Customer Reviews

New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are an entrepreneur, don't buy this 1998 edition, buy the 1995 version. This new edition is basically just a text book with cases and questions. It would be great for an MBA class but not someone who wanted to start their own business. The 1995 version of this book, also sold on Amazon, is fantastic for entrepreneurs. It has over 700 pages of information, worksheets and examples. Do yourself a favor, buy the older version.

This book includes numerous tear-out exercises and cases. It might be appropriate for a classroom but it is not ideal for prospective entrepreneurs.

Earlier versions of this book had good material on writing a business plan and determining appropriate sources of capital and less extraneous fillers. Save yourself a lot of money and buy a more practical book on the subject or the 1995 version if you want the business plan and financing materials.

Like the previous reviewer, I too purchased the 4th Edition of this text (paperback), and was extremely pleased. Before starting my current business, I consulted extensively with this text, and was pleased with its comprehensive, practical nature - covering everything from a personality assessment of one's readiness for self-employment, to exhaustive preparation information for a business plan. The book also extensively covers financing an entrepreneurial venture, comparing both debt and equity (including Venture Capital) methodologies.

On a practical note, I also like the fact that all the pages are perforated...there have been several that I have taken out and used hands-on!

I cannot comment on the relative worth of this version vs. the newer version, as I only have the 4th edition.

I had to read this book cover-to-cover for an MBA class.

Although there is some very good information in this book, there is a *lot* of filler material. I think it would have been a much better book at about half the length or less.

During the term, I would type up reviews of each chapter for exams. I was often stunned at how little substance I was recording. Sometimes a 20 paged chapter could be condensed down to 4 or 5 points on a half sheet of paper!

The fact that it's in black & white and light on the graphics/figures/tables didn't help the interest level while reading.

This has got to rank near the top of driest, most repetitive business (including accounting) textbooks I've come across! I should know because I already have an MBA. I could not get through more than two pages before nodding off. My eyes burned from trying to read through reverse print/images from the back of a page in what couldn't be much larger than 6 point type on gray pages! The book is printed on paper stock on par with your typical trashy Hollywood celebrity magazine. Be careful flipping pages, you might rip them. When I tried to highlight passages, it bled through to the next page! My suggestion is to skim the chapter summaries, go back and read the section(s) you need more detail on and save your eyes.

The book came with a card to access online resources. Despite my book being brand new and still shrink wrapped, an error message popped up when I tried to register, stating that the access code was no longer valid or had been used previously. This was disappointing, but from others I had heard that the site was of little value.

The GOOD NEWS is that this book is an excellent reference, chock-full of great information, screening tests for assessing and tweaking a business plan, examples, etc. This Timmons book (and it's previous incarnations) has withstood the test of time for decades (First published in 1974!). The screening tests and methodology for starting up a business developed at Babson College are tried and true.

If you need structure and guidance in starting up a business, this is the book for you.

I paid $95 dollars for the Kindle version and it does NOT play on a Kindle! I would give this ZERO stars if I could. Amazon did take it back and refund my money, so perhaps 1 star is Ok.

I really enjoyed this book and the class was my favorite to date. If you are looking to start a new business and need to write a plan, this book would be a great tool.

Hi ,

This is a very informative book for every business student and
for every person who desires to establish a new venture...
Very excellent book ...

Thank you
Sal

If you look around at the big businesses of today, most of them weren't around a hundred years ago. This includes not only the really new companies like Microsoft and Intel, but also the oil companies, automobile companies, airlines and more.

A hundred years from now it will be the same thing. The days of cheap energy are over, global warming is coming, and the recent developments in biotechnology are opening new doors. In the next century there will be an awful lot of room for new companies that work in such areas to solve tomorrow's problems. And often the big companies of today can't make the transition.

This book is sort of the general overall Bible of starting a new company. It is intended for use by individuals and by business school students thinking of starting a company.

It begins with a look at the entrepreneurial mind. This examines the the attitudes, habits and behaviors seen in successful entrepreneurs. It continues through every step in the process until you've cashed out and are looking for ways to spend your fortune.

Having worked for several entrepreneurs and see what happens, this book would have saved some of them an awful lot of effort.

The text book is brand new. It arrived 3 days before the estimated arrival date. I couldn't be more satisfied.