The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is an authentic window into what it really takes to turn an idea into a viable startup. It is both an essential how-to guide for would-be startup founders as well as an entertaining novel for the startup curious.

This textbook-as-novel has fictional first-time entrepreneur Marcus Williams recount his journey from would-be founder with a half-formed idea to a funded startup. His mentor, Jason Murath, a seasoned angel investor, guides Marcus step by step through customer discovery, validating and refining the product, market sizing, and more, all the way through closing his first round of financing.

There has never been a more fun – and effective! – way to learn how to build a startup.

About the author

Invested in 70+ startups and mentored hundreds more. Tl;dr It’s hard

Built my first startup into the top provider of web services to summer camps. Lots of mistakes. Luckily, none killed the company.

Managed a family office. Incubated new ventures while managing hedge & private equity funds. Meh.

Recruited to found an app for parents to organize digital memories. Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. Awesome experience.

Why start one business when you can launch dozens? Joined an accelerator and ended up creating a new, later stage, platform for them.

These days I run REACH Labs for Second Century Ventures, consult for corporate venture funds, accelerators, etc. Teach entrepreneurship in my (ha!) spare time to test my book with real students. Spoiler: It works really well.

Over 60 published articles but this is my first novel. Hope you enjoy it!