The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You [Paperback]

Tom Ehrenfeld (Author), Jim Collins (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2001

Popular media commentator and award-winning columnist, Tom Ehrenfeld has covered the small business beat for magazines such as Inc., Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, The New York Times, Boston Magazine and others. He has a loyal following on NPR's "Marketplace," and is a columnist for The Industry Standard. Now, in the tradition of What Color Is Your Parachute (the most popular career/business book of the last 30 years) - which taught readers how to find a job, Ehrenfeld taps into the profound economic shifts toward entrepreneurship and in The Startup Garden he teaches readers how to create the perfect job for themselves. One out of every four adults in the United States is in the process of starting a company. The classic bestseller Growing a Business has helped millions of business owners create enterprises that are ideally suited to their owners. The current bestseller The EMyth provides entrepreneurs with the tools to stay focussed on their strengths. In the same tradition, Tom Ehrenfeld illustrates, through case study success stories, the connection between growing your personal life and growing your business. The Startup Garden guides the reader through the process of starting a company by matching hopes, dreams, and aspirations to the reader's individual skills and experience. It shows how to grow the appropriate enterprise out of your unique patch of soil. Part business book, part self-help guide, this book will appeal to the 23 million business owners out there today, as well as to anyone who is considering going into a new venture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following your heart is not usually associated with running a profitable small business, but in The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You, business writer Tom Ehrenfeld explains how aspiring entrepreneurs can successfully mix business with inspiration and dreams. In a conversational, first-person style, he likens business growth to plant growth (i.e., identifying the seed one wishes to grow; determining whether it is fertile; and describing the shift from simply tending a plant to becoming a gardener). Though at times hokey, this is a nurturing resource that will help anyone struggling with the trials of a new business.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Strategies to Launch and Grow the Business That's Right for You

It's never been easier for an individual to start a business. Ironically, it's never been more difficult for that enterprise to survive and thrive. Let The Startup Garden show you how to control your own destiny, first through learning exactly what kind of business will fit your skills and personality and then learning exactly what you need to do to make that business a success.

Any number of books will tell you how to start a business. The Startup Garden shows you how to start your business, one that matches your dreams, hopes, and aspirations with the skills and experience you have acquired throughout your career.

But more than just a "Do your own thing" self-help book, The Startup Garden provides you with concrete examples and strategies for the practical skills and disciplines required to make your enterprise a success. Leading small-business expert Tom Ehrenfeld provides proven, real-world methods to:

• Realize how your particular venture makes money
• Gather information and form relationships with potential customers
• Grow your business by leveraging existing resources and developing the outside support and capital you'll need
• Find great employees­­then set the boundaries necessary to make them great for your business

"The real-life stories in the Start-Up Garden are inspiring and demonstrate that you can do it, too. Tom Ehrenfeld is one of today's most insightful writers on the topic of small business."
­­Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit

"With so many books offering startup advice crowding bookshelves, this book is a refreshing change. It goes beyond the dry basics to examine the deeper issues involved in starting a business, from the passion necessary to sustain an enterprise to business ethics and exit strategies."
­­Lisa Waddle, editor, MyBusiness magazine

"Inspirational, holistic and packed with anecdotes, The Start Up Garden imparts a plethora of sound advice and timeless wisdom. A breath of fresh air that will get you to think about choosing work that will motivate and excite you."
­­Eric Tyson, syndicated columnist and author of Personal Finance for Dummies and Investing for Dummies

"This book is the start of something new and fresh and powerful. In the next decade you will see the flowering of entrepreneurship as a creative activity, as a way of building a life, and not just a business. This book makes a substantial contribution by giving people permission to think and talk about business in new ways that today they are afraid to."
­­George Gendron, Editor-In-Chief, Inc. Magazine

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (October 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071368248
• ISBN-13: 978-0071368247
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,355,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing Look at the Human Side of Business, December 10, 2001

By 

Paul A. Broni (Bethesda, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You (Paperback)

Most books that deal with startups or entrepreneurship focus on the formulaic sides of business; they include fill-in-the-blank business plans, spreadsheet templates that assume every company is the same, and a directory of financing sources that anyone could find on the Internet. Tom Ehrenfeld's "The Startup Garden" is the antithesis of these books, instead offering the reader not so much a series of answers to everyday questions, but rather a more thought-provoking series of questions which every entrepreneur should ask him- or herself before starting a business. Thankfully, this book is more about the journey than the destination.

