Join us for The Founders Book Club: The Key Ideas From Great Business Books on Friday August 28,2026 at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET
Great business books are full of valuable insights, but the real value comes from understanding how those ideas apply to an early-stage business.
The Founders Book Club is designed to do exactly that.
In each monthly session, we break down one influential business book and discuss how bootstrapping founders apply the concepts to their client acquisition strategy.
You do not need to read the book beforehand.
We will walk through the key concepts together and discuss how the principles apply to your business.
What to Expect from Our Interactive Conversation
• A breakdown of the most important ideas from the book of the month
• Discussion on how the concepts apply to client acquisition and growth
• Perspectives from other founders on your journey
• Clear takeaways you can apply to your business immediately
August Session: Blue Ocean Strategy
Find Your Blue Ocean: Stop Competing, Start Winning
This month's book had a huge impact on us here at The Scale Summit.
Blue Ocean Strategy argues that the best brands don't win by beating the competition, they win by making the competition irrelevant. They find a new angle rather than fight in an overcrowded market.
In this session, The Scale Summit’s Darrin Guttman, will break down the book's core framework and show you how to apply the branding, lead gen, and sales conversion strategies of worlds biggest brands to your business..
What to Expect from Our Interactive Conversation
Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean. Why competing head-on with everyone in your space bleeds you dry, and how bootstrappers spot the uncontested space competitors are ignoring.
The Four Actions Framework (Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create). The exact grid big brands use to redesign their category, and how bootstrappers use the same grid to redesign a single offer or funnel with a limited budget.
Drawing your Strategy Canvas. A simple visual for mapping what everyone in your space competes on, so you can see exactly where the crowd is and where the open water is.
Looking past your customers to your noncustomers. Why the people not buying from anyone in your category are your biggest lead gen opportunity, and how to build messaging that pulls them in.
Who Should Attend
Early-stage founders who want to better understand the ideas behind great business books and, more importantly, how those ideas apply to their own businesses at the stage they are in.