Customer Reviews

The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You

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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!

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.

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.

Are you out to become the next Bill Gates? Me neither. I don't want to found the next Microsoft or Coca-Cola, I am just thinking about starting my own business. Sure, I want to be successful, but I also want to have a life. A real life, where my work sustains me but does not control me.

So many books today are about dominating the world via internet or "how I burned through $40million dollars of venture capital" and lived to write this book. That's not me, and that's not the Startup Garden.

Tom Ehrenfeld has written a book for the rest of us. For the real folks with the motivation and the will to create a business of their own, but still wise enough to know they could use a little help, some sound advice and a shoulder to cry on now and then. This book offers all three.

Yes, I found the information well organized, the writing folksy and direct, the additional resources helpful but that's not enough. What's unique about the Startup Garden is it the first book I've read that treats the dream of building a business that reflects your passions and sustains your journey with respect. Truly, a worthwhile read.This author "gets it".

I picked up The Startup Garden based on a review in our local newspaper, and found it a wonderful read. Having been involved in several start-up ventures, including consulting for several 'dot-coms', I found Ehrenfeld's approach refreshing, honest, and practical.

Building a great business, from a local store to a large company, is as much about execution as idea. By focusing readers on the many different types of leadership needed to launch a venture, from knowing yourself to managing cash and employees, Ehrenfeld goes a long way in providing a full picture of the skills and qualities needed to successfully lead new ventures.

Reading his book is like brainstorming with a smart friend: it helps you think through all of the questions you will need to answer in order to go from idea to business, giving lots of very practical advice along the way.

Thinking about starting a business? Good luck! There are so many things to learn, think about, decide, and not forget in your new role as entrepreneur. Growing a new business can be much like growing a garden-plant some seeds, add water and fertilizer, stir in loving care. Eventually, something should grow. Ah, but business is a lot more complicated.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could spend a few hours with some friends who have been there and gained significant experience? You'd probably learn a lot while listening to the contributions of your friends during the lively conversation. The experience would be enhanced if a few best-selling authors dropped by to toss in their two-cents'-worth.

Reading The Startup Garden will give you that kind of an expertise and experience. Your host, Tom Ehrenfeld, is a business journalist with more than a dozen years of experience in print and radio. A former writer/editor at Harvard Business Review and Inc. Magazine, he's a frequent speaker on small business issues. You may have heard him on PRI's Marketplace, where he is a regular commentator.

Tom (you'll feel a close relationship with your host) will introduce you to a number of entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and advice on a wide range of topics. You'll learn from Tom's text, plus a continuous flow of sidebars and quotes giving you more and more information. Your topics of discussion include Finding Your Calling; Planning as Learning, Learning as Doing; The Numbers that Count, and Bootstrapping.
The chapter on Walking the Line deals with human resource issues, followed by chapters on Just Managing and Perpetual Learning. A good index enhances the value of this book.

Bonus feature: You'll find references at the end of each chapter that will guide you to more reading to grow the knowledge you need for your circumstances. Tom's emphasis is that each company situation is unique, though there are a lot of commonalities. There is more information to share, on- and off-line. (...)

Recommended for start-up and early-stage growth entrepreneurs.

The genius of this book is that it places front and center a critical requirement of building a successful small business barely addressed in other business books on starting a company: the need to establish a close match between the personality of the founder and the personality of the business. What chance does a business have--and what satisfaction would it provide--if the person behind it isn't playing to his or her strengths, interests and style? Best of all, Ehrenfeld makes clear through his many closely observed anecdotes involving outstanding entrepreneurs that solid business practices, far from being at odds with the personal side of entrepreneurialism, are in fact entirely dependent on it. By humanizing the process of building a business, Ehrenfeld provides the reader with a means for surviving the inevitable setbacks, scares and disappointments, and for ultimately reaping the huge rewards--financial and, more important, emotional--of getting a company to fly. This book is reassuring, wise, inspiring, and on top of everything else fun to read.

You don't have to want to startup anything superscale (or superdot-com.) to find Tom Ehrenfeld's bright and breezy book a life raft for the stormy waters of self-maintenance. If you're freelancing anything from words to paintings to saving first-growth forests, his book is packed (or should one say full-grown) with how-to make your prospects bloom.

Tom Ehrenfeld takes what has become a mundane topic, i.e. "lessons for building a business" and adds a terrific human touch. By incorporating the real-life experiences of a number of successful entrpreneurs, the author clearly illustrates why building a business can be a labor of love and help you grow as a person. The result is a book that doesn't read like a "how to" manual, but as a terrific story incorporating the anecdotal experiences of market successes and overlapping that with Ehrenfeld's insight as a dedicated business columnist and author.

What makes this book particularly appealing is that Ehrenfeld doesn't just take the old standby entrepreneur stories that have been done, but also incorporates small business entrepreneurs who are a bit more synonymous with who most of us are as business professionals. This book will appeal to anyone who has ever, even for a second, entertained a modest dream of starting their own business as a way to do something they love, while making a good living doing it.

I highly recommend it!

I am now ordering my second copy (for a friend) as this is an indispensible guide to entrepreneurship. Cogent and witty, Mr. Ehrenfeld provides a very useful and accessible resource to would-be business owners.

I am now using it as a blueprint for my own endeavor.