Will It Fly? How to Know if Your New Business Idea Has Wings...Before You Take the Leap [Paperback]

Thomas K. McKnight (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130462217 | ISBN-13: 978-0130462213 | Publication Date: September 14, 2003 | Edition: 1

Will your new business idea fly? Find out upfront, before you invest one dime! Will It Fly? introduces the first intuitive, practical tool for assessing and refining new business ideas. Fast, confidential, and reliable, it addresses 44 key elements of success, distilling experience from more than 200 business launches. Use it to fine-tune your idea... protect yourself and your investors... quickly evaluate multiple options... and dramatically improve your odds of success. Indispensable for every entrepreneur, investor, and advisor... even corporate planners and "intrapreneurs"!

Editorial Reviews

Review

("Will it Fly?" ) . . . is somehow both easy and rigorous, suitable for startups and established firms thinking of branching out. -- Chicago Business 2004 Small Business Resource Guide, Ten Essential Reads for Entrepreneurs (Crain Communications Inc.)

Number 1 ranked of top 5 must read business books. -- http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/march/200140.html

Review

Top 5 must read business books

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (September 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130462217
• ISBN-13: 978-0130462213
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What An Amazing Book!, October 31, 2003

By 

Stephane D Fymat (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will It Fly? How to Know if Your New Business Idea Has Wings...Before You Take the Leap (Paperback)

I have been in and around start ups for years now, most recently as a senior executive of a security software company. I have read more books on entrepreneurship than I can remember and I concentrated on entrepreneurship in business school. I have never seen a book as penetrating, practical and on target as this one for the topic that it addresses.

What makes this book different is:

- it is the only one that thoroughly addresses a start up at concept phase, before your business plan, a partner, money or anything else. Every other entrepreneurial book starts after you've decided you have a good idea or devotes a token chapter that tells you to do market research. This book actually steps you through evaluating and modifying your idea to make it fly.

- it provides a practical thorough checklist, with detailed explanations, to evaluate a product/business concept quickly and completely and on how to improve the ratings if your business idea doesn't fly the first time around. What makes this checklist even more valuable is that the criteria are based upon the real-world entrepreneurial experiences of the author.

- it gets you to focus on your gut-feelings about your idea. If you think you have a good idea - the spreadsheets all work out - but your gut feelings tell you that all is not well, this book will help you identify why and guide you on how to fix it.

- it will tell you if your business idea is a bad one - before you spend a dime. Better be sure you're not "pretending not to know".

- it shows you how to do a first-pass evaluation of any idea in 20 minutes or less, without doing a bunch of premature research.

My only complaint is that Tom started teaching at Columbia Business School in 1996 and I graduated in 1990, so I missed him by six years.

If you're going to start your own company, take a job at a start up or young company, fund a start up or launch a new product or service, buy this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tighten all your plan details before you launch!, October 14, 2003

By 

Marian Sabety (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will It Fly? How to Know if Your New Business Idea Has Wings...Before You Take the Leap (Paperback)

I launched a computer consulting business in 2000, at the worst possible time--budgets were being cut, layoffs were constant, government funds were "on hold", and new prospects were not moving, based on "wait & see" hold--all contributing to a death nell to my new firm. While my first two years were profitable, my contract-to-contract business was clearly not sustainable. "Will It Fly" enabled me to completely re-invent my firm to focus on a growth market that would provide extended play for long-term growth: "Homeland Security Consulting". Using the scorecard, I identified the opportunities in this new area that would leverage our strengths and experience, but take advantage of new opportunities for pursuit. In the space of 6 months, I now have three channel deals under contract, with sustained revenues forecast for 4Q03, growing by 20% over the next 18 months. The 44 scorecard planning factors from this book, provided criteria for finetuning the plan, addressing key service delivery details, and ensuring honest self assessment of strength and weaknesses, to provide the confidence to strike in this new direction. With its new direction, my firm focused on an early success that has created the foundation of sustained returns to come over time. I recommend this book highly to anyone who is about to start, or kick-start, a company, and who is driven to make it succeed against seemingly tall odds.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists Must Read!, September 29, 2003

By 

Angela H. Dows (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Will It Fly? How to Know if Your New Business Idea Has Wings...Before You Take the Leap (Paperback)

This book, written by an inspring mentor, will not only inspire your great idea to come to life; it will provide the framework and guidelines to direct your ideas into a viable business venture."Will it Fly" clearly and concisely makes you think seriously about your new business and motivates you to put your best foot forward in the marketplace.