Coming soon • December 1, 2026
Finance without Fear
A practical guide to startup finance, financial literacy, and investor readiness, written for founders rather than CFOs, so you can make the right calls about your own company’s money.
By Bill Aulet and Marius Ursache
“Even the most talented entrepreneurs with terrific ideas can be naive about the fundraising process, and the ultimate consequences are often substantial in terms of their financial returns and even their firms’ outcomes. This book, drawing on the authors’ many decades of pedagogical and practical experience, seeks to address this important gap in an accessible and thoughtful way. It is a valuable resource for both first-time and seasoned entrepreneurs.”
Josh Lerner, Harvard Business School and Private Capital Research Institute
“As the authors say, finance does not make a great company but it sure kills a lot of them. This book goes a long way toward bringing down that mortality rate. Highly recommend for all entrepreneurs.”
Tom Byers, Stanford University, Faculty Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program
“For many technical founders like me, the tendency is to focus on tech and stay away from finance. That’s a mistake. You don’t have to become a finance expert, but a base level of literacy provides a high degree of leverage. Read this book to get there. It’s well worth the calories.”
Dharmesh Shah, Co-founder and CTO, HubSpot
“I am a scientist at my core, not an accountant or finance person, but this book makes that side of the business something I can not just deal with but feel comfortable leading. I am deeply grateful that this book exists, not just for me, but for entrepreneurs worldwide.”
Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO, Greentown Labs
“Financial literacy is an often-undervalued part of an entrepreneur’s skill set, especially for technical founders. This book helps correct this with its rigorous but easy to digest style.”
Brad Feld, Partner, Foundry Group, author of Venture Deals and Startup Boards
“Starting and growing a startup is hard. Anything that can make this easier is welcome. Managing your finances is a necessary thing and if you want to build a meaningful company, you have to understand it. This book pulls the curtain back and makes it easy to understand without losing the key content.”
Paul English, Co-founder of Kayak and Gumdrop
“As an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve seen innovative, mission-driven startups fail too often on account of inadequate financial management. Bold vision and technical innovation may attract attention, but they don’t keep the lights on, and getting the money right isn’t a concession to capitalism, it’s what makes impact possible. This book provides a great pathway for technical founders who’ve never had to think about the numbers. Now they have no excuse not to.”
Mitch Kapor, Founder of Lotus Development Corporation, co-founder of Kapor Capital
Why we wrote this book
No Great Companies Are Built on Finance, but Many Are Destroyed by It
One of the most frustrating things in entrepreneurship is watching a founder do everything right, build a great product and a great company, and then underperform, lose control, or fail outright because they were not financially literate.
This book will not turn you into an accountant or an MBA. It teaches you how to avoid losing at finance, so you can win where it actually counts: innovation, value proposition, go-to-market, culture, and team.
Why buy the book
Because the #1 Job of a Startup CEO Is to Not Run Out of Cash
Read and understand your financial statements
Cash flow, profit and loss, the balance sheet, depreciation, and working capital, explained the way a founder needs them.
Build a financial model that helps you build the business
Projections built from the real drivers of your business, and the whole plan on one page with the DE Financial Canvas.
Raise money without being naive about the cost
Where the money comes from and what each source costs you, how your venture gets valued, and what changes after the round closes.
Want a taste of it?
Download a free sample
Read an earlier draft of the book, free. We will send the finished chapters as soon as Wiley clears them.
Pre-order
Where to Buy the Book
The book comes out on December 1, 2026. Pre-order it, forward your order confirmation to hello@d-eship.com, and we will send you a pack of perks we give only to pre-orders.
Buying more than 25 copies? Get in touch with us for volume orders, institutional purchases, and teaching materials.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
December 1, 2026, from Wiley. Pre-orders ship on publication.
An earlier draft of the book. The final chapters are still with Wiley, and you get those as soon as they are cleared.
No. The book assumes none.
New. Book five in the series, and the one about money.
Yes. Get in touch and we will sort pricing, examination copies, and teaching material.
We do not process orders and cannot see, change, or refund them. Contact the retailer you ordered from.