Startup: An Insider's Guide to Launching and Running a Business

• Type: Paperback business book
• Author: Kevin Ready
• Publisher: Apress
• Publication Date: February 1, 2012
• Length: 150 pages
• Category: Business & Economics / Startup Methodologies
• ISBN (paperback): 1703385454

Overview

“Startup: An Insider's Guide to Launching and Running a Business” is a practical guide for professionals who are skilled in areas like product or web development, coding, marketing, or sales and want to use those skills to create and run their own startup. Drawing on the author’s real-world experience—including both successes and failures—the book explains what the entrepreneurial journey actually looks like behind the media myths of the “tech entrepreneur in a garage.”

Features

• End-to-end startup journey coverage

  • Describes the entrepreneurial path from initial idea through launch and ongoing operation.
  • Shows how to move from working for others to building a business around your own skills.

• Reality-based view of entrepreneurship

  • Contrasts media romanticism of startup success with the everyday realities founders face.
  • Explores the “back story” behind startup success: mental processes, frames of reference, and hard-knock lessons.

• Universal entrepreneurial skills and tools

  • Presents a set of broadly applicable skills for starting and running a business.
  • Provides tools and frameworks readers can adapt to different types of ventures.

• Lessons from real successes and failures

  • Uses the author’s own companies and experiences as case-based learning.
  • Covers issues such as organizational problems, hiring and managing employees, and operating with limited resources.
  • Includes examples of missteps and how they were corrected.

• Practical guidance for early-stage founders

  • Aimed at aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs considering leaving employment to start a business.
  • Offers shortcuts and patterns to avoid common pitfalls that cause most startups to fail.
  • Helps readers clarify whether they should start a business at all, based on what the journey really entails.

• Decision support for “Should I start?”

  • Provides insights and criteria to help readers decide whether founding a startup is right for them.
  • Addresses expectations about risk, effort, and the emotional side of entrepreneurship.

• Actionable takeaways

  • Includes dozens of specific lessons learned and clear takeaways that can be applied immediately.
  • Focuses on hands-on, implementable advice rather than abstract theory.

Intended Audience

• Professionals skilled in development, coding, marketing, or sales who are currently employees but considering a startup.
• Aspiring founders and early-stage entrepreneurs seeking a candid, experience-based guide to launching and running a business.

Specific pricing is not provided in the source content. The paperback is available through major booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and IndieBound, with price set by the retailers.