The _Survival Guide for Slow Start Entrepreneurs_ has given me new and deep insights into my own successes and failures as an entrepreneur. I've marveled at the accuracy of Miu's concise characterizations of startup players, roles, and dynamics. This makes my must read list for entrepreneurs, along with the documentary Startup.Com and Kawasaki's _Art of the Start_. It is a great counterpoint to the ebullient _Art_. It explains the train wreck chronicled in Startup.com and lived by so many others since then. I see two unique contributions. The first is the explanation of what makes VCs tick, and it isn't just internal rate of return. Here's part of that: "In general the VC's and their partners are willing to take much greater risk than you alone since in the eyes of the VC's senior partners, succeeding small is as bad as failing big ("go big or go home"). So by taking money from VC, you actually increase your own risk profile and force your financial outcome to be binary, either big or nothing (which is very unnatural since you typically prefer to take a more measured path mitigating only calculated risks). Therefore, with VC's as your friend, the probability of a zero outcome is now quite real." The second, and for me more valuable, is the clear and detailed road map of the emotional journey that founding a startup becomes. I have lived this arc a few times, and the reflections on being a CEO/Founder ring very true. "Entrepreneurship is, in fact, a character flaw. Entrepreneurship is not something that can be rationalized and easily explained away. Entrepreneurship is a deep desire to create and destroy at the same time. It requires simultaneous distain [sic] for authorities and respect for past artisans. In fact, if I thought there was a cure, I would have taken the blue pill." The general prescriptive point is that building a business takes more time than most VCs have, so think for the long run and try to bootstrap. Oh, and by the way, money matters. A lot. The writing reminds me of Hemingway in its truth through simplicity. If you've lived this life, I think you'll gain new insights from Mui's book. If you haven't, it offers an unvarnished look at the struggle to create value.