6 Secrets to Startup Success: How to Turn Your Entrepreneurial Passion into a Thriving Business [Hardcover]

Coincidental to my review of 6 Secrets to Startup Success, I learned that a friend had a start-up idea for a retail enterprise, so I read John Bradberry's advice while applying it to the details I learned about this real scenario. I was interested to see how my friend, a seasoned businessperson, would fare through some of the processes outlined in this book, knowing that she had been successful with previous startup ventures.

In Part I, Bradberry does not mince words in painting a less-than-rosy picture of any business startup. It would have never occurred to me that having a passion for an idea or product could backfire on an entrepreneur--I thought that was an essential requirement to starting any business! It turns out that would-be business owners can fall into what the author calls the passion "trap"--which he then illustrates with six negative impact categories that take shape in a pattern of four interdependent steps. While reading this part of the book, I thought it all sounded quite disheartening--until I got to the end of Part I, where I discovered that, thankfully, Part II would explain how to overcome these issues. When I could mentally compare the caveats as applied to my friend's startup idea, it was apparent to me that she had gotten through the first three phases: attachment to an idea; investments and actions; and feedback or results. It also seemed she was not getting stuck at step 4, biased interpretation, because she was still seeking feedback and hadn't invested any money--yet.

Part II, which goes into great detail on the application of the success principles, made me realize that the business my friend was hatching was nowhere near getting off the ground! She had passed the Founder Readiness section with flying colors, having launched two successful businesses previously, but because she was venturing into a type of business with which she was unfamiliar, she had only gotten as far as the second of the six principles, dealing with attaching to the customer, not to the idea. I knew she was working on this attribute because she had told me she needed to pick my brain as a potential client---something Bradberry suggests as a way to learn the market when it is an unknown. I also knew she was looking for the game-changing partner, which the author mentions as a way to provide an early edge in the marketplace.

Beyond this chapter, the book delves into such topics as money issues, how to be flexible, and dealing with the human elements: partners, investors, and personnel. I thought one of the most valuable sections Bradberry provides for the aspiring entrepreneur is the Start-up Readiness Tool. It is a comprehensive list of questions based on the chapter headings that should provide the basis for a successful business if addressed honestly and completely. At this point, I don't know where my friend's startup idea will lead, but I am going to be sure she has a copy of this book, because I think Bradberry has done a thorough job of laying out the strategy for starting on the right foot.

This book is outstanding. The nuts-and-bolts information entrepreneurship is absolutely invaluable.

As a beginning entrepreneur's who's made the "if you build it they will come" mistake and wondered why no one showed up, I am really grateful to have found this book and am now using it as a roadmap. (Darn it! If only I had it 5 years ago. . .)

In my humble opinion, I think it's about 1000 times more helpful than most of the books on entrepreneurship on the market.

Many other "entrepreurship" books on the market are motivational drivel. These books get you inspired and ready to walk headfirst off a cliff because they neglect to tell you about all the things you need to know to actually create a business!!! (Perhaps we can partially thank the Motivational Media for the 90% failure rate of small business.)

This is really different. Chock full of great information. It's a clear roadmap and has tons of great resources as well in the appendices.

A huge thank you to the author. This will save a ton of entrepreneurs (and investors who invest in budding entrepreneurs) a lot of money, time, and heartache!

6 Secrets of Startup Success is a well- paced book that provides a terrific balance of compelling case study narratives with practical research. Tracking the story arc of several startups, both successful and challenged, the book delivers in creating a thoughtful construct in considering how to best position oneself for a successful launch.

While it's hard to argue with any of the six principles that Bradberry lays out, I found a particular connection to the chapters dealing with "Math Story" and "Integrity of Communication". A quote I marked in the book as particularly noteworthy is "the quality of conversations is not only indicative of culture, it creates culture, and it determines the quality of decision making, planning, everything." True indeed, regardless if you are in a small startup or part of a Fortune 100 conglomerate. To that end, I highly recommend this book to anyone in business who is contemplating the start of a new business or managing new initiatives within an existing enterprise.