Without Their Permission Book Summary - Without Their Permission Book explained in key points

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Without Their Permission summary

Name: Without Their Permission
Author: Alexis Ohanian

Alexis Ohanian

How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed

(9 ratings)

15 mins

Table of Contents

Without Their Permission
summarized in 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Find out how to get your start-up off the ground.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all in recent years, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of the many young entrepreneurs who have sold their internet-based businesses to make millions, and sometimes billions of dollars. What is it about the internet that makes this kind of success story possible?

Without Their Permission explores what it is exactly that makes the internet such a dynamic and revolutionary place – ripe for entrepreneurship – and why it’s worth fighting to keep it that way.

These blinks focus on the author’s own experiences in co-creating Reddit, one of the world’s most popular websites, and along the way they reveal some of the author’s hard-earned advice to entrepreneurs about the best approach to creating their start-up – from designing their product to acquiring the funding necessary to make it a reality.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

how the author was able to turn Reddit into such a hugely popular and lucrative website;
why success stories like the author’s are dependent on a free and open internet;
how one man revolutionized the travel industry simply by trying to solve a problem for his debate team,
and why a certain whale earned the name “Mr. Splashy Pants.”

In order to create a product that people need, you have to start with a real problem.

If you were going to found a technology-based start-up, what would you do? You’d probably begin by developing a great product and hoping that people would buy it, right? Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to persuade people to buy a product that they don’t yet know they need. In fact, it’s easier to start the whole process the other way around.

Rather than starting with a product, begin by identifying a problem. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a well-known problem; in fact, people don’t always realize they even have an issue until you show them a better alternative to the status quo.

For example, Adam Goldstein, co-founder and CEO of the successful travel search engine Hipmunk, realized in college that he had a problem booking flights. He was responsible for organizing all the travel for his debate team, which had a small budget for attending competitions. In order to find the cheapest flights, he had to check several flights at several airlines for several different time slots, which was an incredibly frustrating as well as time-consuming task.

Once you have identified your problem, you can create your product around it.

Adam Goldstein’s solution was a travel search engine that searches a number of airlines simultaneously and ranks them according to price and other factors, such as number of layovers and flight duration.

In 2010 he brought his problem to Reddit co-founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman. They then turned his idea into a reality, gave it the name “Hipmunk,” and revolutionized travel searches in the process by saving people time and money.

Unsurprisingly, the product quickly took to the market; people realized the Hipmunk’s advantages even if they hadn’t thought of travel searches as a problem, and were thankful for the simplification.

Bring your product to the market as soon as it is good enough.

Are you a perfectionist who spends long hours trying to work out every single possible kink in his product?

You are not alone: many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of spending too much time trying to perfect their products. But this is a fool’s errand!

The number one reason for start-up failure is running out of cash, so you need a secure source of funding.

The number one reason why start-ups fail is lack of cash. Of course there are many other possible reasons why start-ups could collapse, such as poor strategy, bad leadership, or products that don’t connect with the market, but often it simply boils down to running out of money.

This makes sense, since you need cash to run your business; you’ve got to pay your employees, cover logistics, find the rent for your office at the end of the month and so on. Once the well runs dry, you’re finished.

You can't make your company succeed on your own; you need to build connections and get the assistance of others.

Have you ever heard of the lone wolf who made his fortune in business without any help? Probably not. Success is a group effort, and connections – both in the business or out of it – play a huge role in your success.

Indeed, every encounter in the business world can become a worthwhile connection. So it’s important when you’re attending events like conferences that, instead of dreading hours of boring talks, you see them as opportunities to connect with people who can help you later on.

The internet can give smaller and traditionally less powerful communities the influence to enact change.

After reading so much about web-based start-ups, you might be wondering why anyone would place so much focus on the internet over other communication media, like print or TV. What is it that makes the internet so special?

In essence, the internet harnesses the power of the many: one person alone is fairly meek, but a large group of people with the same agenda has the power to enact meaningful change.

We can use the internet to leverage support and financial capital.

Support doesn’t always come from single firms or individuals. Communities can also combine their budgets in order to support a shared cause, such as a charity.

Sometimes the best way for charities to reach their target communities is via the internet.

Thanks to new media distributors like YouTube, small content creators are empowered like never before.

Wouldn't it be nice if the people with the best ideas always found their way into the spotlight? Sadly, it doesn’t quite work that way.

In traditional media like television, big production firms wield all the power. A perfect example of this can be found in Zach Anner, a young comedian with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair.

In order to remain a positive force for change in society, the internet must remain uncensored and open for everybody.

So what actually makes the internet so dynamic and revolutionary? It’s because it’s a free and completely democratic space. Now, can you imagine what would happen if that freedom were somehow constrained?

The internet has, in fact, faced the threat of censorship by law.

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

The internet has provided individuals and groups, from charities to start-ups, with unprecedented exposure to an audience, meaning that anyone with the right attitude and solutions-oriented strategy can create a successful organization. This, however, can only be possible if the internet remains free and open.

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What is Without Their Permission about?

Without Their Permission explores the author’s success with his hugely popular website, Reddit, as well as other internet-related stories, and investigates what exactly it is about the internet that makes it such a wonderful and dynamic place. Along the way, the author provides entrepreneurs with advice that helped him to form his remarkably successful business.

Best quote from Without Their Permission

Never miss an opportunity to make connections.

—Alexis Ohanian

Who should read Without Their Permission?

Anyone who is considering launching a start-up
Anyone interested in business
Anyone who is interested in technology and the internet

About the Author

Alexis Ohanian is an internet entrepreneur, founder of Reddit, investor and open internet activist whose book, Without Their Permission, is a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

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Entrepreneurship

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