How long does it take to read Startupland?

The reading time for Startupland varies. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Who is the author of Startupland?

Mikkel Svane is the author of Startupland.

Entrepreneurship

Startupland Book Summary - Startupland Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

Startupland summary

Name: Startupland
Rating: 3.9 (32 reviews)
Author: Mikkel Svane

Mikkel Svane

How Three Guys Risked Everything to Turn an Idea into a Global Business

3.9 (32 ratings)

15 mins

Brief summary

Startupland by Mikkel Svane narrates the story of Zendesk's journey from a small startup to a global organization, sharing both successes and failures. It offers insights into the startup ecosystem and valuable advice for entrepreneurs on how to build a successful company.

Topics

Autobiographies Success

Table of Contents

Startupland
Summary of 7 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Improve your chances of standing your ground in the land of startups.

Say you’ve just struck upon a brilliant idea for a business. Or maybe you already had one, but failed to follow through with it. Either way, you’re hoping to build a successful business around your new idea.

But in the seemingly open universe of creativity, competition is fierce. Here, everyone fights tooth and nail to turn their innovative ideas into a reality. So, how can you avoid getting swallowed up by the hordes of start-up predators?

You can start by taking advice from one of the heavyweights in the field. In these blinks, the author shares his personal story of building his own successful company, Zendesk. From tentative ideas to a thriving US-based business, the author invites you along his journey of ups and downs, offering plenty of tips on how to get your own ideas off the ground.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

which investors are good investors;
why working on your team-building skills is so important; and
why the author had to relocate from Copenhagen to the United States.

It’s okay if your first start-up isn’t your last.

When Columbus returned from his journey to the Americas, some of his peers insisted that any Spaniard could have “discovered” the new continent – all they had to do was sail westward. To prove them wrong, Columbus placed a hard-boiled egg on the table in front of them and challenged them to make it stand on its own. When they failed, he took the egg and gently tapped it against the table, creating a small, flat base that it could stand on.

Columbus’s point was that it’s easy to do something once you know how – when you don’t, you have to take a risk. Start-ups work the same way.

Founding a start-up is all about using your entrepreneurial spirit to try new things. The author worked on a number of projects before developing Zendesk, a software tool that enables companies to provide better customer support to their clients.

His first venture created 3-D illusions based on 2-D patterns, using a piece of software. He ran his business alone: customers sent him orders and he sent the disks out himself.

The author’s next product was a tool for producing websites, and it gave him his first taste of failure when it collapsed during the dot-com crash of 2001.

When founding a start-up you also have to realize that sometimes the best ideas are not always the most interesting.

At first, few people had faith in the idea for Zendesk, as they weren’t inspired by the thought of a company focused on providing better help desks and customer support. Alex Aghassipour, who ended up becoming one of the company’s core members, initially thought Zendesk sounded incredibly boring.

Like Zendesk, a lot of important start-up ideas might seem unexciting at first, but they can become very attractive if they’re executed well. Take the company Dropbox, for instance. File-sharing isn’t the most exciting service to provide, but Dropbox has made this tedious task easy, interesting and even socially engaging.

Choose your investors wisely.

If you’re a kid on the playground looking for money, the school bully probably wouldn’t be the best person to go to. He might give you the money, but if so, he’ll ask for it back with interest. The start-up scene isn’t all that different.

Not all investors are good investors. Unfortunately, start-ups don’t usually have a lot of options when it comes to getting their initial investments; when you first start out, you’ll be exposed to a lot of investors who are only concerned with themselves. The best thing for your start-up is to turn them down and hold out for a bit longer.

Pick a great team – and fight to keep them together.

Did you play team sports in gym class as a kid? Which team member was the most fun: the person who wanted everyone to participate and have a good time, or the star player who scored all the goals but did it alone? Of course, it’s the former.

Start-ups work in a similar way. People with good team-building skills often make the best entrepreneurs; however, it’s not always easy to keep the team on track.

The United States is the best place to be in the start-up world.

Outsiders are often annoyed by American aphorisms like “fake it till you make it” or “winners never quit.” American optimism might seem unrealistic at first glance, but it’s actually helped foster a great start-up environment. You can’t succeed with a start-up if you don’t have the confidence to take risks!

In fact, all major internet-related businesses (and the internet itself!) originated in the United States. Denmark, for instance, only had one internet provider and very expensive dial-up in the early ‘90s, but American cities like San Francisco embraced the internet early on and were enthusiastic about it right away.

Your start-up will have an impact on your family.

Entrepreneurs’ lives often revolve around their work. They might work over 12 hours a day and when they’re not working, they’re thinking about work. Naturally, this can be challenging for their families for a number of reasons.

For one, it’s hard to take financial risks when you have a family. The author struggled with this when he accumulated a lot of credit card debt and used up his retirement money while building Zendesk. He also took out a $50,000 loan that he was personally liable for. At one point, he was two weeks away from going bankrupt if he didn’t get more funding.

Being adaptable and flexible with your recruitment can help you find the right employees.

