Traversing the Traction Gap

Traversing the Traction Gap distills the wisdom of Wildcat Venture Partners for startups. They have years of experience picking winners and avoiding losers. Insightfully, they recognize wet-behind-the-ears startup a mile away. They may have vision. Undoubtedly, they bring groundbreaking ideas to the table. Further, unless they have total commitment, they don’t get a second look. Perhaps most apparent, they have boundless enthusiasm. But they require capital to go from promising product to scalable business. More than 80 percent of all early-stage startups fail. Most of them can turn an idea into a product. Unfortunately, the vast majority stumble when it comes time to take that product to market. Poor “market engineering” skills trip them up.

The Traction Gap arises between product development and market release. No traction, no funding. No funding, well, those startups don’t survive.

Bruce Cleveland reveals the reasons behind the scary failure rate of startups. Also, this book provides a prescriptive, practical, how-to guide for aspiring startups. Focused specifically on market engineering techniques, this book make it possible for startups to succeed. The go-to-market hurdle is insurmountable to many startups. Just when they most need to establish a foothold in the market, they run short on time and money. This is the Traction Gap, that period of time introducing a new product into the marketplace and being able to scale it during a rapidly closing window of opportunity. Traversing the Traction Gap is a practical guidebook for navigating the tumultuous early life of a startup. Based on real-life examples, the advice from Cleveland and the members of the Wildcat Venture Partners team provides a roadmap and metrics for succeeding where others have failed.