Startup from the Ground Up: Practical Insights for Transforming an Idea into a Business [Paperback]

Cynthia Kocialski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2010

Practical insights for entrepreneurs on how to go from an idea to starting a new business Startup from the Ground Up by Cynthia Kocialski gives commonsense and actionable advice entrepreneurs for building a thriving business from nothing but an idea. In this invaluable guide, you'll discover: * Why it's not enough just to have a great product * How to build a team and keep them, and why a team is more than founders and employees * How to take a product concept and turn it into a full-fledged successful business * Why it is so important to start marketing your product as early as possible * How to get customers to speak with you and how to interact better with them * When seeking outside funding, what investors will be looking for and how to understand and entice them Kocialski gets you moving down the right path and thinking in the right direction. Launching a company relies on far more than just having a fabulous new product- this is just one piece to the puzzle, many are needed and all must work together in order to achieve success. Kocialski is the founder of three companies and has been involved in dozens of start-ups; she shares her experiences in a mix of observations, illuminations, and guidance that will change the way you think start-ups sprout up from the ground. Clearly written and told from an expert's vantage point, Startup from the Ground Up is a guide for how to build a business from the very beginning stages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Startup From The Ground Up covers much of the same ideas that have been shared by many, but there are also gems in there that pop up and surprise you. The book is chockful of good advice
- Daniel Goh, Young Upstarts

This book covers a lot of topics very quickly and with broad brush strokes.  It's the book you would run out and get right after you and your tech buddies finished hashing out a plan for taking over the world with the next revolutionary tech product. 
- Ivana Taylor, Small Biz Trends

For me, the power of the book is how Cynthia Kocialski provides a complete overview of the entire start-up process from idea conception to the end customer. The author covers every crucial aspect of the start-up journey, with special emphasis on creating a successful strategy to boost the chances of success. 
- Wayne Hurbert, Blog Business World

I think that it's a fabulous first read that will whet your appetite to delve further into the business of creating your start up if you really are an entrepreneur , and gives you some food for thought and questions to ponder as you begin your journey.
- Heather Smith, Acting Balanced

An amazing book geared toward start-ups. There's a wealth of knowledge in the book. It walks through that very early stage, are you even an entrepreneur, determining if you have what it takes to see this through, how investors perceive entrepreneurs, and then it gets in to the actual planning.
- Chris Benjamin, The Rogue CFO

From the Author

First of all, I want to thank every single one of you for having arrived at my author's page. It's no coincidence that you are here.  It's yet another step to becoming a thriving and successful entrepreneur.

When I began my own entrepreneur's journey more than 15 years ago, I was naïve. On my very first venture into this world, I got lucky. I organized the right team and targeted a hot new technology.  We had the right stuff.  Over the years, I've founded a couple more start-ups and worked with more than 25 start-ups companies. After that many start-ups, I've seen the patterns of what works and what doesn't.  So I'd thought it was about time to share my experiences and observations with you in my book Startup From The Ground Up.

In my book I offer practical tips and insights for taking a product idea and transforming it into a new business.  In Startup From The Ground Up, I want to show you what is important for you to focus on in the early days of your fledging company so you don't make the mistakes that are so devastating.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1453746633
• ISBN-13: 978-1453746639
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cynthia Kocialski has founded three technology companies and has been actively involved in more than dozens of hi-tech start-ups and has served on the advisory boards. These startups have returned more than $10 billion dollars to their investors. Cynthia's core experience and insight lie in the fact that she personally witnessed many start-ups. Working on the inside exposes one to the day-to-day inner workings of these organizations. Cynthia is a renowned business blogger with the Startup Entrepreneurs Blog. Cynthia lives in Silicon Valley.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Real-World Information & Tips September 5, 2011

By Sarah Worsham

Format:Paperback

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur these days, founding the next big technology startup which makes the big time. And there's a plethora of books and resources which try to lay out all the steps so that anyone can follow them to fame and fortune. But the reality is that every business is different, not only in their products and industry, but also in the team of employees and the vision of how the company should be run. Cynthia Kocialski has been involved in more than 24 startups over the past 15 years, all of which have been acquired for almost $20 billion. In her book, Startup from the Ground Up: Practical Insights for Transforming an Idea into a Business, Cynthia fully realizes that there isn't some golden set of rules that anyone can follow to be successful, but she does provide tips and information that can be used by any business to help develop their own path.

Being an entrepreneur and creating a small self-sustaining business, is vastly different than building a startup that will eventually have to provide returns to investors. Cynthia focuses on startups, with information on different types of funding, what information needs to be provided to investors, and the entire process of creating a product to provide a return on the investment. Every business is different, but there is some basic information that investors want to see. Cynthia sets out what information should be included in different types of documents, including investor presentations, customer presentations and the business plan. This doesn't mean that the book isn't helpful for any entrepreneur, but the focus is definitely on startups which will eventually have an exit strategy.

Pros: Real world tips and detailed instructions which can be applied to any business to help from everything from product development to creating a business plan to presenting to investors. This book is full of good information that can make any businesses growth just a little less rocky and certainly more organized and thoughtful.

Cons: Cynthia's experience is in building startups which eventually have an exit strategy. She's used to building companies relatively quickly in order to provide return on investment. While she does talk about bootstrapping and other funding methods (which may actually be more effective for many entrepreneurs), they are not the focus of this book. Cynthia also has a slightly negative view of most marketing in that it's very structured and non-creative (which it can be, but it doesn't have to be).

Conclusion: Despite the focus on startups with an exit strategy, Startup from the Ground Up is an extremely useful book for any entrepreneur. One of my measures of books is how many pages I dog-ear and how many notes I take, and this book was full of both. I highly recommend this book to any type of entrepreneur.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Business Start Up Reference Guide, Ready to Serve August 19, 2012

By Bryan Carey TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Starting a new business takes time. It takes time to prepare a budget. It takes time to write up a business plan. It takes time to build an effective team. It takes many other things, too, and it is easy to forget something critical, but one way to make sure you cover the imporant bases is to read a book like Start Up From the Ground Up. This book walks the reader through the business startup process, covering the important steps necessary to get a business up and running.

This book begins with some background information on entrepreneurship and the spawning of new ideas. A new company begins with an entrepreneurial vision that later, with a determined effort, blossoms into a new business. The book discusses these introductory steps along with some short but useful chapters on entrepreneur requirements and product concepts.

Next, the book dives into the setup of a new company. Advertising, customer relations, sales, funding, and more are discussed in the remainder of the book. The chapters are short, but they do attempt to touch on the many different apsects of setting up a company. It should be noted that, since there is so much to cover, one shouldn't buy a book like this expecting to find detailed analysis of business organization. There simply isn't enough space for that. But there is enough space to at least point out the important steps involved in building a new company, and this book does cover the steps, including many useful, real- world examples on what has worked and what hasn't.

Start Up From the Ground Up is certainly a useful guide, but one thing I do not like about the book is its lack of a conclusion. The book ends abruptly, without any concluding paragraphs or anything else that would make you think the end of the book is near. A conclusion, epilogue, index, or a combination of these would be a beter way to wrap up the reading.

Starting a new company is no easy task and budding entrepreneurs often have their hands full, with more things requiring attention than they have time or memory to complete. A book like Start Up From the Ground Up helps to serve as a quick blueprint for business success. It doesn't cover things in great detail, but it does take time to at least mention all of the things necessary for start up success and it makes a good reference guide for the soon-to-be business man or woman.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars basic knowledge of business August 10, 2011

By Robert

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have enjoyed the content and agree with allmost everything that was written in the book. very knowledgable very accurate.