It would be great if the author has specified what kind of advice isn't applicable to non-VC-backed companies. IMHO a part of it is still relevant even if you d

It would be great if the author has specified what kind of advice isn't applicable to non-VC-backed companies. IMHO a part of it is still relevant even if you don't shoot for the stars. After all every business (even the "lifestyle" one) needs some good practices to (at least) stay on the market and avoid the fate of an expensive hobby. Yesterday I had a similar discussion on the workshop with a group of SMB owners/managers (mostly experienced people running the business for many yrs - up to 30, but there were also a few startups). All of them were in real need for an actual change to either grow or keep up with the evolving market. We were working on their business models and I was using well known examples of companies as illustrations. One of the guys suddenly asked "Why are we talking about such big companies? We are not them." The answer was pretty simple - if you want to learn and get inspired there's only one direction to look - up.