Unlike traditional businesses, startups move at the speed of light and time to market is critical. Founders of startups are not looking to run a small business which is why marketing for small businesses doesn’t work for startups. According to Steve Blank, Silicon Valley icon and serial entrepreneur, “a scalable startup founder doesn’t just want to be her own boss; she wants to take over the universe. From day one her intent is to grow her startup into a large, disruptive company.” Today’s digital natives are being taught how to translate growing trends of globalization and big data, but very little time is devoted to crafting great stories to engage potential customers on social media platforms. Yet, more and more, consumers engage with companies and buy their products and services through social media and storytelling is already outpacing content marketing. Entrepreneurs are overwhelmed getting their startups off the ground and marketing is typically relegated to “when I’m ready and can afford it” status. The problem is that unless marketing is integrated into the DNA of your startup culture, there will never be money to spend on marketing. This lack of strategy results in multiple “false starts” and contributes to the high failure rate of startups. The question that founders should be asking is not “when will we be ready for marketing” but “what do we need to do now,” so we’ll be ready when it’s time to scale our business. In addition, traditional marketing doesn’t work for startups because they don’t have a proven track record and are still trying to identify who they are and who their customer is. Startups are a entirely new kind of system -- traditional business plans are obsolete within six months and so are traditional marketing plans. False Starts provides the Lean marketing guide that startups need to build critical brand awareness now. This book will address seven startup marketing myths with a practical roadmap to building a successful lean marketing plan from the start of your business and includes marketing stories from founders who have lived through the consequences of many false starts in building their brand. In addition, the author introduces key trends that are shaping entrepreneurs and today’s startup culture. Essentially, this book shows you how to build your brand’s DNA.