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Confessions of an Entrepreneur: The Highs and Lows of Starting Up |  | Author: Chris Robson
Publisher: Prentice Hall Business
List Price: £10.99
Buy New: £6.35
as of 9/9/2010 04:28 BST details
You Save: £4.64 (42%)
New (11) Used (3) from £3.00
Rating:  3 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0273721488
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.11
EAN: 9780273721482
Publication Date: August 25, 2010 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | New | | • | Mint Condition | | • | Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon | | • | Guaranteed packaging | | • | No quibbles returns |
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| Customer Reviews:
Bloody brilliant September 6, 2010
boots
I'm an avid reader and very hard to please. I read this book in one sitting.
It wasn't a boring business book, but a compelling account of starting up.
It's well written, refreshingly honest with a good deal of swearing so perhaps not for the under 12s. Also liked the 'Mad Men' style book sleeve, nice touch.
I'm looking forward to Mr Robson's next book and will follow his journey with interest.
Useful learnings, reasssurance and laughs September 1, 2010
Matt Norton
I'm terrible at reading books currently. With two young kids and a start-up business in progress I tend to fall asleep with minutes of reading something for leisure. Not so with this time, I found I devoured the book cover to cover on a long haul flight to the US and couldn't put it down.
I can't decide what the best element was for me. Chris Robson's openness is great, not just because you really feel that you're getting the uncensored version of his experiences but also because there were many opportunities to smirk and chuckle. There were useful reminders and learnings in most chapters for me but I think the most valuable thing that I got out of it most was reassurance that it's not just my own experience of starting a business that is sometimes stretching but everyone has had their lows when the light at the end of the tunnel can seem faint. Determination and grit are vital to getting a start-up over the line but you have to be careful that it isn't actually blind stubbornness.
I recommend this book to:
- anyone who's thinking of starting a business for a reality check before they embark on the adventure.
- anyone who has a spouse or partner who's thinking of starting a business so they know what they're letting themselves in for .... or giving it as a present to said partner!
- anyone involved or connected with start-up / early stage businesses so they have a better insight into what those companies and their founders are going through.
Fantastic insight into the downs and ups of being an entrepreneur August 31, 2010
Andy D (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're sick of all those boring egotistical tales of endless entrepreneurial success, this book is the perfect antidote.
The author has focused on how it *feels* to succeed - and fail - in business, and so has IMHO created an invaluable record of what being an entrepreneur is really like. Many dream of amassing a Gates-like fortune, but that isn't the result that most entrepreneurs end up with. If you've ever tried to start your own business, you'll wince with recognition at the problems the author faces as he goes through his attempts to find the magic formula. If you're considering starting something up now, you'll get a feel for the emotional rollercoaster you're about to embark upon.
One of the things I enjoyed about the book is the way it covers so many different attempts at starting businesses - not only by the author himself, but also by his numerous interviewees. As a result, you are inducted into a fellowship of real entrepreneurs - not necessarily people you've heard of, but in some ways I think that may be the point. The reality is that *real* entrepreneurialism is always a rough ride - the emotional toll that this can take not only on the entrepreneur himself, but also on his business/personal relationships, his family and his friends, is huge and dealt with well in the book. It was a great relief to find a book that recognises how easily the entrepreneurial dream can turn into a groundhog-day type nightmare.
The style is unusual for a business book, combining a raw, confessional tone for the stories and anecdotes with measured, practical advice on how to deal with the many challenges that he outlines.
In the end though, the book manages to combine this warning note of realism with an underlying message of determined hope. At the heart of the book is this message: It's better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. I found myself reminded of the dogged attitude that every entrepreneur needs and filled with optimism about the future.
Highly recommended.
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