The Real Deal

by James Caan

After dropping out of school at just sixteen, James Caan started his business life in a broom cupboard with no qualifications and two pieces of fatherly 'observe the masses and do the opposite' and 'always look for opportunities where both parties benefit'. Armed with this advice, natural charm and the Yellow Pages, he built a market-leading business with a turnover of GBP130 million and swiftly became one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs.From Caan's childhood as a Pakistani immigrant to the phenomenal success of his first company and beyond, "The Real Deal" traces both his financial and personal achievements. It offers a frank account of what success at thirty really signifies and brings us right up to the present, including his impact on Dragons' Den and what his charity work, from saving a hospital in London to building a school in Lahore, means to him. Ultimately, it is a story of learning what money is really worth, told by one the country's most insightful businessmen.

Genres: Business, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Audiobook, Entrepreneurship

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2008

About the author

James Caan CBE (born Nazim Khan; 28 December 1960) is a British-Pakistani entrepreneur and television personality. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Caan's family emigrated to the United Kingdom when he was two years old.

He is best known as a former investor on the BBC television programme Dragons' Den, in which he was one of the Dragons from 2007 to 2010. More recently, he has hosted The Business Class on CNBC, a series which sees him joined by experts from a cross-section of industries to analyse and advise innovative UK small and medium enterprises. He is also Chairman of the UK Government's Start Up Loans Scheme.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I'm the type of person who avoids reality style with a passion and while not real reality TV I did class Dragons Den in a similar genre.

But with spending some time away from home in hotels/travelling I did watch a couple of episodes just to kill time.

So when I saw this book for sale on Audible I remembered the programme and James Caan. All I knew about him was that fact that he was on Dragons Den and no more, bout having a couple a credits on my audible account and nothing else that I fancied book wise I decided to take the plunge with this book.

I am so glad I did as well, the book, also read by James Caan is from beginning to end a very interesting story. It is nice to see a person who to all intents and purposes starred out with just the shirt on his back make it so far in life. From his struggles to break free from the family business, to finding his future wife with a few untruths, the creation of the recruitment agency in a top floor office and then through the rest of his life with his charitable work.

The book is week written/read and give a good picture of the challenges that James faced throughout his career.

I can now look at James in a different light, though I still don't think I will watch Dragons Den. So I'd recommend this book to anyone with a) an interest in James from his time on Dragons Den or b) an interest in how someone transforms their life from starting with very little to being responsible for a multi million pound organisation.

[Jennifer (Jaye) (I was on a roll, now struggling to add comments - why???) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fascinating, it charts the back story of how James Caan became an entrepreneur. The quote that stays with me is "Observe the masses and do the opposite". I could not stop listening/reading his story. There are some highs and lows along the way, so interesting and captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found James Caan to be very interesting and inspiring, he shows how you can become successful with sheer hard work and determination. He also found lots of ways to motivate people as he tends to invest in people, highly recommended!

[Mitchan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, I also find when someone writes out there story like this the circular nature of life and coincidences become so apparent. A useful book with advice for going into business if you have his same characteristics - not afraid to ask questions and have a lot of confidence in yourself. Humanitarian work was also inspiring and admirable - using his powers for good.

[Andy Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many similarities yet very different

Read this and it follows the same pattern as the other publications by Dragons or Lord Sugar, Baroness Brady, etc. Yet the story from childhood to millionaire is very different and the thing that stands out is the consistency of proactive selling. A must read for anyone in any business development role.

[Anthony C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-indulgent vanity piece. This might be interesting to you if you are a fan of Dragons Den but from a business point of view its very light. He started in business helping his dad sell leather jackets, then he started a successful recruitment company, congratulations, I just saved you 11 hours of awful narration.

[Melissa Roux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turner. Easy to read and great insight into the story of his success. He also gives some great tips based on his experiences.

[Talha Suleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book, some very good advice given, an all round brilliant sales, business, development book.

[MS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

[Jack Tickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book

[Ehsan Gazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing to hear his story, how some small events can make a big change in your life and how hardworking you should be to build an Empire.

Inspiring, eye-opening book for business lovers.

[Barry Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool guy

[Jonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly spectacular biography filled with lots of knowledge and tips

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the people side of how he had run his businesses from rewarding people before they expect it to supporting with loans for properties. Incredible drive from leaving home at 16.

[Muma Nkonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous and inspirational

[Zamir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the great opportunity to receive a signed copy from James Caan himself so had to jump into this right away as young teen and an fan of Dragons Den. It’s a fascinating read and glimpse into his early life and career. Re-read this again recently, as i’m now early in my career compared to the young teen i was when I had first flicked through. You’re able to view and recognise experiences James faced to ones you will still face today. Provides an interesting insight on how to navigate similar hurdles.

[Seemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book and a great read seeing a fellow asian muslim go from nothing to multi millionaire (I actually got it for free from the itunes library ) where James reads out his audio book himself..so was really good...

