Introduction

Who the Hell Do We Think We Are?

PEGGY HOGAN (TOM’S MOM)

WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE WANT TO READ A BOOK BY YOU TWO?

CROWDED OCEAN (AFTER SOME THOUGHT)

LET US GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT ONE.

NINE OUT OF 10 START-UPS FAIL within their first 24 months of operation. We should know: we were one of them.

Crowded Ocean, like many start-ups, failed in its first incarnation. We had an interesting idea (detailed in a later chapter), but opened our doors the same week that Lehman Bros. collapsed in 2008, bringing the market crashing down with it. We soldiered on for almost a year with our original idea, but never had a chance. In fact, we didn’t make a single dollar that first year. Let us repeat that: not one dollar.

Rather than fold our tents, ...

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