- Paperback: 214 pages
- Publisher: Cornell University Press (Sep 19 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0801488311
- ISBN-13: 978-0801488313
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 15.6 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 358 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #591,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Building successful start-ups was never quite as easy as it seemed, and the changing economic climate has raised the stakes, reduced the margin of error. New entrepreneurs can’t stumble into wealth on the power of half-formed ideas, or turn dreams into reality without doing a lot of homework. It’s time to get smart. This book teaches would-be entrepreneurs the skills they need to get through the venture capital process with companies that will survive to grow and succeed.
Rob Ryan, a pioneer in the high-tech industry, founded Ascend Communications in 1989, and throughout the nineties provided firms with the infrastructure they needed to keep up with the rapid growth of the Internet. At the beginning of 1999, Ascend was sold to Lucent for $25 billion. Since retiring from Ascend and starting Entrepreneur America, Ryan has helped launch a string of successful companies, including Virtmed, RightNow, and Virtual Ink. All provide electronic solutions to real-world problems, meet existing—rather than manufactured—needs, and save their customers time and money.
In Smartups, Ryan focuses on methods he’s developed over the years for building a sustainable business that makes money. He emphasizes the importance of testing ideas on customers and making sure that a product offers something new and important. Recognizing a team’s key competencies is crucial, Ryan says. He also finds it necessary to take certain steps at the correct stages of a company’s inception. Smartups will show you how to turn your idea into a real product, take it to investors, and get your start-up started right.
About the Author
Rob Ryan is founder of Ascend Communications. Shortly after taking the company public, Ryan retired from Ascend and started Entrepreneur America from his 1,000-acre ranch in Montana. David J. BenDaniel is Don and Margi Berens Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cornell University.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
One hot summer day a few years ago, Steve Hau and his start-up team arrived at my room in the Four Seasons hotel in Boston. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
One hot summer day a few years ago, Steve Hau and his start-up team arrived at my room in the Four Seasons hotel in Boston. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
In-your-face Entrepreneur Brainstorming,
By "robertinseattle" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Smartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan's Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups (Paperback)
This is the newly released paperback version of Rob Ryan's earlier Entrepreneur America book. Great basic advice from a guy born in the Bronx and nurtured in the Valley who wnet on to found Ascend. Ryan pulls no punches in leading the reader (and his select entrepreneurs) on asking the hard questions about their ideas, companies and products to determine a core value propostion (and if there is one!). Definitely a must-read for anyone wanting to start a new business regardless of whether you've done it once or ten times! (So where's my autographed edition, Rob?)
2.0 out of 5 stars
Boy isnt Rob Ryan a really smart guy.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Smartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan's Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups (Paperback)
I was ultimately disappointed by this book. It spent too much time emphasizing how incredibly smart a guy Rob Ryan is. It seemed very repetitious. Yes, it is written in a lighthearted style, but overall seemed like it only had enough content for a magazine article. He's been mentioned in Inc. magazine several times, which is what prompted me to buy it, but I didn't really learn that much from the book. One of the least useful of my many books on entrepreneurship. It does have a nice cover.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ascend founder and evangelist - who better to ask?,
By
This review is from: Smartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan's Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups (Paperback)
Joining Ascend in 1991 was a risky move for me. Who the heck were they, anyway?Then I met Rob. The rest is history. I've always enjoyed telling that story (usually a much longer and funnier version) to anyone interested in the Ascend tale. The book that we are reviewing here is in typical Rob style. I can not imagine anyone else writing it this way. It's just him. "Do the Dogs like the Dog Food" - if you ever spent any time chatting with Rob, you'd easily guess that this was one of his quips. I only wish I could find him again in a new guise here in Silicon Valley - and relive those Ascend days.
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