Customer Reviews

Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book provides real substance and guidance to deploy new technology through entrepreneurial ventures. It is comprehensive and addresses particularly well the technology specific considerations all along the process of going from idea to enterprise. It uses for this a case to illustrate the journey through out its 20 chapters. In addition, it summarizes with 20 concrete principles how to create and grow successful technology ventures. Its attractive layout makes it pleasant to read and study. A great reference, for entrepreneurs, students and professors in the technology domain.

This book has it all. It introduces and details all the areas of entrepreneurship, from taking the initial plunge to managing resources, to business organization. It would be a perfect business graduate school textbook if it went into any area with more technicalities, instead of covering a very broad range of subjects. I thought an excellent feature in the book was the case study of a company called AgraQuest offered at the end of each chapter, to illustrate in a real-world example the principles discussed in the chapter. The concepts are all clearly laid out and defined, with numerous real world examples provided for clarification. In addition there is a plethora of graphs and graphics provided. What I liked most about this book is for current it is. It comments on nano- and bio-technology as highly fertile grounds for lucrative technology startups. I reviewed this book for my Creativity and Innovation class, and indeed it contains a chapter (5) specifically devoted to that.
The front cover lists the Twenty Principles for Creating Successful Technology Ventures. While some of these are rather silly or obvious, others are worth taking to heart. The concept that there are many sources of investment capital available to startups is vital, and should be taken to heart. Perhaps the most useful part of the book is the huge lists of information sources in Appendix C, which contains websites covering nearly anything the budding technology entrepreneur would ever want to know. Also included in the appendices are numerous business cases concerning the troubles of real-life companies like Yahoo!, Biodeisel Incorporated, and Danger Inc, the creators of the T-Mobile Sidekick.
In the end, the book takes a very sober, realistic, and comprehensive look at the art of creating and growing a technology venture. I think it was actually written as a textbook for upper-level business classes, but how it has been received by the students and professors I do not know.
The authors are both highly distinguished and knowledgeable both in engineering and in business management and entrepreneurship.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has seriously considered becoming a technology entrepreneur.

Having used this book for graduate instruction for a term, I found the content to often be lighter than I would like for a graduate class. Byers uses it himself for an undergraduate course and in that context, it is probably excellent, five stars. This is especially true given the weak competition represented by the books that it replaces, most notably 'New Venture Creation'.

It has several case studies if you think that method is useful (I remain skeptical) and several video presentations that are at least entertaining and can serve as excellent period pieces.

It appears that the nature of the subject matter continues to require a larger burden on the instructor to collect relevant, timely material appropriate to the audience.