Startupland

The real story of what it takes to risk it all and go forbroke. Conventional wisdom says most startups need to be in SiliconValley, started by young engineers around a sexy new idea, andbacked by VC funding. But as Mikkel Svane reveals inStartupland, the story of founding Zendesk was anything butconventional. Founded in a Copenhagen loft by three thirty-something friendslooking to break free from corporate doldrums, Zendesk Inc. is nowone of the hottest enterprise software companies, still rapidlygrowing with customers in 150 countries. But its success wasanything but predestined. With revealing stories both funny andfrank, Mikkel shares how he and his friends bravely left securejobs to start something on their own, how he almost went brokeseveral times, how they picked up themselves and their families totravel across the world to California and the unknown, and how thethree friends were miraculously still together for Zendesk's IPOand (still growing) success. Much like Zendesk's mission itself—to remove friction,barriers, and mystery in order to make customer service easier andmore approachable—Startupland removes some of themyths about startups and startup founders. Mikkel's advice,hard-won through experience, often bucks conventional wisdom andentrepreneurial tropes. He shares why failure (whether fast orslow) is awful, why a seemingly boring product or idea can be themost exciting, why giving back to the community is as important asthe bottom line. From how to hire right (look for people who arenot offended by swearing) to which personas generate the highestresponse rates, Mikkel answers the most pressing questions from theperspective of someone still in the trenches and willing to sharethe hard truth, warts and all. While there are books by consultants who tell you how to buildbusinesses, or by entrepreneurs now running billion-dollarbusinesses, there are few books from people still in the trencheswho acutely remember the difficult daily decisions, the thrill (andfears) of the early days, the problems that scale with growing abusiness, and the reason why they all went on the adventure in thefirst place. Startupland is indispensable reading for allentrepreneurs who want to make their ideas the next big thing. Thebook will inspire and empower you to follow your own dream andcreate your own story.