Above all I admired at even clearly where he was VERY successful and is...he still puts in that blood, sweat and tears...amazing really and true marks of a real entrepreneur and showing what it takes to really get that success he has deserving accumulated

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[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Caan's autobiography is very interesting because James was an English entrepreneur who succeeded through operational excellence. His company was an executive recruitment firm and therefore had no specific technological advantage, so when James Caan saw an opportunity, he developed his skills and approach until he found the strategy that worked, then continued refining it to perfection.

I found his approach interesting. He identified an opportunity then went away changing his pitch until he found the right strategy over the course of weeks. Also, because he needed to be seen as a more established firm, he always named his endeavors with people's names that gave the impression he wanted rather than his own name.

All in all, it was an interesting read about behind one of the popular entrepreneurs from Dragon's Den.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never again. I had to finish this book because I started it by mistake some years ago and it was just holding on me like a burden. That was a mistake and I should have dump it all the way down the toilet.

This book doesn't have any point, nothing useful or interesting has been shared, written as journal of a illiterate undergraduate. Ordinary and boring. "I saved my father, because I helped this hospital, I made such a good decisions here and there, I went helping kids to get into school in Pakistan, blah blah blah". I don't mind this to be written for himself and for the family of his. I don't want to read all this.

It was my fault to even start reading book by this "Dragon' Den" investor genius.

Some people's desire to write a book (especially autobiography one) should be prohibited on all levels.

[Jess]

I read this book back a few years ago, and I decided to read it again now that I'm older, have more experience in the world of work (in recruitment in particular) and am more determined than ever that a life of entrepreneurship is for me. Since working in recruitment, and knowing how tough it is on a daily basis, even with all the tools available for me (the internet, training, best practice, computers), I've come to respect James even more now that I can appreciate what he's accomplished with just a phone and the yellow pages. There's a lot for me to learn from this book, I'll be sure to remember them and put them into practice one day.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. It started off a little slow, but then tells you about how James created a recruitment firm out of nothing, how it went through recession and how he franchised a second recruitment company. It then tells about his second career as a venture capitalist and his experiences on Dragon's Den. It is full of tips and wisdom about entrepreneurship and business in general. Also what to look out for if you fancy pitching to the Dragons.
He seems like a very nice, humble guy and hats off to what he is trying to achieve with his charity work in Pakistan and other places.

[David Hooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anybody into business or autobiographies of successful people. Guy comes to Europe from Pakistan as a young child, with a father that cannot read or write, drops out of high school, deals with societal/social pressure to be something he's not, and goes on to become a great businessman and philanthropist.

Not only do you get into the mind of James Caan, you also get some very specific business advice you can apply to your career, including tips on negotiation and hiring people.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was highly captivating and avoided many of the normal pitfalls of entrepreneur autobiographies. I believe that James was far more modest, honest and detailed about his experiences than most writers would be. I was also impressed that he incorporated his personal and romantic life into the book, which is clearly very important to him. Whilst it was relatively light reading, it contained some great advice (indirectly) on how to do business and overcome other challenges in life.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on two fronts.

Its a great tale of the tribulations of building and running businesses, punctuated with anecdotal tales of 80s “loadsamoney” attitude. It’s also a great journey of an Asian boy who chose to go against the wishes of his father, which takes him on a journey of success, love, money, international fame and then back to his Pakistani roots.

Overall, a useful book for those looking to build a business or for those seeking a tale of clashing cultures.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit that initially I was wrong and associated James Caan's book with the other thousands written by self-proclaimed business gurus teaching their recipes for success. The book proved me otherwise. It offered an honest and inspiring read on his life journey from childhood to becoming one of UK's best known businessmen. His success was a balanced mix of hard work, being bold and investing relentless passion in everything he did.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I tend to dislike books sold on the basis of a TV series, I'm starting to find James Caan strangely sympathetic. This is the second of his I've "read" as an audiobook - in this case on a dark day when my eye infection stopped me from opening my eyes to read a proper book!
I assume it's ghost-written and Caan himself seems to lack self-reflection but you have to admire the energy of the bloke, and his story is certainly an engaging one.

[Thomas Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story of a very public UK business figure (possibly punching above his weight in the fame stakes thanks to the Dragons Den TV series).

The one takeaway is what his father taught him - "Observe the masses & do the opposite". I read it quite a few years ago now & I've adopted the mantra (to good effect) since.

[Zubyre Parvez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard the audiobook version of this. Goes into wonderful practical detail about everything he did to plan his way to success. It's unexpectedly inspiring but it does go on a bit, but it shows you the kind of concentration, clear thinking, patience and thoroughness you would need for the kind of endeavors he has been involved with, to date.

[Christopher Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are into this type of book, the business biography, then you should enjoy this.

A well written insight into his roots, how he started and grew his business and events leading him to the Dragons Den.

Recommended.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up from the airport on the way out. Very interesting account of how Caan became an entrepenneur, how he started his businesses, how he grew the businesses, and how he managed to exit them, and what he’s done since.

[Aseff Aseff · Rating 5 out of 5]

You need to read this book, here's why...
It can transform any ordinary individual into an insightful entrepreneur, or at least make you think if your finances for today and the future are in shape.
To top it all, it is a lovely read and wonderful story, one that almost anyone will relate to.