The Parallel Entrepreneur: How to start and run B2B businesses while keeping your day job

- Jon Miller, CEO of Engagio and Co-founder of Marketo - Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork Building a product on the internet is relatively easy these days. It's the making money part that's hard. I wrote this book to help you become a parallel entrepreneur faster than I did, and to encourage you to do so while you have the safety net of a day job. I've divided this book into two parts: Theory and Tactics. The Theory section will cover all sides of parallel entrepreneurship and lean on both my experiences and those of others who have also ventured into parallel entrepreneurship. I lay out a framework and incorporate insights and patterns from dozens of parallel entrepreneurs so that we can understand the rationale behind splitting your time across multiple ventures instead of focusing on just one. This is important because we've all heard the refrain, "Focus, focus, focus." I'll explain why this is right (each business you start should be singularly focused) and why this is wrong (because--and this is the point of the book--you can have multiple singularly focused businesses!) The Tactics section covers everything you need to know in order to plan, build, and run a business on the internet -- all while keeping your day job. The businesses I'm focusing on are singles and doubles, not home runs and grand slams. The businesses I want you to build are little money makers with no staff. Combine them together and you'll be financially free. Throughout this book I'll explain why keeping your businesses small and simple is very important. Furthermore, I focus solely on businesses that sell to other businesses. These are called "B2B" companies. I think it's too hard to build a consumer-facing ("B2C") business on your own. If you're reading this book, you're probably interested in working for yourself. In these pages, you'll get helpful resources from my journey along with insights into the nasty pitfalls you'll inevitably discover. This book is designed to be both a story and an encyclopedia that you can keep referring back to as you build your businesses. I must warn you: what you're about to embark upon is all-consuming, painful, and frustrating. You will want to quit several times before you finally turn your idea into a personal ATM machine. I hope you stick with it long enough to get there. Join 's online community at http://www.parallelentrepreneurship.com.