PDF Summary:Bold, by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler

Despite having promising ideas, most up-and-coming entrepreneurs struggle to bring their innovations to fruition and make a large-scale impact. In Bold, Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler explain that this struggle is even more intense due to today’s technological revolution. Technology has caused products and industries to develop at an exponential rate, making old ways of innovating and competing obsolete. Consequently, the only way for up-and-coming entrepreneurs to succeed—to continually produce innovations that change the world in some way—is to adjust their mindset and strategies so they’re always ahead of the exponential curve.

This guide will explain how to become a successful entrepreneur, and maintain your success, by developing an exponential innovator’s mindset and tapping into the power of human networks. In our commentary, we’ll discuss theories, methods, and advice regarding how to thrive as an entrepreneur and create an impactful, long-lasting brand, citing other business experts like Peter Thiel (Zero to One) and Keith Ferrazzi (Never Eat Alone).

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• Clearly showcase stats that will boost your credibility, using numerical figures specifically. For example, rather than tweeting something like “Eight thousand people logged on to our platform in the last day,” say “8,000 people logged on to our platform in the last 24 hours.” Words are less awe-inspiring than numbers.

• Create partnerships with other credible people and brands in your industry. You can do this by attending online events or webinars.

Habit #3: Work in a Controlled Environment

The authors explain that the best innovations occur in environments that are closed from the outside world and only allow access to a select few who share your innovator’s mindset. This is because these environments encourage unconventional, autonomous thinking and risk-taking—as we’ve noted, two psychological strengths necessary for innovation. On the other hand, exposure to the predictability and doubts of wider society hinders these strengths.

(Shortform note: While the Bold authors focus on who is in your environment, the setup of that environment is arguably just as important. Research shows that changing a few environmental factors might boost your innovative potential even more: for example, including random items around the environment for inspiration, using moderate levels of ambient background noise, decorating the space with creative colors like green and blue, and using softer lighting rather than bright overheads. These changes will boost your creativity and help you think outside the box—crucial elements for successful innovation.)

Habit #4: Experiment Constantly

Finally, innovators must put their psychological strength of being comfortable with risk-taking and failure into action by constantly experimenting. As previously discussed, the authors note that you must repeatedly experiment and fail before you can find a strategy or idea that works. The more experiments you conduct, and the more frequently you conduct them, the faster you’ll determine what works and the more progress you’ll make toward your goal.

(Shortform note: In The Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman agree that experimenting constantly and failing often are crucial to uncovering the best ideas. They also argue that experimenting and failing are crucial to building confidence—in their view, the true key to becoming successful. Confidence is crucial for success because it turns desire and skill into actions that lead to success. Other techniques that will help you build confidence, and arguably improve your experimentation abilities, are 1) choosing action over stagnation, even when the action is risky; and 2) practicing thought exercises that encourage positive thinking and prevent rumination that might slow you down.)

Step #2: Build Credibility With a Closed Network

Once you’ve adopted the psychological skills and innovators’ habits necessary to become an exponential innovator, you must create a support network. Your support network will help advance your innovation from the infant stage—a good idea—into a large-scale success: a publicly-endorsed innovation that has changed the world in some way.

We’ve organized the authors’ ideas on networking into two themes. First, create a closed network of people that you have personal relationships with. These people will help you build credibility by offering the critical feedback, connections, and resources necessary for you to accomplish your micro-goals. The people in your closed network are specifically chosen by you.

After creating a closed network and accomplishing your micro-goals, create an open network of people who may not know you personally but support—often financially—your innovation. These people will help you achieve large-scale success. Unlike your closed network, any member of the public can choose to join your open network.

Keith Ferrazzi’s Four Types of Support Networks

In Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi agrees with the Bold authors that building support networks is key to gaining professional success. While Ferrazzi’s framework is similar to the open and closed networks discussed in this guide, he recommends forming four specific types of networks rather than two:

1) A network of people who will help you achieve your goals. They actively help you identify goals, create plans to reach them, and hold you accountable. These actions align with those of your closed network members.

2) A network of mentors. They provide professional advice, skill-development techniques, insider information, contacts, emotional support, and inspiration. These actions also align with those of your closed network members.

