The tech wreck is behind us. The fundamentals still matter as much as they ever have, and this back-to-basics book offers guidelines and helpful advice for launching a new enterprise.
Author Robert W. Price is executive director of the Global Entrepreneurship Institute, a think tank based in Laguna Beach, California, and has written and edited almost a dozen other books on entrepreneurship. Here he focuses on two key elements: people and funding. It's vital to hire accordingly and make each individual accountable for the business's success, he contends, and to explore all avenues of potential financing when obtaining venture capital. Most of all, according to Price, entrepreneurs still need patience and realistic expectations. Since the tech wreck, the average time for a company to be acquired or undergo an IPO has returned to a minimum of five to seven years.
Written in an amiable style, the book also delivers concise reviews and examples of the entrepreneurial spirit in major companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart. The author blends it all into a worthy discussion of how-to's for entrepreneurs just starting out.—S.J. Johnston