If you’ve ever had to sort through a pile of 80 CVs, all written in the same cryptic language, you know that picking the right candidate can be difficult. And sometimes interviews just make the situation worse: the interviewees get nervous and speak too little or too much.

Now imagine if you had to go through all this in a foreign country! That’s exactly what the Zendesk founders had to do after they moved to Boston, and they learned some pretty important lessons in the process.

Be prepared to make mistakes.

Launching a start-up is like jumping from a ten-meter diving board: you might land a perfect dive, or do a painful belly flop. And you’ll definitely have to take several dives before you really figure out what you’re doing.

For example, when Zendesk was starting out, the author had a few false starts while looking for funding. At one point, when the company was still based in Denmark, he flew to the United States to meet a partner in a venture capitalist firm. But his timing could hardly have been worse: the 2008 financial crisis was underway, mortgages were no longer available and big banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch had collapsed.

Want to see all full key ideas from Startupland?

Key ideas in Startupland

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is Startupland about?

In Startupland (2015), Mikkel Svane tells the origin story of his own company, Zendesk. He explains how he went from working on a small website in Denmark to becoming the CEO of a million-dollar trading company in the United States, and shares the insights he gained along the way.

Startupland Review

Startupland (2014) is a captivating book that offers an inside look into the world of startups and entrepreneurship. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With real-life stories and practical advice, it provides valuable insights into the highs and lows of building a successful startup.
The book explores the challenges and triumphs of starting a business, offering inspiration and guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Through his personal experiences, Mikkel Svane offers a refreshing perspective on the startup journey, making the book a compelling and relatable read.

Who should read Startupland?

Entrepreneurs and start-up founders
Anyone who wants to bring their business idea to life
People who aren’t afraid to take risks

About the Author

Mikkel Svane is the founder and CEO of Zendesk, a software company for customer support based in San Francisco.

Categories with Startupland

Entrepreneurship

Book summaries like Startupland

The Resilient Founder

Mahendra Ramsinghani

Lessons in Endurance from Startup Entrepreneurs

The House That Jack Ma Built

How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy

21 min

4.2

Strategy Rules

David B. Yoffie and Michael A. Cusumano

Five Timeless Lessons From Bill Gates, Andy Grove and Steve Jobs

How a Remarkable Chinese Company Is Changing the Face of Global Business

15 min

3.8

The Courage to Be Disliked

Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness

20 min

4.0

The Power of Instinct

Leslie Zane

The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life

The Financial Diet's Guide to Abundant and Intentional Living

A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy

The Tech Startup Textbook

17 min

4.1

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Marie Kondo

The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

14 min

4.2

Don't Believe Everything You Think

Joseph Nguyen

Why Your Thinking is the Beginning & End of Suffering

An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism

You Have More Time Than You Think

21 min

4.2

Making Sense of Chaos

J Doyne Farmer

A Better Economics for a Better World

18 min

No Ego

Cy Wakeman

Stop Drama, Eliminate Entitlement, Maximize Results

A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

11 min

4.3

How to Think More Effectively

The School of Life

A guide to greater productivity, insight and creativity

18 min

4.4

Mastering Leadership

Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams

An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results

18 min

4.3

How to Have Impossible Conversations

Peter Boghossian and James A. Lindsay

A Very Practical Guide

How to Start Conversations that Get Results

15 min

4.3

Autobiography of a Yogi

Paramahansa Yogananda

The Life and Teachings of One of the Great Spiritual Figures

A Practical Guide to Powerful Innovation in a Changing World

21 min

Four Thousand Weeks

Oliver Burkeman

Time Management for Mortals

Living Large in a Smaller Place

From Fathers to Sons—Life Lessons from Navy SEAL Training

The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health

How Uber, Airbnb and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley are Changing the World

A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World

21 min

4.2

Transforming Project Management

Duane Petersen

An Essential Paradigm for Turning Your Strategic Planning Into Action

22 min

3.9

The Coddling of the American Mind

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

21 min

4.4

Do You Believe in Magic?

Paul A. Offit

Vitamins, Supplements, and All Things Natural: A Look Behind the Curtain

A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity

19 min

4.5

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

From the Big Bang to Black Holes

27 min

4.5

Nudge

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness

Get Focused, Stop Procrastinating and Upgrade Your Life

Cleaning Your Way to a Calm and Happy Home

15 min

3.7

How to Love Someone Without Losing Your Mind

Todd Baratz

Forget the Fairy Tale and Get Real

Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe The World

The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom)

26 min

4.2

You Are a Badass at Making Money

Jen Sincero

Master the Mindset of Wealth

Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

18 min

4.2

The Ten Commandments for Business Failure

Donald R. Keough

Avoid the Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Business

20 min

The Imposter Cure

Dr. Jessamy Hibberd

Escape the mind-trap of imposter syndrome

Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life

How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams

17 min

4.1

Amazon

Natalie Berg & Miya Knights

How the World’s Most Relentless Retailer will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce

24 min

4.4

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.