3) A network of super-connectors—people who have dozens or hundreds of professional connections that they can share with you. The Bold authors don’t discuss this specific type of network, but the role of these members would align with that of closed network members. In turn, they can help widen your open network of people you don’t know personally or work closely with, but who may be willing to support your innovation.

4) A network of prominent or famous industry leaders. They teach you, boost your credibility, and attract outside supporters to your innovation (such as investors, customers, or other supporters: in other words, potential members of your open network). These famous leaders may be part of your closed network, if you know them personally or develop a close business relationship with them. Or, they might be more distant, open-network acquaintances who are nevertheless happy to support you.

In this section, we’ll focus on the first part of building a support network: creating a closed network.

How to Create a Closed Network

There are two ways to build a closed network. First, you can recruit in-person members who already know you and who have seen you succeed in the past or want to see you succeed in the future. For example, you could recruit family, friends, colleagues, mentors, or past employers.

(Shortform note: The authors recommend first approaching people who already know you and want to support you. However, this isn’t always an option—what do you do if your family and friends aren’t supportive of your goals? One option is to build close relationships from scratch by finding like-minded people on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, or other public forums. There are likely many other people in similar situations to yours who would be happy to trade their support for yours.)

Second, you can recruit online members who will work closely with you for a small fee—this is a common strategy called crowdsourcing. The authors note that this technique is especially useful because the internet now allows the average person to hire experts to do small but extremely helpful tasks. They recommend recruiting online members through websites like Freelancer or Fiverr.

(Shortform note: While many experts agree on the benefits of crowdsourcing in today’s age of technology, there are also a few downsides that you should be aware of before getting started. For example, ensure that you’re handing your intellectual property over to someone whom you trust to maintain confidentiality—if not, someone else could steal your idea. Further, crowdsourcing multiple freelancers adds complexity that makes your project harder to manage.)

In the sections below, we’ll discuss the three primary ways you can use your closed network members to accomplish your micro-goals and build credibility.

Use #1: Critical Feedback

The first and easiest way to use your closed network to accomplish your micro-goals is to ask for their critical feedback—their opinions and advice. For example, imagine that one of your micro-goals is to hold a conference to discuss animal welfare. You can make a request to your closed network—in-person members, online members, or both—to review the schedule you’ve designed for the conference. Or, you can request that they review and critique your topics for discussion or add topics to the list.

How to Request and Receive Feedback

The authors recommend relying on your closed network members for feedback, but they don’t discuss how to request and receive feedback in a way that will actually help you improve. Experts make a few suggestions:

• Ask the right people. Not everyone will have a relevant perspective on your specific project. For example, your artist friend might not be the best person to ask for feedback on your website’s code.

• Prepare specific questions. Rather than just asking for general feedback, ask something like, “How does my tone sound in this article, and do you think it fits with my purpose?”

• Review your feedback and create a plan that will help you implement it.

Use #2: Connections

According to the authors, the second way you can use your closed network to accomplish your micro-goals is by borrowing their credibility and connections. The people in your closed network have likely built credibility in their own industries and have their own closed network that they can extend to you.

For example, members of your network might know important people who’d be interested in your animal welfare conference, such as veterinarians, animal shelter owners, welfare society presidents, farm owners, pet foster parents, and so on.

Gaining public support from these secondhand connections will boost your public credibility. Some of these connections might even decide to become a member of your closed network, extending your web of connections further.

(Shortform note: In Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi also emphasizes the importance of borrowing the credibility and connections of network members. As previously noted, he calls these types of members “super-connectors.” He explains that there are eight types of super-connectors you should try to recruit to your closed network: high-class restaurateurs, headhunters, political lobbyists, politicians, fundraisers, PR professionals, journalists, and social media gurus. These people are likely to have dozens, if not hundreds, of professional contacts that they can share, and who can help you succeed.)

Use #3: Resources

The third way you can use your closed network to accomplish your micro-goals is by gathering resources. The authors recommend requesting that your in-person closed network donate resources to your cause. For example, you could request your network members make donations for your conference—money, podiums, chairs, tables, food, and so on. You can also request that specific members donate specific resources—for example, if one of your network members owns a hotel, you can ask to use their conference room for the event.

