Bootstrap Finance

The Art of Start-Ups

By: Amar V. Bhide

Narrated by: Deaver Brown

Entrepreneurship is more popular than ever: courses are full, policymakers emphasize new ventures, managers yearn to go off on their own. Would-be founders often misplace their energies, however. Believing in a "big money" model of entrepreneurship, they spend a lot of time trying to attract investors instead of using wits and hustle to get their ideas off the ground. A study of 100 of the 1989 Inc. magazine "500" list of the fastest growing U.S. start-ups attests to the value of bootstrapping. In fact, what it takes to start a business often conflicts with what venture capitalists require. Seven principles are basic for successful start-ups: get operational fast; look for quick, break-even, cash-generating projects; offer high-value products or services that can sustain direct personal selling; don't try to hire the crack team; keep growth in check; focus on cash; and cultivate banks early. Subjects covered include development-stage enterprises, entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.

The Featured Tracks are:

1. Introduction
2. The Big Play
3. The False Promise
4. The Bottom Line
5. The Manager's Role
6. Sustaining the Hustle
7. Exceptions to the Rule
8. Measuring Risk
9. Recruiting Hustlers
10. The Value of Vision;
11. Amar Bhide's Biography.

©1992 Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) (P)2007 No Hassle Inc.

Disappointing

I think I must have missed something here. This work is very light on content and seems to take 40odd minutes to say "Some businesses have been started without raising millions before any business was done". Trouble is, it tells us very little about those businesses or why and how they followed the organic growth route. Save you money.

Interesting data collection but hard to follow

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I'm not sure I can give a good review because I didn't really follow much of what was said. I liked that he had a methodical approach to interviewing start-up founders but I didn't really get a good feel for what he was suggesting as the take aways.

Disappointing

This was a very disappointing selection. Many of the References are 25 years old and DATED. Furthermore, the 40 minutes of this program is spent torturing the basic concept that some start ups had money and some did not. I can not imagine a demographic this book would appeal to.

Don't start a business without this!

Research points out the fallacy of much that is taught about startup. Listen and learn how successful businesses really start.

OLD - Late 1980's Examples

Would you try another book from Amar V. Bhide and/or Deaver Brown?

Only Current works

Has Bootstrap Finance turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Narrator was very good

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Mnnah

Any additional comments?

Shame on Audible for including such a dated, stale and irrelevant document. All cases and companies discussed are circa 1990!!