-New Book by Marianna Levtov-

Strong Startup Playbook

How NOT to Be the Next Cautionary Tale

Foundations for Successful Business

14,90 €

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how to spot red flags before they cost you everything

What This Book Equips You to Build

Ecosystem

This section drops you into the real supply chain jungle. Dense. Political. Ruled by legacy and instinct. A place where power is inherited, not claimed, and where outsiders get eaten fast.

You will see why tech means nothing without trust, why pitching disruption gets you ignored, and why the jungle only respects what fixes something real. If the dockworker still prints the manifest, your smart platform is irrelevant.

You will learn to respect the rhythm, survive the seasons, and move like the antelope. Quiet. Fast. Precise.

Welcome to the jungle. You will not survive by shouting.

Team-building

This section goes straight into the pressure cooker. Growth, chaos, ambition, exhaustion. The point where most startups break.

You will see why flat hierarchies fail, why culture decks change nothing, and why hiring fast without judgement is a slow death. You will learn how bad incentives create bad behaviour, how burnout hides behind bravado, and why pretending everything is fine is the most expensive lie in business.

You will understand what happens when leadership collapses under pressure, when founders disappear into fundraising, and when teams lose the thread of why they started.

You will learn how to build teams that hold under stress. How to spot red flags early. How to protect the soul of the company while scaling the machine. How to lead when the stakes are real and the clock is running.

Self-Development

This section turns the lens on the one system you cannot outsource: yourself.

You will confront the gap between who you think you are as a leader and how you actually operate under pressure. The habits you hide behind. The stories you tell yourself. The patterns that quietly sabotage your decisions.

You will see why knowledge is not the problem. Why courses, books, and frameworks do not change behaviour. And why pretending you can carry it all eventually breaks both you and the business.

You will learn how to lead with intention instead of reacting to chaos. How to build authority without ego. How to make decisions without burning out. And how to stop managing your life and start designing it.

This section is about building the internal operating system required to lead for the long game.

Who this book is for?

This book is for founders, business owners, and executive leaders who are building something that has to work in the real world.

It is for people building companies inside complex industries. Regulated markets. Infrastructure. Logistics. Energy. Defence. Deep tech. Environments where mistakes are expensive and credibility takes years to earn.

If you are tired of startup hype, motivational noise, and empty promises, this book is for you.

If you carry responsibility for people, capital, and long-term decisions, this book is for you.

If you want clarity instead of chaos, structure instead of improvisation, and discipline instead of wishful thinking, this book is for you.

This book was written for leaders who are not playing games.

It was written for people who are building something that matters.

And who want to build it right.

Chapter 3: Welcome to the Jungle

The supply chain is not an industry. It is a jungle. Dense, layered, ruled by legacy and instinct, where power is inherited, not claimed, and outsiders get eaten fast.
Those who walk in promising to change everything overnight fall into the swamp. The ones who survive respect the rhythm, get their boots dirty, listen to the people on the ground, and understand that change happens through usage, not launches.
In this jungle, trust, relevance, and bottom-up adoption reign.

Chapter 4: Turn!Turn!Turn!

Business runs in seasons, and if you do not know which one you are in, you will make fatal mistakes by pushing in winter, overreaching in summer, and missing your moment in fall.
Most founders act as if it is always harvest time, chasing funding and scale before the soil is even prepared, which leads straight to burnout or bankruptcy.
Survival depends on reading the signs, matching your pace to your clients and competitors, and knowing when to plant, when to wait, and when to move.

Chapter 6: Under Pressure

Pressure is not the problem. It is the test. This chapter shows why leadership patterns repeat under stress, why excuses only work once or twice, and why eventually performance is the only answer.
You will see how credibility is built slowly and lost quietly, how teams forgive short-term chaos but not permanent disorder, and why trust runs out when the same apologies keep looping.
Under pressure, leadership becomes real. You either train for the role before the fire starts, or the third envelope writes you out of the story.

Chapter 14: Perfect Day

A perfect day is not about productivity. It is about building a weekly ritual where you become unavailable, not because you are busy, but because you are full.
This chapter shows why one or two hours of intentional escape is not indulgence but leadership hygiene. It is where pressure dissolves, perspective returns, and your nervous system resets.
If you want to last as a leader, you must protect your refocus ritual like a board meeting. Because vision does not grow on spreadsheets.

About the Author

Dr. Marianna Levtov, PhD is a former diplomat, industry leader, and executive advisor working with startups and scale-ups building inside complex industrial and technology ecosystems. She advises leadership teams on growth, governance, digital transformation, and the realities of scaling in regulated, infrastructure-heavy markets.

