Reignition

A Secret Playbook for Transforming Stuck Startups Nine out of ten startups fail. Even venture capital firms make most of their returns on one out of ten investments hitting the proverbial “home run.” But in the media—and our culture—we glorify those success stories, leaving little room for the difficult side of entrepreneurship. Naturally, founders attempt to replicate the success of those winners by raising too much, scaling too quickly, and destroying themselves in pursuit of the much-celebrated “unicorn” status. But for those that aren’t in that 10% of hyper-growth companies, there is another path. In Reignition: Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor Dave Hersh skillfully outlines how to transform a stuck startup into a lean, disciplined, focused organization with the time, space, and market position to find a breakout move. Dave’s perspective on startup transformation is unique, timeless, and in high demand from entrepreneurs worldwide who feel stuck. Drawing on his own experience and others’ stories of triumph and failure, Dave shows how companies can recover from a near-death experience and have a profoundly successful second act on a grand stage. Readers will learn how to shed unnecessary weight, adapt their leadership style, find their “best in the world” offering, optimize culture, and patiently navigate toward larger-scale success. Dave Hersh has a clear and vital message for startup founders, leaders, and stakeholders who find themselves stuck: All hope is not lost, but you must transform to survive. Bolstered by real-life stories of successful turnarounds, interviews with industry experts, and “hard lessons” from Dave’s own experiences, Reignition provides a clear and practical playbook for getting a company through the transition from stuck to great. Reignition is for anyone involved in the hard work of launching a successful second act, including startups and growth companies with $1M to $100M in revenue that have tasted success but need a different game plan to make it to the next level. Whether you are a founder, CEO, executive, advisor, or board member, this book will show you the path to successful transformation. Dave’s ability to go deep into the human side of company-building—along with his vulnerability, accessibility, and real-world experience—makes the reader feel like Dave is “in the boat” with them as they go through the difficult journey of rebooting their startup. Readers will gain the confidence to transform their companies, the skills to do it, and the reassurance that they are not alone. Dave Hersh is an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor based in San Francisco with over 30 years of experience in business strategy and startups. His ideas on building lean, profitable, mission-driven businesses have helped hundreds of businesses get unstuck and find their breakaway path. He is currently a general partner at Metamorph Capital, which acquires companies in need of a reboot and transforms them into healthy, sustainable leaders. Dave was the Founding CEO of Jive (NASD: JIVE), which he grew from a small open-source project to its IPO in 2011. He then spent two years as a Board Partner (investor) at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.