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The Messy Middle

Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture

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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Messy Middle written and read by Scott Belsky.

Silicon Valley is full of start-up success stories; every day stories emerge of a new company with the potential for a billion-dollar valuation and plans for global domination.

But what can we really learn from these stories? How many of these start-ups are genuinely successful in the long term? When nine out of ten start-ups end in spectacular burnout, how can we ensure our own success story?

While most books and press focus on the more sensational moments of creation and conclusion, The Messy Middle argues that the real key to success is how you navigate the ups-and-downs after initial investment is secured. It will give you all the insights you need to build and optimize your team, improve your product and develop your own capacity to lead. Building on seven years' of meticulous research with entrepreneurs, small agencies, start-ups and billion-dollar companies, Scott Belsky offers indispensable lessons on how to endure and thrive in the long term.

 Business Development & Entrepreneurship Career Success Employment Entrepreneurship Professionals & Academics Science & Technology Small Business Commerce Career Technology Software Software Development Business Success Silicon Valley Programming Management

Critic reviews

This is required reading for founders. Experienced entrepreneurs all know this period Scott refers to as 'the messy middle' and a few of us have worked our way out of it, but this is the first time I've seen an expert-both as a founder and as an investor-break down in such detail just how to endure, optimize, and make it through. (Alexis Ohanian)
Scott Belsky is a master of generous work worth doing. The Messy Middle will help you see that you have more control than you dare to admit, and the ability to make a difference if you care enough. (Seth Godin)
Building a lasting business is 1 percent idea and 99 percent resilience. The Messy Middle details the unglamorous but essential lessons every founder needs to learn. (Jennifer Hyman)
Starting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute. (Joe Gebbia)
Having been through the ups and downs of the messy middle many times, it's critical to understand the challenges ahead. This insightful book empowers you to approach them head-on. Belsky's powerful tool kit, based on hard-earned experiences, is an essential guide to building a compelling product, revolutionizing an organization, or growing your leader-ship abilities. (Tony Fadell)
All stars
Most relevant
loads of great take aways no matter what stage of business your in

I recommend it thoroughly

brilliant listen

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A must listen for anyone in the process of starting or running a business. Some incredible references that inspire and teach along the way.

Thoroughly enjoyed listening

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If you are lost in the messy middle this book will calm you down and give you a toolkit of new navigation techniques to help you out. You still have to do the work, but the inspiration has been invaluable.

Indispensable

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The beginning of the book is somewhat a collection of obvious statements, but as you move forward in the book, the quality of insights just keeps growing, so don’t give up in the beginning.
The best book I’ve read on entrepreneurship, with concrete advice on how to approach the various issues of the messy middle.

Amazing book

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Of all the books I have read and listened to concerning the journey of an entrepreneur, for me this has been profoundly the most helpful. the most thoughtfully and richly written and the one I will be listening to again and again over the years to come. I am very grateful to Belsky for writing it. Other readers criticised his intonation in his previous audio book but I warmed to his voice quickly enough and found it all the more powerful that he was speaking his book himself. I imagine that’s not an easy to decision to make sometimes but in the case I believe it was correct and adds a great deal. I think this honest and multilayered book deserves to displace the reams of Silicon Valley fantasy tales that link the drama of initial idea to big exit, skip over the reality between and attribute success to whatever personal or company hero narrative fits the brand vision. At heart, I absolutely bloody loved this book.

Excellent

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