The Venture: A Business Novel about Starting Your Own Company [Hardcover]

Jeff Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

Downsized by upper management, Michael DiGabriel finds himself out of a job and sets out to start his own company, overcoming obstacles ranging from poor cash flow and competition to marital strain to make a success of his new endeavor. By the author of Zapp. "

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Cox (coauthor, with William C. Byham, of the personnel management book Zapp!, Harmony: Crown, 1991) takes an ordinary theme?starting your own business?and turns it into a fast-paced, fictionalized adventure. Michael DiGabriel and his entire video production department have been downsized in a large advertising agency. While drowning their sorrows in drink, this small, creative group decide to form their own production company. Cox takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of the real-life pressure of operating a small business, even including lessons on basics such as marketing, business plans, employee motivation, and inneroffice romance. This will appeal to readers in public libraries.?Joel Jones, Kansas City P.L., Mo.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Cox bills this as a novel but its intent seems as much to instruct as to entertain. Cox is the coauthor of Zapp! (1991) and HeroZ (1994), works that use fantasy and parable to demonstrate the benefits of an empowered workforce. Here he explores the world of downsizing, business plans, and balance sheets to bring to life the trials and tribulations of starting one's own business. Michael DiGabriel has been ordered to begin laying off his staff at the corporation where he works. Rather than do that, though, he himself quits to start his own business venture. Cox develops a story line to illustrate the challenges, both corporate and personal, that can confront a budding entrepreneur. Reading this novel is like reading a case study with plot twists and characters (albeit ones with nicknames like Redmeat and Spider), and most readers will take a greater interest in the outcome than they might were the same example a required reading assignment for Management 101. David Rouse

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446516414
• ISBN-13: 978-0446516419
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,391,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but remember its just a novel, September 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Venture: A Novel for Entrepreneurs (Paperback)

This is a novel about a man who starts his own business after having his department downsized. If you bought this book to use it as a guide to starting your own business you probably made a mistake. It is not bad for a novel and the start-up of the new business is interesting. This is an easy read and has a human side to the story. I would recommended it as a fun easy read and it is an interesting book almost from a comical sense on starting a business as told in a story.

3.0 out of 5 stars Creative Minds, April 27, 2007

By 

Valerie Allen "Author: Write, Publish, Sell!" (Melbourne, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Venture: A Novel for Entrepreneurs (Paperback)

Interesting story, well written, of the corporate entrepreneur. There is a moral theme that's explored, as well as loyality, and how it impacts on the ups and downs of decision making in the business word. The story has interesting characters, who bring home the day to day decisions faced in the corporate world that impact on the little guy.

4.0 out of 5 stars Novel of the Nineties, November 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Venture: A Novel for Entrepreneurs (Paperback)

Not a how-to on being an entrepreneur, but a novel about life and business in the 1990's. If you lived through corporate downsizing, you'll identify with the characters in this book. This is a story about financial and emotional survival. Try Cox's other books (Selling the Wheel, Zapp, The Goal, Heroz, etc.) if you want to learn and still have a good time reading. The VEnture is about starting a business, but on a very personal level.