Cliff Lerner shares the inspiration and his story behind his book Explosive Growth: A Few Things I Learned While Growing To 100 Million Users - And Losing $78 Million.

Imagine waking up one morning to find your previously unknown tech start-up all over the news. After years of hard work and unsuccessful investor pitches, your valuation has increased tenfold overnight and investors are suddenly acknowledging your success and banging down your door to throw money at you. Within a few weeks, you've raised nearly $10 million on the basis of just a few phone calls, and every media outlet in the world wants to talk to you.

Sounds like something out of a dream or a movie, right? Well, this crazy story is entirely true. 

When Facebook launched its app platform in 2007, it offered free access to hundreds of millions of users for those smart enough to figure out the right mix of marketing, engagement, and analytics--someone like Cliff Lerner.

As a result of explosive growth, Cliff faced numerous challenges and made a few inevitable mistakes. That's also how he lost $78 million, and that's what makes this story so compelling.

Explosive Growth isn't about an uninterrupted rise to success, and it isn't a book that simply lists a bunch of growth strategies without context or practical application--anyone can do that. The marketing strategies, PR hacks, and viral expertise that helped us accumulate 100 million users are all in here. But what's perhaps more valuable are the lessons learned from hard times and a real-time window into the decision making as things were exploding.

Success in business doesn't come from an idea or a formula; it comes from execution. No path is identical, and each key moment presents a decision point that will impact and shape the future of the business. The strategies in this book, coupled with a glimpse into the thought processes behind key decisions in SNAP's journey, will undoubtedly help any entrepreneur better execute in their own business.