Startups that Work: Surprising Research on What Makes or Breaks a New Company

This book http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=0Y38B7WAhC&isbn=159184102X&itm=3 looks at sophisticated research conducted with PricewaterhouseCoopers into 350 companies primarily in telecommunications, semiconductors, software, services, and biotechnology. (The study began just as the dot-com bubble was bursting.) Kurtzman and Rifkin also interviewed corporate executives, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

Joel Kurtzman is a former editor of the Harvard Business Review who previously teamed up with Glenn Rifkin for MBA in a Box.

The big question: What factors are most responsible for a start-up’s success? Answers can be found in the chapter titles: To Get Where You’re Going, You’ve Got to Have a Map; Nothing Ever Happens Without Great People; You Can Only Grow as Big as Your Market; and Channels and Alliances.

Value, unsurprisingly, turned out to be one of the main drivers of success. The stock price of Akamai, for example, swung madly during its start-up phase, but the company has done well in the marketplace since then by creating value through products and services and by expanding the value creation theme with employees and business partners. Other companies that have successfully created value in similar ways include Dell, Amazon, Staples, and Home Depot.

Although the discoveries aren’t likely to startle our readers, the advice is useful and encouraging. On a positive note, many of the start-ups profiled are still in business today.

– Sarah Jane Gilbert

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/book-review.jhtml?t=entrepreneurship&id=5043