Welcome back to StartUp.Club’s October issue! If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe and join the 1 million+ entrepreneurs in this community. 👇

In this newsletter you’ll find:

• 📅 Today’s LIVE Clubhouse Episode

• 📈 My 10 Year Journey to Create Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

• 🔥 How to Build Your Business’s Core Values [Access to Free GPT]

• 🛠️ Build a Moat: How to Defend Your Start Up!

• ✅ This Month’s Clubhouse Schedule

BONUS: Find the current score of the Time to Sell Index [TTSI] at the bottom of this newsletter.

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes 47 seconds

Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to a fellow entrepreneur.

TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE 👇

October 4th @ 2pm ET - "Winning Moves for Startups" Patrick Thean, CEO of Rhythm Systems on Serial Entrepreneur hosted by Colin C. Campbell

What you’ll learn:

• Strategic Execution: We look at executing strategic plans in startups, and the importance of creating a rhythm for sustained growth and success.

• Startup Pitfalls: The common mistakes startups make in their early stages and how Patrick Thean’s "Winning Moves" can help avoid them, focusing on measurable outcomes and goal-setting.

📈 My 10 Year Journey to Create Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

Yup, you heard that correctly.

I spent 10 years writing this book, which is based on my 30-year career as a serial entrepreneur.

In 2012, I was invited to speak at MIT for the Entrepreneur Master’s Program because I had successfully started, scaled, and exited companies throughout my career.

I was nervous as hell when I showed up.

Here I was, teaching 60 of the top startup founders in the country how to scale their companies.

I had recently broken my leg skiing and walked in on crutches... but what began that day was the start of something huge.

I had to figure out what I’d done repeatedly, and then explain it to the attendees. And what I discovered was incredible:

At each stage—Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat—the founder (me) had to learn to run a completely different kind of organization.

The story, people, money, and systems shifted dramatically between each level.

And I don’t mean small changes.

I mean massive shifts in thinking by the founder.

📚 Story: From starting with a story about solving a problem, to scaling with an X-Factor—something unique and different.

✅ People: From delegating tasks during the startup phase, to delegating responsibilities while scaling. You hire great leaders who have dominant profiles and instincts.

💰Money: From raising money through begging, borrowing, and hustling, to scaling by securing the right money for the right situation.

🚀 Systems: From implementing basic systems and KPIs, to scaling with goal setting, quarterly planning, daily huddles, sales playbooks, and more.

I had also learned the keys to building a successful company included 3 things:

1. Make it scalable (ScaleRatingAi.com)

2. Create a moat around it (StartupGPT: MoatBuilderAi.com - I talk more about this below in this newsletter too.)

3. Catch a wave (See Chapter 3 – my favorite chapter in the book)

Yeah, the book took:

• 10 years

• 200 Interviews

• 30 Illustrations

• 58 Chapters—written for the ADHD entrepreneur.

• 4 Color-Coded Sections

• 180 Callouts

But the results in the first year were huge!

We received 13 awards including:

And 15 #1 best selling positions on Amazon including:

I will leave it with the closing lines of my book:

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell

🔥 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CORE VALUES [FREE GPT INCLUDED]

Scale your culture…

The culture of an early startup can be really fun.

It's late nights, pizza, free flowing everywhere, creativity, and lots of energy.

Everyone knows exactly how to behave in the environment.

You know, you're hitting the point in your company as it scales.

When someone starts to say, remember the good old days, the company just is not the same anymore while they're right.

The company's not the same.

Even so, scaling your culture can be one of the easiest, lowest cost ways to increase the success for your business.

Core values are a reflection of who you are in your company.

Core values are the guardrails guiding the decision making process throughout the life of the business.

During my struggles at Hostopia, I had the opportunity to read the book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits,

And I discovered how effective value statements can be in defining your culture.

I learned how core value should be something people actually use day to day.

It becomes the language of the company.

I also learned how they should form the basis for hiring, firing, driving growth, customer service, rules of engagement, And all the other areas of major decision making when you are trying to scale, you really need to bring your team together to define your values.

What I call pillars at Hostopia.

We had three pillars.

1. Respect and recognize greatness.

2. We spend it like our own.

3. When our customers succeed, we succeed.

You can see how they're common phrases.

And they can have such an impact on the team because they are memorable.

They become the language of the office.

Unlike mindless mission statements hanging on a wall, these have become part of our lexicon, ingrained in our thinking, and therefore are our guideposts for decision making. On that note, knowing your personal values is a great place to start.

Who wants to dedicate their life to a project that's incompatible with their own values?

