Startup from the Ground Up: Practical Insights for Transforming an Idea into a Business

by Cynthia Kocialski

Practical insights for entrepreneurs on how to go from an idea to starting a new business Startup from the Ground Up by Cynthia Kocialski gives commonsense and actionable advice entrepreneurs for building a thriving business from nothing but an idea. In this invaluable guide, you'll discover: * Why it's not enough just to have a great product * How to build a team and keep them, and why a team is more than founders and employees * How to take a product concept and turn it into a full-fledged successful business * Why it is so important to start marketing your product as early as possible * How to get customers to speak with you and how to interact better with them * When seeking outside funding, what investors will be looking for and how to understand and entice them Kocialski gets you moving down the right path and thinking in the right direction. Launching a company relies on far more than just having a fabulous new product- this is just one piece to the puzzle, many are needed and all must work together in order to achieve success. Kocialski is the founder of three companies and has been involved in dozens of start-ups; she shares her experiences in a mix of observations, illuminations, and guidance that will change the way you think start-ups sprout up from the ground. Clearly written and told from an expert's vantage point, Startup from the Ground Up is a guide for how to build a business from the very beginning stages.

Genres: Business

228 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2010

Reviews

[BradMD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also follow this author, Cynthia Kocialski, on Twitter for more good information.

[ManOfLaBook.com]

“Startup From the Ground Up: Prac­ti­cal Insights for Entre­pre­neurs by Cyn­thia Kocial­ski is a non-fiction book for entre­pre­neurs. The book con­sists of short sec­tions giv­ing sage advice.

The book is divided into short chap­ters ask­ing some poignant ques­tions and point­ing you in the right direc­tion. Tak­ing lessons from the author’s his­tory in the busi­ness world she writes on cus­tomers, get­ting the right team, cre­at­ing a strat­egy, get­ting financ­ing and more.

“Startup From the Ground Up: Prac­ti­cal Insights for Entre­pre­neurs by Cyn­thia Kocial­ski is a book I wish I would have read in high-school. I don’t know if it would have made a dif­fer­ence but it cer­tainly would have given an impres­sion­able teenager some food for thought instead of a sys­tem which is geared towards cre­at­ing a clone army of fac­tory workers.

Accord­ing to her bio, Ms. Kocial­ski has been involved in over 20 star­tups over the past 15 years and indeed the book gives some very good advice. The author real­izes that there isn’t a magic for­mula which will work for all busi­nesses, but she does pro­vide a lot of valu­able infor­ma­tion in a pack­age which is easy to read, under­stand and comprehend.

I have been unlucky in busi­ness. My friends want me to open up a funeral home because then peo­ple will stop dying. How­ever, I felt that the tips and instruc­tions in this book can apply to any­one who wants to start a busi­ness. Great tips also on how grow your busi­ness, what to con­cen­trate on (you’d be sur­prised) and how to get financ­ing includ­ing which types are available.

While read­ing this book I could not help but think of the movie “Back to School” with Rod­ney Dan­ger­field play­ing a suc­cess­ful busi­ness­man who decided to show a per­sonal exam­ple to his son and go back to col­lege. Tak­ing a busi­ness class he had the fol­low­ing con­ver­sa­tion with the pro­fes­sor:
Thorn­ton Melon: Oh, you left out a bunch of stuff.

Dr. Phillip Bar­bay: Oh really? Like what for instance?

Thorn­ton Melon: First of all you're going to have to grease the local politi­cians for the sud­den zon­ing prob­lems that always come up. Then there's the kick­backs to the car­pen­ters, and if you plan on using any cement in this build­ing I'm sure the team­sters would like to have a lit­tle chat with ya, and that'll cost ya. Oh and don't for­get a lit­tle some­thing for the build­ing inspec­tors. Then there's long term costs such as waste dis­posal. I don't know if you're famil­iar with who runs that busi­ness but I assure you it's not the boyscouts.

Not that Ms. Kocial­ski goes to this length, but the book is writ­ten from her vast expe­ri­ence and it shows.

For more reviews and bookish thoughts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Bruce Sarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Startup from the Ground up is a well-crafted book that gives you some real and useful insight on what it means to build your business from nothing to something. Kocialski has thoughtfully put together a manual based on her own experience and knowledge that anyone can use to help get a leg up on jumpstarting that dream into reality.

The book is crafted so the reader can pull out the important ideas and put them to use. It helps the reader breakdown the basics of starting up and then morph that into a long-term business plan that has every opportunity to be successful.

Being an entrepreneur and creating a small business that is self-sustaining can be very different than building a startup that will eventually have to provide returns to investors. The author focuses on startups, with information on different types of funding, what information needs to be provided to investors. She then takes it to the process of creating a product to provide a return on the investment. Even though every business is different, there is some basic information that investors want to see. Cynthia Kocialski tells you what information should be included in when you are putting a business plan or presentations for customers and investors.

This really is a great resource for anyone looking to put their dreams into action!

[brandy oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for ANYONE who is interested in starting their own business, of any kind!
On top of helping me with some of the best advice and clever pointers and information, this book definitely gives you a positive feeling about whatever type of business you are planning on attempting!
I personally hope to start a business of some kind online, with my blogs, and at the same time, be able to help people, and be able to be at home FT with my children. I suffer from a disability, so it is also important to me to be able to earn a living from home.
I was anxious to read this book especially because of the 5 star reviews it received on other sites, and because it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, and it turns out, it really was!
I also have to mention, that this is not boring or in any way, going to sound like another language to you. You won't sit there with toothpicks holding your eyelids up, or have to re read every line because you can't grasp what is being explained to you! Cynthia Kocialski, is an amazing woman and is brilliant at what she does, and will share every secret, and you should take advantage of this!

[Bonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, well written. Recommended to everyone who has a dream, a dream to become an entrepreneur.