Samir Shah has a unique pedigree in the M&A world. He was previously an owner whose company was successfully sold. And these days he’s with Silicon Valley-based pre-series A venture capital firm Cervin Ventures, specializing in helping founders in the enterprise technology space.

Based on his experience Samir has come up with eight “one-liners” (i.e. rules or words to live by) that should guide every startup.

The first one is a question every entrepreneur should ask before even thinking about starting a business.

You get all the details, and, along the way, find out…

How the best product could be ignored without this one elementWhere to find your best customers (you already know, even if you don’t realize it)Why you shouldn’t try to “sell” - do this insteadThe mindset shift you need to go from “startup” to “business”And much more