What are my personal values, as an example?

I came up with six that are key for me.

1. First and foremost is my health.

2. Do it really well, or don't do it at all.

3. Live in the future.

4. Integrity over money.

5. And carpe diem.

6. Seize the day.

You can see how some of these personal values have transferred into company values as well.

In one of our companies, we had a value called do crazy things, not stupid things, which really comes from the same message as carpe diem or seize the day.

Scaling your culture is the least expensive thing you can do to scale your business.

 🚨 Grab the free GPT to build your customer values here 🚨

🚨 THE REVIEWS ARE IN!

Reviews for Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. are in!

Check out what readers have to say!

⭐️ What I like most about this book is its no-nonsense approach. It doesn’t just give you theory; it offers tried-and-tested methods for each stage of the entrepreneurial journey—from launching your first startup to scaling operations and eventually exiting with a profit. 

⭐️ Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is an outstanding guide to entrepreneurship! Whether you're a seasoned business owner or just starting out, this book is packed with practical insights and real-world strategies that are invaluable. The author, who is a successful serial entrepreneur, breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps that anyone can follow.

⭐️ The writing is engaging, and the advice is straightforward, making even the most daunting aspects of entrepreneurship feel manageable. This book is not just a one-time read; it's a resource you'll return to again and again as you navigate your entrepreneurial journey.

⭐️ Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. is an outstanding guide to entrepreneurship! Whether you're a seasoned business owner or just starting out, this book is packed with practical insights and real-world strategies that are invaluable. The author, who is a successful serial entrepreneur, breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps that anyone can follow.

We also are the recipient of the Nonfiction Book Awards Winner and 5 stars from Literary Titan 🎉 

🛠️ MOAT BUILDER: HOW TO DEFEND YOUR START UP

It’s well-known that half of all businesses fail within the first five years.

For many entrepreneurs, we spend much of our time “playing offense” for our startup—closing the big deals, finding investors, and brand building.

But just like in sports, you can’t win with only a great offensive strategy—you have to know how to play defense, too.

You might have a scalable idea…but can you defend it long enough to allow it to scale?

In many cases, startups fail because they fail to build the necessary protections.

In the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat, I call this idea “building a moat” around your business, just like kings built moats around their castles to protect them from invading forces.

So, let’s take a look at some of the “moats” you need to build to protect your startup so that you can extend your runway and set yourself apart from the competition.

1. Domain Name

2. Legal Protections

3. Distribution

4. Exclusivity

But how do you build it with these pillars?

Read the full in-depth article → here 

Check out my Moat Builder GPT and let me know what you think.

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

October 10th @5pm ET - Is Stress a Bad Thing? - The Complete Entrepreneur hosted by Michael Gilmour

What you’ll learn:

• Harnessing Stress: Explore how stress can be both a positive and negative force in entrepreneurship, driving performance and innovation when managed correctly.

• Stress Management Techniques: Discuss practical strategies for entrepreneurs to manage stress effectively, turning it into a tool for growth and resilience rather than burnout.

October 11th @ 2pm ET - Tim Ash, Author of "Unleash Your Primal Brain"

What you’ll learn:

• Neuroscience of Decision-Making: Tim Ash’s insights on how understanding the primal brain can enhance decision-making processes and strategic thinking in business.
  

• Human Behavior in Entrepreneurship: Discuss how entrepreneurs can leverage knowledge of human behavior to improve marketing, customer engagement, and team leadership.

October 18th @ 2pm ET - Ira Weiss, Partner with Hyde Park Venture Partners

What you’ll learn:

• Venture Capital Insights: Highlight Ira Weiss’s perspective on what venture capitalists look for in startups and how entrepreneurs can position themselves for successful funding.

• Scaling Startups: Discuss the critical factors that help startups scale and attract venture capital, focusing on market potential, team dynamics, and financial health.

October 25th @ 2pm ET - Dr. Kenan Sahin, President and Founder at CAMX Power

What you’ll learn:

• Innovation in Energy Storage: We explore Dr. Kenan Sahin's work in energy storage technology and its impact on the future of renewable energy and entrepreneurship in the clean tech space.

• Entrepreneurial Vision: Dr. Sahin’s journey as a serial entrepreneur and inventor, focusing on the importance of long-term vision and continuous innovation in building successful companies.

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every week. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter!

Have a topic you’d like me to dive into? Reply back to this email and I’ll see what we can do.

— Colin C. Campbell

PS here is the Time to Sell Index [TTSI]

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Now is NOT the time to sell.

Focus on buying or building.