Terri Krivosha's New Book, "Founding a Startup: What You Need to Know"

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Terri Krivosha

The Minnesota Cup is proud to help announce the latest news on a new book written by Terri Krivosha. Her new book "Founding a Startup: What You Need to Know" is a great resource for aspiring entrepreneurs. The book covers a wide range of topics, including developing business plans, creating projections, branding considerations, where to organize and how to structure your entity, dividing equity among the founders, valuation, making the decision to seek outside investors, pitching early angel investors, developing human capital resources including compensation, and governance.

Terri Krivosha is a partner at Minneapolis commercial law firm Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP and is passionate about helping businesses grow, succeed, and scale. She works with a strong network of entrepreneurial and dynamic businesses and their funders, advising them on all matters as they grow their businesses. She served as chair of her firm for four years, and this experience running a business has enabled her to understand and empathize with her clients' needs and challenges.

The Minnesota Cup recently asked Terri a few questions about her book.

Can you tell us why you decided to write "Founding a Startup: What You Need to Know"?
I have worked with startups and entrepreneurs for the past 30 years and wanted to provide a resource for them that consolidated useful information for them in one place. My goal was to provide a "go-to" source for entrepreneurs that gave them information to get started on various subjects including everything from business plans, to projections, to valuation, to developing an investor pitch, to governance. I teach a class at the William Mitchell College of Law called the "Start up Business Enterprise". In the class the students work in groups and develop businesses. Each class session I have an entrepreneur come to speak to the class. I used the information provided by the entrepreneurs to my students to provide a "real world" section in each chapter of the book.

What are some key takeaways from your book? ​
Each chapter has a summary at the end with the key "takeaways" from the chapter. The takeaways help to breakdown each chapter and the most important bits of information to remember. One example of a takeaway from chapter 2:

  • First, engage in the process of business planning, in moderation.
  • Second, hone in on the reasons why your business is unique.
  • Third, determine the optimal segment of the market to target.
  • Fourth, position the business so that potential customers appreciate its value.
  • Fifth, be mindful of changes in your business and industry, and adapt quickly.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned that writing a book takes a great deal of focus and tenacity! It was a challenging project and exciting to see the book develop and take shape. I hope it will make a contribution to the resources available for entrepreneurs and give them a good jumping off point as they are developing their businesses.

What are your expectations for the book?
I hope the book will become a "go-to" resource for entrepreneurs as they need information about the various elements required to start up a business. I would love to engage with those who read it and start a live conversation about the journeys of entrepreneurs in their companies. Ultimately it would be great to develop a blog that tells the stories of entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in growing their businesses.