The Startup Garden: How Growing a Business Grows You

I picked up The Startup Garden based on a review in our local newspaper, and found it a wonderful read. Having been involved in several start-up ventures, including consulting for several 'dot-coms', I found Ehrenfeld's approach refreshing, honest, and practical. Building a great business, from a local store to a large company, is as much about execution as idea. By focusing readers on the many different types of leadership needed to launch a venture, from knowing yourself to managing cash and employees, Ehrenfeld goes a long way in providing a full picture of the skills and qualities needed to successfully lead new ventures. Reading his book is like brainstorming with a smart friend: it helps you think through all of the questions you will need to answer in order to go from idea to business, giving lots of very practical advice along the way.

Most books that deal with startups or entrepreneurship focus on the formulaic sides of business; they include fill-in-the-blank business plans, spreadsheet templates that assume every company is the same, and a directory of financing sources that anyone could find on the Internet. Tom Ehrenfeld's "The Startup Garden" is the antithesis of these books, instead offering the reader not so much a series of answers to everyday questions, but rather a more thought-provoking series of questions which every entrepreneur should ask him- or herself before starting a business. Thankfully, this book is more about the journey than the destination.As someone who advises a number of early-stage entrepreneurs, I am all too happy to suggest that anyone contemplating a startup should read this book before going too far. Doing so will cause the first-time or serial entrepreneur to consider all the facets of launching and running a company from both business and personal perspectives: a very worthwile introspective effort!

Thinking about starting a business? Good luck! There are so many things to learn, think about, decide, and not forget in your new role as entrepreneur. Growing a new business can be much like growing a garden-plant some seeds, add water and fertilizer, stir in loving care. Eventually, something should grow. Ah, but business is a lot more complicated.Wouldn't it be nice if you could spend a few hours with some friends who have been there and gained significant experience? You'd probably learn a lot while listening to the contributions of your friends during the lively conversation. The experience would be enhanced if a few best-selling authors dropped by to toss in their two-cents'-worth. Reading The Startup Garden will give you that kind of an expertise and experience. Your host, Tom Ehrenfeld, is a business journalist with more than a dozen years of experience in print and radio. A former writer/editor at Harvard Business Review and Inc. Magazine, he's a frequent speaker on small business issues. You may have heard him on PRI's Marketplace, where he is a regular commentator. Tom (you'll feel a close relationship with your host) will introduce you to a number of entrepreneurs who will share their experiences and advice on a wide range of topics. You'll learn from Tom's text, plus a continuous flow of sidebars and quotes giving you more and more information. Your topics of discussion include Finding Your Calling; Planning as Learning, Learning as Doing; The Numbers that Count, and Bootstrapping.The chapter on Walking the Line deals with human resource issues, followed by chapters on Just Managing and Perpetual Learning. A good index enhances the value of this book.Bonus feature: You'll find references at the end of each chapter that will guide you to more reading to grow the knowledge you need for your circumstances. Tom's emphasis is that each company situation is unique, though there are a lot of commonalities. There is more information to share, on- and off-line. (...)Recommended for start-up and early-stage growth entrepreneurs.

You don't have to want to startup anything superscale (or superdot-com.) to find Tom Ehrenfeld's bright and breezy book a life raft for the stormy waters of self-maintenance. If you're freelancing anything from words to paintings to saving first-growth forests, his book is packed (or should one say full-grown) with how-to make your prospects bloom.

There are a million books on starting businesses, and every five years or so one comes along that raises the bar. Ehrenfeld's breakthrough book on entrepreneurship presents a sharp set of tools that set it apart from the pack. Clear, concise writing makes the difference. While many entrepreneurs have been successful in business, they haven't been able to give others the right information. In The Startup Garden, you'll get a complete toolkit and -- perhaps most important -- the keys to timing your business so that you have the true sense of an entrepreneur. This book won't help someone like Steve Jobs, but for the rest of us, it's worth its weight in stock certificates.