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"Successful Startups" Exceptional
Reviews:
Bob Foster, Director, Global Access Program,
UCLA Anderson School of Management
"I found SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS to be very informative
and useful, and will recommend it to any aspiring entrepreneur. I
especially liked the frequent checklists which address critical business
plan development requirements."
John Glanville, Athenaeum Capital Partners
"Attention entrepreneurs and venture investors: I
highly recommend looking over Bill Benjamin's new book, SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS,
and taking to heart more than a few pieces of advice found there. This
focused guide outlines what most, if not all, successful entrepreneurs
know and practice. Identify your market, get customer buy in, develop
your product/service to answer a customer's problem, and do your homework
before you go out and raise capital. These simple steps will save
you and the rest of us a lot of headaches, and who knows how much capital. Bill
has nailed it in terms of getting the horse in front of the startup company
wagon !!!"
Robert Manning, Managing Director, Robert's Capital
"Here is a fresh non-conventional look and analysis of what is
required to launch and grow a successful startup. Every venture
investor should read SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS, and then pass the book to their
favorite entrepreneur."
John Ballantine, Founder, Trusted Sports
"SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS is the first expert guide to correctly pinpoint
early customer response market validation as the single most important
step for successful startups. Get it wrong and the venture is likely
to fail.
Written by experts for the next generation of great startups, this book
is must read for angel investors, venture capitalist and all entrepreneurs
looking to execute on a big idea. The market research section is one of
the best I've ever read. If your business idea is able to meet the criteria
provided in the book, you will have a successful startup."
Albert Drouart, Business Development, Netgiro/
Digital River
"SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS
is a detailed and focused crash course on entrepreneurship. If you
are just starting a company, evaluating a business
idea, or are working
in a young company, this focused guide provides a
fresh way to think about
your business. The authors leverage their considerable experience
of starting businesses and working with venture/angel
investors to provide
a framework (9 critical success factors) against
which to measure your
own business model startup. There is a practical side to this book
as well: the authors go beyond just identifying the
success factors and
measuring their relevance by providing a score sheet
to help in applying
their advice to your own business plan.
SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS really shines when it identifies with
laser-like focus what is really relevant when starting a business and
evaluating an idea. This means that you'll be focused on your core business
value and market validation while feeling confident about your approach
to company structure, intellectual property and equity placement."
Dave Strandberg, CEO, Bullchart.com
"I was very impressed with the careful, step-by-step
critical startup factors recommended by these venture development experts. Their
insistence on compiling, and using, positive customer response data to
increase venture valuation, on a limited budget, is really impressive
thinking!
SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS provides a wealth of information for
anyone who is contemplating investing in or starting a new business. As
the founder of 8 different information based companies, six of which were
sold to large media corporations, Mr. Benjamin clearly has the experience
needed to offer advice to the budding entrepreneur. If you want
a realistic, detailed, evaluation of your business idea, SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS
will give you the tools and resources you need to get started."
Eric Drouart, Professor, Southern Vermont
College
"With this book, the two authors share valuable lessons
they have learned from their own experience launching successful new ventures. They
offer a well-organized road-map for success with chapters outlining nine
critical success factors. Each chapter includes interviews with
new venture experts, and guidelines/scorecards that can be used to gauge
the marketability of a new product idea, and to obtain the early financial
resources to launch the project.
SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS is a very helpful how-to guide
loaded with extensive real-world illustrations of the success factors
they recommend to use to ensure the success of a new venture. This
book could easily be used as a textbook for classes on Entrepreneurship
and New Business Creation."
Duwayne Peterson, Chairman Emeritus, Pasadena
Angels
"William Benjamin and Jason McDowall have written
the perfect book for the current investment climate for startups. With
fewer dollars chasing many new deals, the competition is severe for that
first investment by outsiders.
That means each new venture must have answers to all the
questions that investors will be raising, and the more credibility that
can be demonstrated through solid market and customer validation, the
better. That's where "SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS" shines. It takes
the entrepreneur through nine critical success factors that cover all
the areas of investor concern. More importantly, it provides a straight
forward set of steps to build a solid foundation of success for the entrepreneur
and the startup venture.
While the investment climate changes, this book should
stand the test of time, and remain valuable for any
new venture. It is
a must read for both the entrepreneur and the early-stage
investor."
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