Many business books fuel unrealistic notions about what a good idea looks like, how fast a founder should attract investment, and how quickly growth will take off. The problem with this mythology is that it can sometimes end with entrepreneurs abandoning their dreams too soon if they don't see immediate results. In The Hockey Stick Principles, author Bobby Martin shifts his focus away from all the hype about rapid growth and the pursuit of funding and instead takes a look at the real process behind getting a good idea off the ground.

Using a hockey stick as a metaphor and highlighting four key phases, Martin shows the healthy way a business should grow and uses entertaining stories and interviews with successful entrepreneurs like the founders of LendingTree, Under Armour, and iContact, woven throughout the book to not only share a wealth of advice, but to chronicle the ins and outs of these different phases:

-The Tinkering Period: The tip of the stick, or the time when you first develop and hone your idea.
-The Blade Years: The formative years when growth can be flat and navigating the unpredictable process of creating a company can be rocky.
-The Inflection Point: The crucial point in time right before your business takes off when it's important for entrepreneurs to prepare and make decisions to properly manage rapid growth.
-Surging Growth: Once your company proves that they have potential, you need to optimize that growth and scale up in a sensible way.

Innovation almost always involves a number of challenges, misdirections, and uncertainty and can take several years of struggle. But The Hockey Stick Principles gives aspiring entrepreneurs and those in the midst of the messy process a realistic, human, and inspiring understanding of what starting an innovative business is like, while teaching you what to look out for along the way as you shepherd your business through to success.

1. The Proven Principles for Achieving Hockey Stick Growth
Stage I: The Tinkering Stage
2. Hitting the Ice: Beginning to Develop Your Idea
3. Skating on Thin Ice: Leveraging Seed Capital to Get Started
Stage II: The Blade Years
4. Let the Game Begin: Getting to Market
5. Always Be Shooting to Score: Marketing and Selling During the Blade Years
6. Fighting Your Way off the Boards: Improving Your Model to Achieve Takeoff Growth
Stage III: The Growth Inflection Point
7: Go, Go, Go!: Ramping Up Your Newly Discovered Model
8. Playing in the Big Leagues: Raising Growth Capital
Stage IV: Surging Growth
9. No Goal is Scored Alone: Building and Managing Your Team
10: Leave the Ice or Skate On? To Sell or Not to Sell