The Persuasive Entrepreneur: How to Develop and Pitch Your Early-Stage Technology Startup

By Clay Spinuzzi

A practical, evidence-based guide to entrepreneurship communication that takes readers from generating an idea to pitching it for the first time.

How do successful entrepreneurs communicate? Plenty of entrepreneurship books address interviewing customers or crafting a pitch, but none provide a complete picture of the process from venture idea to venture offering. Filling this gap, The Persuasive Entrepreneur shows readers how to effectively communicate and cocreate with potential customers, markets, and other stakeholders at each step of their early startup journey. Clay Spinuzzi draws on social and rhetorical theory as well as extensive empirical research to distill what makes an entrepreneur persuasive, centering market dialogue as the key to solving problems. Rooted in the Lean Startup approach and packed with real-life case studies and tools, this practical textbook teaches entrepreneurs not just what to do, but why and how to do it.

Presents entrepreneurship as an ongoing exchange between entrepreneurs and stakeholders Details how to understand market dialogue, conduct it well, and cocreate with customers Illustrates step-by-step process with diagrams, tables, and real-world examples Covers pitching, conducting interviews, identifying problems, establishing feedback loops, and refining value propositions

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 026205423X
• ISBN13: 9780262054232
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 248 Pages