Online closed members can be recruited to provide resources in exchange for a small fee. This will be especially useful to complete smaller tasks that are important but that you might not have the time or expertise to do yourself. For example, you might want to create a poster to advertise your company, but you’re not a design expert—you can hire someone to do this for you. Or, you might want to create a video introducing your innovation at your conference, but you don’t know how to edit—crowdsourcing allows you to easily find someone who does.

How to Gather Resources From In-Person and Online Members

Gathering resources from closed network members may present various challenges. Asking friends and family for donations—especially monetary donations—can be difficult. Furthermore, when trying to hire online members, you’ll have to compete with thousands of other employers. So, how do you avoid the awkwardness of asking for money and actually get people to apply for your job listing?

Experts make a few recommendations to help avoid the awkwardness of asking for donations. First, affirm that your relationship is more important than any donation they make, so if they don’t donate, that’s alright. Second, acknowledge that it feels weird to be asking for donations—this helps to break the ice. Third, periodically share the progress you’ve made with their donations. That way, they’ll know that their money went to good use.

Other experts suggest keeping the following tips in mind when creating a listing to draw top freelancers: First, indicate flexibility in the listing title, like “work from home” or “remote.” Second, post early in the week—candidates view postings most often on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Third, include the details of compensation, such as your budget and whether the pay is hourly, fixed, or based on milestones.

Step #3: Reach Large-Scale Success With an Open Network of Investors

The third step in creating a successful innovation, and the second part of building a support network, is to create an open network of members of the public who’ll provide you with the finances and popularity necessary for your innovation to succeed.

Why do you need an open network to succeed? Diamandis and Kotler elaborate that the final step to releasing your innovation with high credibility is to capture public attention through excellent advertising and press coverage. This will allow your innovation to reach as many people as possible and achieve true success—the ability to change the world in some way. However, the necessary publicity requires more funds than your closed network members can provide—hence the necessity of open network members who’ll invest in your cause.

Are Investors Necessary for Large-Scale Success?

In Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson claim that instead of seeking an open network of investors to fund the final stages of your product release, you should actually avoid outside funding altogether. Gathering outside funding comes with strings like having to please investors rather than customers, and they claim that it’s very possible to successfully launch your product without outside funding.

Fried and Heinemeier Hansson suggest the following methods to successfully publicize your innovation without outside funding:

• Get free advertising by posting blogs, tweets, or promotional Instagram videos online.

• Teach people about your business or industry for free. People who are interested will also likely become supporters of your innovation.

• Show people how your product is made by giving tours of your “factory” or creative space.

• Avoid press releases. The media usually ignores them. Instead, personally write to journalists who might be interested in explaining why your company would make a good story.

• Choose small media companies in your niche area over big media companies who’ll likely ignore you.

When to Recruit Your Open Network

Diamandis and Kotler state that you should start recruiting open network members when you meet the following criteria:

1) You have a solid closed network of members who are willing to help you. You’ll need further support while running your campaign to recruit investors.

2) You’ve completed the majority of your micro-goals and have sufficient credibility. This credibility will be important when convincing people who don’t know you that you and your innovation are worth supporting.

3) You have a draft model of your innovation and are close to completing the final model. People need to have an idea of what exactly they’re supporting before they commit.

(Shortform note: Some experts agree that a strong team (closed network) and high credibility are necessary before seeking outside funding. However, they argue that having a prototype at this stage isn’t always necessary or possible—especially if your prototype is expensive and you need outside funds to build it. In this situation, you’ll need two additional criteria before seeking investors. First, you must be able to show investors that you have skilled team members with talent and experience in the industry (not just a supportive team). Second, you must provide an exact time frame indicating how long it’ll take for you to build a deliverable prototype.)

How to Create an Open Network

The authors explain that a proven, reliable way to recruit open network members is to start a fundraising campaign where each investor receives a small return for their contribution—this strategy is called reward-based crowdfunding. For example, if someone contributes $25, they’ll receive a sticker, and for $50, they’ll receive a bandana.

