Quick Moment For The Messy Middle (Launch Day!)

My new book hits shelves today. If you’re planning on picking up a copy of The Messy Middle, please consider doing so today. You can do it on AMAZON or support OTHER OPTIONS. This was a massive project. I’d really appreciate your support, and hope you enjoy it.

Below you’ll see some early reviews, some perspective, and details on a fun collaboration with Illustrator Jessica Hische that I’m excited to share. Thank you for your support. -scott

A book project starts out as a fascination. Then reality kicks in as you spend the next few years doing interviews/drafts (with many fits and starts - and periods of self-doubt followed by the occasional breakthrough - in-between), and then you eventually near the finish line…at which point the skills you need to succeed are entirely different (your publisher turns you from a writer into a somewhat-shameless marketer). 

Indeed, I got to know “the messy middle” quite intimately as I wrote the The Messy Middle. This experience is not unique to writers. Every bold project, new venture, or turnaround of a team, product, or culture goes through a period of volatility that offers a bounty of insights for how to endure the lows and optimize the hell out of everything that works. Finally, no bold project succeeds without a community behind it (thank you, friends). If you haven’t read it, here’s a short post about the book.

“Starting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute.”

“The Messy Middle is one of my favorite business books of the last decade. It’s humble, smart, vulnerable, and precise. If you do complex work (don’t we all?), this book will show you how to navigate the most difficult part of any endeavor.”

“Building a lasting business is 1% idea and 99% resilience. The Messy Middle details the unglamorous but essential lessons every founder needs to learn.”

“This is required reading for founders. Experienced entrepreneurs all know this period Scott refers to as “the messy middle” and a few of us have worked our way out of it, but this is the first time I’ve seen an expert—both as a founder and as an investor—break down in such detail just how to endure, optimize, and make it through.“

>> Buy THE MESSY MIDDLE <<

I am excited to share a collaboration with Jessica Hische, an amazing lettering artist and illustrator I deeply respect and have known since the early days of Behance. Alongside the launch of THE MESSY MIDDLE, Jessica transformed three of the book’s 100+ insights into a limited series of illustrations.

I sent Jessica an early version of the manuscript a few months ago, and she selected the three insights that resonated most with her. Check out what happened:

Order your copy of THE MESSY MIDDLE here.

Thanks again, and hope this special edition finds you well!

scott