As someone who advises a number of early-stage entrepreneurs, I am all too happy to suggest that anyone contemplating a startup should read this book before going too far. Doing so will cause the first-time or serial entrepreneur to consider all the facets of launching and running a company from both business and personal perspectives: a very worthwile introspective effort!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Startup Review, January 8, 2002

By 

Clay E. Bence (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You (Paperback)

The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You makes a valid contribution to the field of entrepreneurship. Although the book is by no means a high-browed read, it provides an overview of many important tools and areas that should be addressed by the small-business entrepreneur. The book starts out by guiding the entrepreneur in deciding on which business they should go into, based on their interests and what they want their business to accomplish for them. More importantly, the book provides a cautious guide in deciding if an individual should go in to business at all and if so, what areas they need to focus on when getting started. The book continues by guiding the entrepreneur in assessing the validity of their idea, what they are selling, who there customers are, and how they plan to provide a value-added product. In this phase, it is noted that you must identify other factors that could inhibit the delivery of your offering to consumers, such as the competition, the resources you have (or don't have), and the means by which you will make money. These and other factors are then taken into consideration when developing a "business plan." Further, as the new business owner starts out, they should have a grasp of the financial aspects of their new venture. This includes identifying key financial metrics and developing financial statements. This process of developing measures and continuous planning is mentioned further as the book progresses. Bootstrapping is delved into midway through the book. Ehrenfeld notes the importance of the previous planning efforts and measurements in accomplishing this task of operating lean in the start-up phases. Additionally, it is noted that developing a clear culture to support you efforts is vital as you business grows. As the culture grows, the author discusses how the owner will gradually pull away from their heavy, day-to-day responsibilities and allow the members of the organization to further fuel the inertia of the growing business. At the same time, new roles for the entrepreneur are discussed at length. One of the key tenets covered is the need for continuous learning on the entrepreneur's part and the practice of assessing and readjusting efforts throughout the process.

Through his discussion of starting and growing a business, Tom Ehrenfeld presents an interesting model that is not common in many books in this field. He provides a simplified, yet comprehensive guide for starting a small business. The big difference though between this and other works is that he focuses on the individual's passions. As mentioned earlier, numerous examples in the form of case studies are sited throughout. Ehrenfeld constantly stresses the need to go into something that you like instead of just following the latest trend. The entrepreneur should focus heavily on what kind of life they want, where they want to live, and the people they want to deal with. Ehrenfeld notes that these factors are more important than just the blind ambition to make money. Although profitability is key, businesses that succeed in the long run are based on more than just this goal. The business defines the individual, and in turn the individual defines the business.

Important to this model it the concept of cultivating and growing a garden. The author sites this metaphor and shows how business owners are more often "developed" than "born." As mentioned earlier, the metaphor is sited throughout, and I believe it provides an important new model. It shows how an individual can develop an "interest" into a business that will provide a "vehicle" for achieving their life goals. They don't have to be an MBA or be an expert in the field, but they must be willing to follow certain steps and develop an effective system. This is truly a grassroots approach. I think it conceptualizes a process that has gone on throughout history. You can call it the "mom and pop" approach. Ehrenfeld focuses on a startup audience that is often neglected by other works, while at the same time addressing valuable tools, usually reserved only for the seasoned businessperson. Additionally, the work provides an ample listing of books and other resources at the end of each chapter for the aspiring entrepreneur to reference. In fact, this is one of the best listings I have seen in an entrepreneurial book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, October 23, 2001

By 

David Siegel (New York, ny United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You (Paperback)

There are a million books on starting businesses, and every five years or so one comes along that raises the bar. Ehrenfeld's breakthrough book on entrepreneurship presents a sharp set of tools that set it apart from the pack. Clear, concise writing makes the difference. While many entrepreneurs have been successful in business, they haven't been able to give others the right information. In The Startup Garden, you'll get a complete toolkit and -- perhaps most important -- the keys to timing your business so that you have the true sense of an entrepreneur. This book won't help someone like Steve Jobs, but for the rest of us, it's worth its weight in stock certificates.