Samir Shah has a unique pedigree in the M&A world. He was previously an owner whose company was successfully sold. And these days he’s with Silicon Valley-based pre-series A venture capital firm Cervin Ventures, specializing in helping founders in the enterprise technology space.

Based on his experience Samir has come up with eight “one-liners” (i.e. rules or words to live by) that should guide every startup.

The first one is a question every entrepreneur should ask before even thinking about starting a business.

You get all the details, and, along the way, find out…

• How the best product could be ignored without this one element
• Where to find your best customers (you already know, even if you don’t realize it)
• Why you shouldn’t try to “sell” - do this instead
• The mindset shift you need to go from “startup” to “business”
• And much more