She is the founder of PraeCeps, a consulting firm providing fractional C-suite services to companies navigating scale, complexity, and institutional adoption. Through PraeCeps, she works directly with founders and executive teams on leadership development, organisational design, go-to-market strategy, and the hard decisions that determine whether a company survives growth or becomes the next cautionary tale.

Alongside her advisory work, Dr. Levtov holds a senior executive role focused on large-scale adoption of asset visibility and digital infrastructure across global logistics and industrial ecosystems. Previously, she led multiple industrial digitalisation programmes, supporting the transition from pilot initiatives to fleet-wide and enterprise-grade deployment. Her career places her among the early practitioners who translated asset digitalisation from experimentation into operational reality.

She is an alumna of Oxford Saïd Business School and holds a PhD in Business and Management. Her doctoral research examines how digital infrastructure reshapes industrial power, reallocates risk, and defines accountability in global supply chains, with a particular focus on China’s strategic use of digitalisation and data governance.

Dr. Levtov was affiliated with an academic research centre specialising in distributed systems and digital trust, where her work focused on early industrial applications of decentralised data integrity.

With more than 15 years of international experience, she works closely with global institutions on interoperability, asset identification, digital trust, and cross-border data governance frameworks.

Marianna Levtov is known for a rigorous and unsentimental approach to building companies. She challenges startup mythology and focuses on what it actually takes to scale in the real world.

Do Any of These Statements Sound Familiar?

If we just build a better product, customers will come.

In this book, you will see why technology alone does not win markets. You will understand why trust, timing, and adoption matter more than features, and why great products fail when they are built in isolation from real ecosystems.

We can move fast and fix it later.

You will learn why speed without structure is a trap. You will see how moving too early destroys credibility, burns capital, and creates problems that cannot be repaired later.

Culture will take care of itself.

You will discover why culture must be built deliberately. You will learn how pressure shapes behaviour, why incentives matter more than slogans, and how bad hires quietly poison momentum.

Have a Look Inside

What Readers Are Saying

"The Strong Start Up is a gutsy and clear-eyed survival guide for entrepreneurs who are tired of the hype and hungry for real insight. With the soul of a mixtape and the sharpness of a boardroom strategist, this book hits every note. It exposes the traps, myths, and mindsets that derail even the most promising startups. It is not just about building a company. It is about building the right foundation for growth, resilience, and leadership. This is essential reading for founders and investors in supply chain startups who want to avoid costly missteps and build businesses that last. If you are serious about doing the hard work of turning vision into reality, this book will keep you grounded and fired up."- Daniel Stanton, "Mr. Supply Chain" Author, Supply Chain Management For Dummies and Project Management with AI For Dummies.

“Raw and unfiltered and at times righteously funny, Marianna delivers a sharp, no-nonsense and witty take on the complex world of leading within the supply chain IoT landscape. She blends expert insights with real-world experience, making even the most technical concepts accessible and entertaining. You’ll never hear the song “Welcome to the Jungle” the same way again. It’s a must read for professionals looking to lead boldly in an increasingly connected world."-Lissa Rose D’Arcy, ISO TC104.

Your Questions Answered

Is this book for first-time founders or experienced leaders?

This book is for both. If you are building your first company, it will help you avoid the most common and costly mistakes. If you have already lived through growth, chaos, and pressure, it will help you make sense of what went wrong and how to build differently next time.

Is this book for first-time founders or experienced leaders?

Is this a motivational book or a practical playbook?

This is not a motivational book. It is a practical playbook grounded in real-world experience. It focuses on decision-making, leadership, team dynamics, and operating inside complex ecosystems where mistakes are expensive.

Do I need to be in the supply chain or logistics industry to benefit from it?

No. While many examples come from industrial and infrastructure-heavy environments, the principles apply to any company operating in regulated, complex, or high-stakes markets.

Is this book about startups only?

No. It is about building companies that grow beyond the startup phase. It is for founders, scale-up leaders, and executives who want to build organisations that last.

Why you should buy this book:

Because building in the real world is harder than LinkedIn makes it look.
This book shows you what actually breaks companies and how to survive it.
Because mistakes in your world are expensive. This book helps you avoid the strategic, organisational, and leadership errors that quietly destroy credibility.
Because scaling without structure destroys good companies. You will learn how to build teams, culture, and leadership systems that hold under pressure, not just when things are easy.
Because your company will only grow as far as you do. This book helps you build the internal discipline, clarity, and judgement required to lead for the long game.

14,90 €

Free Delivery

how to spot red flags before they cost you everything

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