01
Renaissance
The only three things you need to escape your job and create a new future. The magic formula of passion + usefulness.
Online reading companion
The $100 Startup — Chapter by Chapter
An online companion to The $100 Startup: fourteen chapters across three parts, drawn from a three-year study of more than 1,500 founders who launched for under $1,000. Each chapter page is a deep treatment of one idea from the book.
Part I
Unexpected Entrepreneurs
The opening five chapters — who the people in the study are, why they started, and the core ideas (convergence, give them the fish, follow your passion... maybe).
02
Give Them the Fish
How a Friday-night restaurant story reveals the key to making money. Put happiness in a box and sell it.
03
Follow Your Passion... Maybe
Why people will pay $250 for what they could get for free. How to become an instant consultant — with a ready-made client base.
04
The Rise of the Roaming Entrepreneur
The music teacher who makes $30,000 a month. A primer on location independence. Brett Kelly's $120,000 ebook.
05
The New Demographics
Why your "target market" has nothing to do with traditional demographics. How to decide between competing ideas.
Part II
Taking It to the Streets
The hands-on five — planning, offers, launches, hustling, and the money. The chapters most people open the book to read.
06
The One-Page Business Plan
What happened when two design-school graduates struck out on their own. The 140-character mission statement. How a $50 sale changes everything.
07
An Offer You Can't Refuse
How to sell your product for $97 when everyone else sells theirs for $25. The orange and the donut. The step-by-step guide to a killer offer.
08
Launch!
The $185,755, two-man product launch. How to use storytelling to increase sales. The 39-step product launch checklist.
09
Hustling: The Gentle Art of Self-Promotion
If you build it, they might come. "My marketing plan is strategic giving." The one-page promotion plan. Why advertising is like sex: only the losers pay for it.
10
Show Me the Money
How Naomi Dunford went from a homeless shelter to a million-dollar business. The difference between a business and a hobby. Two rules: borrow less, make more.
Part III
Leverage & Next Steps
What happens after the first sale. How to keep going, grow without losing your life, and survive failure.
11
Moving On Up
The first $1.26 is the hardest. Tweaking your way to the bank — how small actions create big income changes. How to grow wide, grow deep, or grow both.
12
How to Franchise Yourself
Don't buy yourself a job — create your own freedom. Hub, meet spoke. When to hire (or fire) a virtual assistant.
13
Going Long
How to regroup after a big change. Small, consistent actions over time. The long game most micro-businesses miss.
14
But What If I Fail?
How to succeed even if your roof caves in. Reframing failure when the stakes are your livelihood.
About this companion
Each chapter page reads like a self-contained essay rather than a verbatim excerpt. The stories, frameworks, and case studies come straight from the book — V6 Ranch, Higher Ground Yoga, Music Teacher's Helper, These Are Things, Naomi Dunford, and the rest. The voice is mine. The takeaways are the same ones I wrote into the book in 2012, edited where the world has changed and the underlying point hasn't.
If a chapter clicks for you, the book goes deeper. The $100 Startup has sold more than a million copies; you can find it at any bookstore or library, or in the usual online places. If you'd rather start with the frameworks, the free resource library gives you the one-page business plan, the marketing plan, the launch checklist, and three more — all without buying anything.
Want the templates from the book?
The free $100 Startup resource library has the one-page business plan, the one-page marketing plan, the 39-step launch checklist, and three more. All from the chapters above. All free.