Pre-launch • Early Readers
Born to Disrupt
Where most business books are spreadsheets in prose, Born to Disrupt is loud and raw. It blends first-hand war stories from decades of building disruptive companies with the mythology of music: Robert Johnson’s devil at the crossroads, Springsteen’s encores, Bowie’s reinventions, Daft Punk’s masked farewell. Startups, like bands, thrive on chaos, burn out on bad deals, implode from egos, and sometimes rise again by tearing up the setlist.
The book is structured as a series of riffs — chapters that each pair a music-world story with a hard startup lesson. From phantom investors and boardroom coups to burnout on the tour bus and exits that echo stadium encores, Born to Disrupt shows how founders can survive the shitshow without losing their soul.
This is not another Silicon Valley playbook. It’s a survival guide for anyone who has ever been seduced by disruption, betrayed by investors, burned out by hustle culture, or forced to reinvent themselves. With the swagger of music writing and the insight of hard-won experience, Born to Disrupt will resonate with founders, creatives, and anyone who has ever wondered what it really costs to chase greatness.
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Who it’s for
- University spin-outs and deep-tech founders turning research into revenue
- Chairs and CEOs moving from Seed to Series B with real governance to match growth
- Investors who want narrative clarity, disciplined boards, and fewer surprises
You’ll learn
- Build an investor narrative that actually travels, backed by a clean, always-ready data room
- Run a board that adds velocity: tight agendas, useful packs, clear decisions, proper follow-through
- Balance spectacle with strategy so the big moments serve the plan
- Spot and neutralise ego tax, term-sheet traps, and the friendly adviser who isn’t
Tone
Practical, blunt, story-led. More rehearsal room than lecture theatre, more playbook than theory. Written to be used the morning after you read it.
“What’s rock ’n’ roll got to do with business? Everything. It’s the team, the attitude, the market, the medium, and the message.”
“In This Is Spinal Tap, the band isn’t undone by a lack of talent, and neither are many startups.”
“Robert Johnson sold his soul and invented the blues. What’s your deal with the Devil — and how will you recognise him when the time comes?”
“Genres, bands, startups — it’s all hype, hope, backlash, and whatever’s left standing when the rest have burned out.”
Roots & energy
Robert Johnson — the crossroads
Chuck Berry — the riffs
Tim Harper — the translation into business
What’s inside
- The Garage Is a Temple — Where the real work starts, not in boardrooms, and how to build before anyone gives you permission.
- DIY or Die — Bootstrapping as a religion, keeping control of your masters and your cap table while you find product truth.
- Screw Your Pitch Deck, Show Me the Product — Proof beats slideware; ship something that plays loud enough to silence the room.
- Spectacle with Strategy — Make the show serve the plan; turn attention into pipeline, customers and momentum.
- The Myth of Wing It and Win — Rehearsal, soundcheck and readiness under the lights, because ease on stage comes from graft.
- The Rider Is a Cry for Help — Control rituals, early signs of burnout, and how to steady the tour before it buckles.
- Van Flu and Venue Wi-Fi — The silent killers of momentum and the practical fixes that keep the set on time.
- The Devil at the Crossroads — Term sheets and record deals as the same bargain: what you pay, what you keep, and how to keep your soul.
- The Banana Peel Clause — The small print that breaks your neck on the way to the exit and how to spot it in time.
- Founder Friendly without Illusions — A useful board that sets tempo, clears blockers and records decisions that actually get done.
- The Data Room That Never Sleeps — Diligence-ready any Tuesday: clean metrics, coherent narrative, no surprises when the lights come up.
- Operating Rhythm — Cadences that hold under pressure, habits that keep the band together, plans that ship when it counts.
- Backseat Ballads and Cadillac Gigs — Improvisation when the plan blows up; find the groove and still land the show.
- Encore Fatigue — Knowing when not to come back, and what a real second act needs if you do.
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