This technique is beneficial because it tends to attract people who are truly interested in your innovation or purpose, and offering a reward provides them with a deeper connection to your cause. As a result, these supporters are likely to be regular contributors to your cause—either through further investments, by becoming customers, or by spreading the word about your innovation and increasing its popularity. You can recruit these members by posting your campaign on crowdfunding websites such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter.

(Shortform note: Some experts agree that reward-based crowdfunding is a great way to attract individuals who'll support your product before and after it’s released. However, it can arguably become more expensive than originally planned due to hidden costs like taxes, packaging materials, shipping costs, and so on. To minimize these expenses as much as possible while still compelling investors to support you in the long run, experts emphasize offering unique, exclusive digital rewards over material items: for example, a digital tour of your creative space or a video explaining how the product’s made.)

There are three main tasks for creating a successful crowdfunding campaign:

Task #1: Determine Your Financial Goal

First, determine how much money you need. This will be the financial target attached to your campaign and what investors will see when they donate. The authors emphasize that this number must be realistic. You likely won’t be able to support your entire project with these funds; rather, they should offset some of the costs. You’ll need to provide some of your own money as well, which you’ll make back once your investment starts generating revenue.

To determine your financial goal, consider the following factors: What’s the minimum amount of money you need to raise to launch (keeping in mind that you’ll be spending your own money as well)? How much will the rewards for investors (stickers, bandanas, and so on) cost? How much will credit card and platform fees (like Indiegogo’s fee) cost?

How to Calculate Your Financial Need and Goal

The authors of Bold explain that you should determine your financial goal by first identifying how much money you need to move forward and then adding associated costs like rewards and platform fees to that amount. Other experts agree with this general framework for calculating your financial goal. However, they provide important details on how to calculate your initial financial need that the Bold authors leave out.

To determine how much money you need to move forward, experts explain that you should consider all costs involved, such as rights acquisition, labor expenses, sales and distribution, marketing, equipment, and administrative costs. Once you’ve determined this amount, you can subtract the amount you’re willing to spend from your own pocket. Finally, experts recommend increasing this number by 33% to leave room for unexpected costs.

Task #2: Create a Timetable

Next, determine how long your campaign will run. The authors note that most campaigns are between one and four months, but shorter campaigns (under two months) tend to do better. The length of your campaign will primarily depend on your financial goal—larger financial goals, such as raising hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, will take longer to reach.

(Shortform note: Experts agree that it’s crucial to create a timetable for your campaign, but some add that the perfect campaign length is exactly 31 days—regardless of the size of your financial goal. This is largely due to the natural rate of donations over time. All campaigns face a spike in donations at the beginning and end of their campaign, with a drop in donations in the middle—this drop is called the “dead zone.” Because of the dead zone, these experts argue that longer campaigns don’t generally raise more money; rather they just waste more time trying to do so.)

Task #3: Create a Meaningful Message

Finally, to make people want to support you, you must convey the purpose-driven goal that underlies your innovation in a moving way. To do this, the authors recommend creating a story with a logical progression and emotional appeal, explaining what your innovation will do for people and why it’s important. This story should also be crafted to suit your target audience and use keywords that will appeal to them, and it should feature on your campaign page.

7 Steps to Creating a Meaningful Message

The authors of Bold recommend creating a meaningful, logical, and emotionally appealing story to influence people to engage with your campaign. In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller agrees and presents a more in-depth, seven-step method to help you do so:

• Start your story by pinpointing a desire that the customer has but is unable to reach (the thing that your innovation will help them achieve).

• Next, identify the problem that’s getting in the customer’s way of reaching their desire (what your innovation will help them overcome).

• Then, introduce yourself (or your brand) as a mentor who once faced the same problem but learned how to overcome it and can help customers do the same.

• Afterward, present a plan that will help the customer overcome their problem and reach their desire (explain how your innovation will solve their problem).

• Next, call the customer to action (urge them to buy or support your innovation).

• Then, explain what’s at stake if the customer doesn’t take action (how the problem will continue getting in the way of their desire).

• Finally, close your story with a happy ending (describe how the customer will achieve their desire once they’ve bought or supported your innovation).