Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible [Paperback]

Steve Monas (Author), Richard Hooker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2008

A Consultant in a Book
For the millions who start a new business every year on the barest of resources, Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible is like hiring a high-level consultant to deal with the bewildering maze of issues from finance to marketing to technology that all entrepreneurs face. 

Every business is nothing but a series of decisions which can make or break the business. You could say that, if there's a science of business, it's the science of making good decisions. And every bootstrap entrepreneur faces the daunting task of making ALL the business decisions, any one of which could either doom the enterprise or catapult it to stratospheric success. That meas that every entrepreneur has to quickly get up to speed on every issue their business faces. 

Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible is the most exhaustive set of practical resources collected to empower entrepreneurs to make the right decisions on a limited budget, from business concept to product development to Web marketing. We call a "consultant in a book," there to give considered and experienced answers to the infinite questions that come up. 

Shoestring Venture-The Start-up Bible
All entrepreneurs - even the smallest operating on the tightest of budgets - have the opportunity to build powerful start-up organizations without ever really having to walk out the front door. Using global communications and data networks, even bootstrap entrepreneurs can staff an entire organization with every human resource and skill they need at rock-bottom prices.

It's the magic of outsourcing. For, you see, globalization ain't just for the big kids. We often hear about how globalization exports jobs overseas, but we rarely hear about the opportunities globalization creates for even the smallest of businesses, opportunities that allow even tiny businesses to compete with the majors on a global scale. In short, anyone can run a virtual organization using only a desktop or laptop computer. 

Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible gives bootstrap entrepreneurs all the resources they need to build truly effective startups using the magic of outsourcing and off-shoring.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I recommend it as a reference book for starting virtual companies, and that such companies can often be done quite inexpensively. It is well written, and provides a wealth of information. Professor Ben Sopranzetti, Rutgers University

I use [Shoestring Venture] as a solid reference for forming Virtual companies and to show that there is much detailed decisions involved in setting up a virtual business, but fortunately most of that work can be outsourced. Richard Mammone - Rutgers Business School.

This is no get-rich quick book. Starting a business is hard work and this book covers every topic. Jim Blasingame - The Small Business Advocate

This book literally has everything in it; it covers every topic that faces any startup. It must've taken years to write. Ed Flynn - Talk of the Town WATR, Connecticut

This really is the bible for startups. Jerry Doyle - Nationally syndicated radio talk show host.

The text is exceptionally informative. The writers take virtually every area of concern in a start-up and go to great lengths to explain it in detail..The authors succeeded in providing a one-volume guide that will provide the majority of answers to any new entrepreneur's questions about business. This reviewer is very impressed. bn.com

From the Author

Ever since I owned my first laptop, I dreamt of having a virtual office and, from that office, running a company that could run itself--everything from accounting to manufacture to delivery. All I would have to do is fire up my laptop every morning and "go to work." I made that dream come true. And I learned that there is nothing in this Internet-connected world to stop anyone else from realizing the same dream.

It was not, however, a dream that was easy to realize . . . at first. It took a

mountain of digging and research to find all the tools and services I would

need to make it work. It also required making mistakes, many of them costly,all of them aggravating, and a few that came close to ruining me.

So I compiled all my research and packed it in with all my experience, good and bad, into this reference guide for other entrepreneurs. Whether you're realizing the same dream entirely green or thoroughly tested and experienced, our goal in this book is to reduce as much of the clutter--and as much of the hard knocks--for you and other entrepreneurs as possible.

You may be a single individual who has always wanted to run a complete business from your home with just some computer equipment.Or you may already be running a successful business but want to know how to exploit the outsourcing opportunities in software, marketing,or manufacturing that can increase your profitability or decrease your headaches.Or you may be running a start-up with a small staff and limited resources wondering how to get more with less.

In any case, this book's information will help you understand the unlimited opportunities our brave new wired world offers you. This book,however, serves as more than just a reference; it will help you understand and evaluate the strategic business decisions you will face in outsourcing much of your business.

I never set out to write an extraordinary book, just a useful one. Almost everything I learned, I gleaned from newspaper, magazine, and Internet articles. Where I can, I give credit to these sources. But much of this book comes from my own experience with Web-based and offline business; all the best research, after all, is information filtered through practical experience.

While I cannot promise you success, my hope is that this book will make your way much easier.

Fondly,

Steve Monas

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse; 1st edition (November 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595506518
• ISBN-13: 978-0595506514
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you need to know to start a business, May 9, 2010

By 

Steven Chambers (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible (Paperback)

Well, maybe not everything, but the Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible puts a lot of information you want and need right at your fingertips. If you've never started or run a business before the whole process can seem daunting, even overwhelming. I've known people who have always wanted to start a business but they never do, the whole process seems so complicated. What they want is someone who can show them the ropes and guide them through the business building process well, now they have this book.

My copy of the book is dogeared, or would be if I didn't have an electronic copy, because I have used it extensively to rethink and remodel how I run my existing business. I want my business to have a small footprint, be profitable and efficient, these are the goals of the book as well. The author advocates focusing on your core competency - what you do best, and outsourcing those things best done by others. He also shows you how to do it and tells you where to look and gives an idea of how much it will cost.

The book covers everything involved in starting a business, soup-to-nuts and provides you with the resources to find whatever it is you need. Best of all, because the books focus in on small, home-based businesses with little start-up capital, this is a book everyone can use.

At first I thought this would be a boring read. I mean, show really likes reading about accounting, legal structures and business plans (okay, some people do), but it's not. The author's writing style made even subjects like accounting fun to read and easy to understand.

The author points out that this is the century for small business and I agree with him. The old model of working for a large corporate entity that takes care of our economic security and needs is broken and is not coming back. Everyone needs to start their own business, even if only on a part time basis, because taking control and responsibility for our own financial security gives us both freedom and security. Here are the resources to do just that.

Highly recommended for anyone looking to start a business or who is in business already and who wants to be more productive and profitable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Resource, December 22, 2008

By 

Darlene Jan Alice Oakley "DOakley" (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible (Kindle Edition)

The Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible is well developed, well thought out, well organized. It provides a wealth of information for those looking start their own small, medium, or large business venture.

Hooker and Monas provide websites appropriate for learning about incorporation, choosing a domain name, marketing strategies, finances, taxes and anything else anyone ever wanted to know about starting their own business.

This is an invaluable resource that has opened my eyes to all the resources available. Hooker and Monas have also established a website where all the links they mention in the book are listed and accessible by a click of the mouse, without having to retype all the links in a browser to find the information wanted. What a great idea!

This is certainly one resource I am glad to have on my bookshelf.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars KINDLE version needs some help, April 8, 2011

By 

Andrew Boehm - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible (Kindle Edition)

Let me just say, that first and formost, this book is great book. It has tons of information and shares lots of great resources.
However, the Kindle version just isn't cutting it. In the introduction, it suggests that you use the book as a reference, going to any chapter as you need it in your business creation. The problem is that there is no functional Table of Contents or Index, making it very difficult to find the information at a moments notice. If those were added, I would be much happier with this book.