Peter Birkeland

Writing Partner & Developmental Editor for business books

ABOUTPete Birkeland has been a writing partner on books with authors Brad Feld, David Cohen, Matt Blumberg, Mahendra Ramsinghani, Jacques Benkoski, Claudia Reuter, Rory Verrett, and many others. He has worked on topics in entrepreneurship, startups, venture capital, venture debt, executive recruiting, crypto, and franchising. He was named “One of the Top 10 Minds in Small Business” by Fortune Magazine and has published books with Wiley, the University of Chicago Press and self-publishing platforms. He has a Ph.D. in economic sociology from the University of Chicago. In 2025 he relocated with his family from Colorado to his childhood home in Minnesota where he continues to write books and collaborate with authors.

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author reviews

“Pete joined our team and provided the coordination for the second edition. In addition to a heavy edit cycle, he drove a rewrite of parts of the book along with a restructure of the beginning. We’ve loved working with him and are excited about working on Do Even More Faster with him.” BRAD FELD, Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup, Do More Faster India, and Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors 2^nd Edition“I have worked with many, many writers over the years and my advice is this: If you’re writing a book on business or entrepreneurship, work with Pete. His ability to express your voice is amazing and it’s fun to work with him.” DAVID COHEN, Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup, and Do More Faster India

"I have worked on multiple books with Pete and I highly recommend collaborating—whether it’s your first book or you’re an experienced author. In the 2^nd edition of Startup CEO, I had a pretty good idea on how I wanted to structure the content but Pete helped me think through new content and came up with a different structure that helps the book flow and be more impactful." MATT BLUMBERG, Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Scaling up Your Business

“After receiving a contract to complete my book with a major publisher, I faced what all writers face–a looming deadline. With just a few months to finish the book I had spent years working on, I was grateful to be put in touch with Peter Birkeland for editing. Pete was a terrific editor. We met multiple times, and I always appreciated Pete’s feedback on my work. I highly recommend to any writer, at any stage of their writing project, to work with Pete if you are looking for editorial guidance and support.” CLAUDIA REUTER, Yes, You Can do This! How Women Start Up, Scale Up, and Build The Life They Want

“Pete–Thanks so much for all your help with this effort. The results are fantastic!” DAVID BROWN, No Vision All Drive: What I Learned From My First Company

"As a fumbling foreign-born English speaker, I needed someone to take my raw materials and turn them into something that was digestible, as well as tame my overwhelming content production. Peter Birkeland was warmly recommended by Mahendra, Brad Feld, and Matt Blumberg, who had all written and published books with him on adjacent topics.

Beyond his written contributions, Peter became a believer in the originality of the materials, an infinitely patient coach, and a critical support during the inevitable periods of self-doubt that could certainly have ended the project. He became a friend and the doula who brough this book to life." JACQUES BENKOSKI, The Market Entry Strategy: Charting Your Course to Early-Stage Venture Success

“I’d like to thank my writing partner, Peter Birkeland, in as big of a way as possible. When I began thinking about this project, I envisioned writing this alone. When someone suggested a writing partner, I envisioned a Black woman and me talking about DEI, using shorthand about these sometimes complex topics, reminiscing about shared social and career experiences as Black professionals, and finishing each other’s sentences as we quickly completed chapter after chapter. That’s just how your unconscious mind works.

I don’t know anyone, however, who could have helped me complete this project as well as Pete, a middle-aged, white writer and former professor, CEO, and board chair. I realized after our fourth conversation as Pete I wrestled with a very nuanced DEI topic, that he was the reader I was trying to influence. Earlier in his career Pete had been the executive and hiring manager I needed to convert to a DEI champion. He was the perfect sparring partner for this topic and I’m grateful for the hard work he put into making The Pomegranate Principle come to life.” RORY VERRETT, The Pomegranate Principle: Best Practices in Diversity Recruiting

“Most 2^nd editions are updates to existing content, but Brad Feld and I were fortunate to collaborate with Matt Blumberg (Acrolinx CEO) and Pete (Writer) to create a better 2^nd edition of Startup Boards. They brought fresh insights, new perspectives, and new content that provides founders, board members, and people seeking their first board role with a valuable resource. If you want an excellent book—fast—I’d suggest you collaborate with Pete. You’ll be happy you did.” MAHENDRA RAMSINGHANI, Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors 2^nd Edition

“Working with Pete on The Startup Playbook was a joy. He’s inciteful, detailed and focused. He not only read the work, but made sure he understood what was behind it. He made great suggestions on how to change it to meet the audience’s needs, while helping to make changes that expanded the book’s reach. Oh, did I mention that he also worked incredibly fast to get it all done. We’re very impressed with his work.” WILL HERMAN, The Startup Playbook: Founder-to-Founder Advice From Two Startup Veterans

“Peter has a knack for understanding the author’s purpose and aligning the written work with that versus pushing product into alternative directions. Working with Peter is like having a complementary partner who’s able to see your work from fresh eyes and anticipate how it might be perceived by the outside world. This is especially important for us writers who tend to get buried into our own work bubble and inevitably can lose connection at times with our readers.

He also brings tremendous value in terms of both pre-writing advice and post-writing review. I found his feedback to be astute and he was instrumental in helping me get ‘unstuck.’ This allowed me to keep my flow and enthusiasm throughout the project, literally without missing a beat as I went on to complete my manuscript in record time. Most particularly, I give credit to Peter for advising on key fundamental issues such as structure and methodology early on, which are more challenging and time consuming to fix down the road. Peter is an invaluable asset to any business writing project.”
AMIR HEGAZI, Ecosystem Arabia: The Making of a New Economy

“Pete provides valuable developmental editing services. As a publishing company supporting a first-time author, Pete’s friendly advice and professional support boosted the readability of our manuscript and delivered timely confidence as we published You Don’t Need This Book. BEN McDOUGAL, You Don't Need This Book: Entrepreneurship in the Connected Era

“A lot of people have great ideas, experience, and skills, but if you really want to set yourself apart from everyone else a book is the best way to do that. As a first-time author it was extremely helpful to work with Pete. He’s not only a writer and editor, but he’s also a great sounding board. The publishing industry is like no other and having someone by your side who knows the industry inside and out is invaluable.”
AMOS SCHWARTZFARB, Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Startups

“I gigged with Pete on the revised edition of Build The Fort, and he was very helpful to me in thinking about what is possible. Being a first-time author is a lot like being a first-time entrepreneur and I would never advise a first-time founder to go it alone. If you’re writing a book, you should collaborate with someone and Pete is a great partner to help bring out your best ideas in the best way possible.” CHRIS HEIVLY, Build The Fort: Why 5 Simple Lessons You Learned as a 10-year-old Can Set You up for Startup Success

Books

Below are the books I have collaborated on, primarily since 2019. If you would like a list of short-form work--articles and blog posts--please indicate that in the contact form below.