Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The odds are one in 50 that an idea becomes a business, one in 20 that a funded business sees an initial public offering (IPO)..." (more)
Key Phrases: breakthrough value proposition, revenue powerhouse, exponential revenue growth, Marquee Customers, Blueprint Company, Big Brother (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Praise for BLUEPRINT TO A BILLION

"A wonderful, well thought out analysis of entrepreneurship and leadership of a growth company."
—Howard Lester, Chairman, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

"If you dream about growing your business to a billion, this is a fascinating down-to-earth study that you must read. Apply the seven essential principles to your business and you are off and running. Learn about strategy, growth, leadership, team building, and a whole lot more."
—Joe Scarlett, Chairman of the Board, Tractor Supply Company

"Blueprint to a Billion is a well-researched and thoughtfully written book that quantifies the growth pattern of America's highest growth companies."
—Professor John Quelch, Senior Associate Dean, Harvard Business School

"Eighty percent of the top-performing stocks in the last twenty years were small entrepreneurial companies that had an IPO in the prior eight years. Blueprint to a Billion tells you the seven key things these innovators did in common to become America's greatest growth companies."
—William J. O'Neil, Chairman and Founder Investor's Business Daily, www.investors.com

"Thomson has written a masterful work that will catalyze, empower, inspire, motivate, and illuminate entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. The world needs this book and will profit from it in manifold ways."
—David M. Darst, Managing Director, Individual Investor Group Chief Investment Strategist, Morgan Stanley

From the Inside Flap

Microsoft, Google, eBay, Staples, Genentech, Starbucks, Nike, and Harley-Davidson . . . these are just a few examples of an elite group of companies that have managed to turn billion-dollar ideas into billion-dollar businesses. What did these and other high-growth companies do to achieve such a goal? What blueprint do they follow to produce such results? Based on three years of in-depth research, David Thomson's Blueprint to a Billion approach provides the first quantitative assessment of the success pattern common across a distinct group of 387 "blueprint companies"—the 5% that have IPO'd since 1980 and grown to $1 billion in revenue. They represent America's highest growth companies; they uniquely achieved exponential revenue growth and returns.

This book is not about one unique company, its innovation, and the financial returns it achieved; it's about the quantifiable, success-based pattern—independent of economic cycles or industries—shared across this group of 387 elite companies. It's about how you can use seven common essentials to better your business, organization, team, or yourself and produce exponential growth. It's about executing the essentials and linking them. It's about taking the actions that matter while avoiding pitfalls. The 7 essentials explored are:

Essential #1: Create and Sustain a Breakthrough Value Proposition

Essential#2: Exploit a High-Growth Market Segment

Essential #3: Marquee Customers Shape the Revenue Powerhouse

Essential #4: Leverage Big Brother Alliances for Breaking into New Markets

Essential #5: Become the Masters of Exponential Returns

Essential #6: The Management Team: Inside-Outside Leadership

Essential #7: The Board: Comprised of Essentials Experts

Divided into three comprehensive sections, Blueprint to a Billion will show you how to formulate a breakthrough value proposition, create exponential revenue growth—the most valuable and unique kind of growth—and seize the opportunity to garner exponential returns. More importantly, it provides practical guidelines that you, as a business leader at any level, can use to improve company performance from one year to the next. While the book is based on quantitative evidence, it provides insightful analysis and very personal stories from many blueprint company leaders.

Both fact-based and actionable, Blueprint to a Billion contains fresh research that provides valuable insights into success-based business building. Adopting and executing one or more essentials will maximize your growth—both personally and corporately. Executing all 7 essentials will enable your company to achieve unprecedented exponential growth.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (December 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471747475
• ISBN-13: 978-0471747475
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #145,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overrated and frustrating, September 15, 2006

By	RJF in Illinois - See all my reviews

I read some stellar reviews on this book and expected it to be a milestone business guide. I was even enthusiastic through the first couple of chapters. However, if you have any business training and have been within 10 miles of a start-up or growth-stage company in your life, this book is pretty elementary. A value proposition, decent leadership, a Board that can open any door in the universe, a couple of mammoth customers - how can a company fail? Those accomplishments alone will get almost any company to a decent liquidity event unless it was all dumb luck. The most frustrating thing about the book is that it's all about "what." This is what makes it seem, as one reviewer put it, as if it were a PowerPoint presentation. It lists out the "whats" that, in retrospect, some very successful companies did. But it leaves out the "hows." Any company would give a lot to have their industry's equivalent of Tom Siebel on the Board. But Tom's number is not exactly in the phone book. So the question is, *how* does a company get those people on the Board? How does a company identify and even get in the door of those marquee companies? While the book gives a few snippets and a case comparison at the end, it really left my practical appetite unsatisfied. Maybe the whole book was a consulting proposal - if you want the "hows" you pay the piper.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb book. Move over Good to Great., January 10, 2006

By	Stradivari and Amati Fan "Teach a child music... (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

I wish I had the knowledge imparted through this book when we started Lycos in 1995. Things might be very different today.

Blueprint to a Billion is filled with millions (no...billions) of dollars worth of information. Thomson has created a comprehensive and practical book that truly provides a blueprint for how to make your company a success.
Unlike the hundreds of "how to" and "get rich quick" books on the market, I found Blueprint to a Billion to back up its statements with hard facts and also to structure itself in such a manner that I would not hesitate to have every employee in one of my companies read it.

I highly recommend Blueprint to a Billion. To me, it is the "Good to Great" of 2006 and beyond.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As you build your business, consider this book your "building inspector", March 18, 2009

By	Rebecca Clement "Publisher, Soundview Executi... (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

The most beautiful, enduring and functional buildings in the world were all brought into reality through the vision of an architect. Whether you're talking about the Guggenheim Museum in New York City designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or the Jefferson Memorial in the nation's capitol by John Russell Pope, all lasting edifices were birthed via a blueprint. Just as a building's blueprints address attributes such as mass, form, space, materials and light so too must blueprints for a business address a planned pattern for success. That's the intended design behind David G. Thomson's book titled - Blueprint to a Billion - where the author identifies seven essentials necessary to produce growth while bettering your organization. Soundview recommends this book because the writer uses three years of in-depth research, across a distinct group of 387 "Blueprint Companies" that all exhibit a common sequence of variables, which contributed to their success. Thomson defines these "Blueprint Companies" as organizations that generated $1 billion in revenue since their respective initial public offerings dating back to 1980. The companies that have incorporated these seven blueprint components are all recognized for their growth, revenue, profitability and innovation regardless of economic conditions. As you grow and build your business, Blueprint to a Billion can be a portable "building inspector" to help you construct an organization that endures.