本书探讨了初创公司的一个核心难题：许多最成功的初创公司都从最初的商业理念中转型。作者提出了一种新的创业理论，称为“拐点理论”，该理论认为创业成功始于早期，并强调了“拐点”在创业过程中至关重要的作用。

👨‍💻 **拐点理论：创业成功的关键** 本书的核心是“拐点理论”，该理论认为创业成功始于早期，并强调了“拐点”在创业过程中至关重要的作用。作者认为，成功的创业公司往往会经历一个“拐点”，即从最初的商业理念转向一个新的、更具潜力的方向。这个拐点可能是由市场需求的变化、技术进步或其他因素引起的。 拐点理论与传统的“精益创业”方法论有所不同。精益创业强调快速迭代和验证，而拐点理论则更侧重于识别和把握创业过程中出现的“拐点”。作者认为，在创业的早期阶段，重要的是要找到一个“拐点”，并围绕这个“拐点”进行迭代和调整，而不是一味地坚持最初的商业理念。

📈 **创业成功的四个支柱：拐点、洞察、理念和行动** 作者将创业成功分解为四个支柱：拐点、洞察、理念和行动。 - **拐点**：是指创业过程中出现的重大变化，例如市场需求的变化、技术进步或竞争格局的变化。 - **洞察**：是指对市场、用户和竞争对手的深刻理解。 - **理念**：是指创业公司的核心价值主张和商业模式。 - **行动**：是指将理念转化为现实的执行力。 作者认为，这四个支柱相互依存，缺一不可。创业者需要不断地关注市场变化，并根据市场需求调整自己的行动。

💡 **转型并非偶然：创业者如何把握拐点** 本书强调了转型在创业成功中的重要性。作者认为，转型并非偶然，而是创业者有意识地识别和把握“拐点”的结果。创业者需要具备以下能力： - **敏锐的洞察力**：能够识别市场变化和新的机会。 - **灵活的思维方式**：能够根据市场需求调整自己的计划。 - **强大的执行力**：能够将想法转化为现实。 作者通过大量的案例分析，证明了转型对于创业成功的必要性。书中列举了Slack、Pinterest、YouTube等成功公司的案例，这些公司都经历了从最初的商业理念到最终成功的转型过程。

🎯 **重新思考“精益创业”方法论** 本书对传统的“精益创业”方法论提出了新的思考。作者认为，精益创业方法论过于强调快速迭代和验证，而忽略了对“拐点”的识别和把握。作者认为，在创业的早期阶段，重要的是要找到一个“拐点”，并围绕这个“拐点”进行迭代和调整，而不是一味地坚持最初的商业理念。 本书为创业者提供了一个新的视角，即创业成功并非一蹴而就，而是需要不断地识别和把握“拐点”。作者认为，创业者需要具备敏锐的洞察力、灵活的思维方式和强大的执行力，才能在不断变化的市场环境中取得成功。

by Evan Armstrong in Napkin Math

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The average business book is a blog post stretched to 250 pages by an underpaid ghost writer who hates what their life has become.

That said, there are some that really do matter. A select few books pass the sniff test either by a.) offering robust data analysis that can be analyzed by outside experts, such as The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, or b.) relying on case studies from the author’s unique experiences and putting forward a genuinely novel business idea, such as High Output Management by Andy Grove. By my count, the number of books that satisfies either of these conditions is fewer than 30.

Today, I’m excited to announce that there is a new book that deserves to be added to that painfully short list of required reading: Pattern Breakers: Why Some Startups Change the Future by Mike Maples, Jr. and Peter Ziebelman. 

In Pattern Breakers, the venture-capitalist authors tackle a core conundrum of startups: Many of the most successful startups pivoted from their original business idea. Slack started as a video game company before conquering at-work communication, Pinterest began as a mobile shopping app called Tote before turning to image-sharing and social media, and YouTube was initially a video dating site with the slogan “Tune In, Hook Up.”

The book is almost entirely written in Maples's voice and from his perspective as a successful seed investor at the venture capital firm Floodgate, whose winners include Lyft, Twitch, Okta, and Chegg. A few years ago, Maples noticed that “something like 80 percent of [his] investment profits had come from pivots”—those companies that started by doing one thing and then found success doing something tangentially related or altogether different.

This was an uncomfortable realization for Maples. If his biggest winners were pivots, does that mean he just got lucky? Or did he invest in the wrong companies but the right people—those self-aware enough to pivot? As for the rest of us: If this is what a successful investor looks like, what does that mean for everyone else looking to start or pick the next great startup? It could be that we are doing the whole startup thing wrong. 

Maples and Ziebelman (who works a different fund from Maples and lectures at Stanford Business School) teamed up to figure this conundrum out. Their answer is to propose a new theory of startup formation they call inflection theory, which has wholly shifted my perspective on company building—and I think it can do the same for you.

Startup success starts earlier than you think

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A new framework for startup successWhy pivots are the norm, not the exceptionThe four pillars: inflection, insight, idea, and movementRethinking "lean startup" methodology

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