brad Feld, is a long, practical guide written by two serial founders for people building their first startup. Bhargava is the co-founder and CEO of JumpCloud, and the two authors have started 11 companies between them, with both wins and failures. Wiley released a revised, expanded second edition in 2020.
What is The Startup Playbook about?
The authors set out to write the book they wish someone had handed them before their first company. Their angle is loyalty: they write from the founder’s side of the table and say openly where founders’ interests split from those of investors, bankers, advisors and board members. A lot of startup writing comes from investors. This book tries to balance that by telling founders what the other side will not say.
The book moves through the life of an early company. It covers the founder’s mindset and the shift from building a product to leading an organisation, then a long part on fundraising: choosing investors, keeping control, what happens after a round closes, what to do when a round fails and the alternatives to raising at all. Later parts deal with product, customers, marketing, sales and company culture. The chapters are short and grounded in situations the authors faced themselves.
What makes it useful is the candour. The authors draw on their failures as openly as on their successes, and they explain the reasoning behind each piece of advice. Feld describes it as a guide for anyone working on a first startup, and the book treats readers as peers.
What are the main lessons for founders?
- Know whose side each person is on. Investors, bankers and board members can be great partners and still want different outcomes. Ask what each one gains from a decision before you agree to it.
- Treat funding as a choice. Venture money suits some companies and traps others. Weigh customer revenue, angels, grants and debt before you start a venture round.
- Learn from a failed raise. When investors say no, collect the reasons and look for the pattern. The answer points to a weak spot in the business or the story.
- Founders own the customer early. Stay personally involved in product, sales and marketing until the company has a repeatable way to win customers.
- Shape culture on purpose. Early hires set habits that later hires copy. Decide what behaviour you reward before the team grows.
Who should read The Startup Playbook?
It suits first-time founders of technology companies who expect to raise outside money and want to understand the people they will negotiate with. It also helps founders who have closed a first round and now face a board for the first time. Angel investors and mentors can use it to see the founder’s side more clearly.
Skip it if you plan to bootstrap a small service business. Much of the book assumes venture funding and a company aiming for rapid growth.
How do you put The Startup Playbook to work this week?
- Write down every person with a stake in your company, from co-founders to advisors and investors, and note what each one wants from the next 12 months.
- List three ways to fund the next stage without a venture round and estimate what each one costs you in time and control.
- Write five sentences on the culture you want, then compare them with how your team behaves today.
The free Investor Playbook module in the F/MS Startup School helps you prepare for investor conversations before you start raising.
Where does The Startup Playbook fall short?
The book is long, and its advice comes almost entirely from the US venture-backed technology world, so founders elsewhere or in other sectors must adapt it. Its stories reflect two experienced male founders with strong networks, and it says little about the extra barriers women and minority founders face when they raise money. It covers early customer research lightly. For idea testing, read The Mom Test, and for the terms in a funding deal, Venture Deals.