Reviews of books that i have read.
[Discussion of Strategy inspired by Book and Podcast} Key insights /learnings on how to create Good Strategy, an Action Agenda of key actions to deliver an organisation’s ambition. The Kernel of Good Strategy is more HOW than HOPE
Book recommendation for Diana Kander’s book ‘All In Startup: Launching a New Idea when everything is on the line’ – highly recommended for anyone launching a product or a business to experience real life Lean Startup principles
I recently signed up for a free library account with the County Library run by Galway County Council and was delighted to sign up for a free service from BorrowBox so that I could read Business eBooks for free on a 21 day loan system. I like reading business books but it is unfortunate that…
As a business trainer, I personally love business books that I can refer to and recommend to clients, mentees and workshops participants. I imagine that some will like to read and it is great to get recommended books to dig into greater detail on business topics that we are discussing. Business is complicated. It is…
A great book for aspiring coffee shop owners and anyone thinking of starting a service business. Blog article focuses on learning gleaned in areas of Customer Service, Customer Insight and building a motivated team.
The 1-Page Marketing Plan Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out from the Crowd- by Allan Dib I recently received this Marketing book in the post for free. I had been asked nicely in advance if I would review it. I like reading business books so I agreed (no fee involved). The book…
I assist startups via training and mentoring to pitch for early stage investment to include enterprise agency supports such as New Frontiers and Competitive Start Fund in Ireland. I was delighted to find a superb book by Chris Lipp called ‘The Startup Pitch : A proven formula to win funding’. At 160 pages, it is…
This is the second part of a two part blogpost about books directly focused on Marketing for fast growth oriented startups. My most recent post reviewed the superb ‘Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers’ by Gabrial Weinberg and Justin Mares, 2014 and this post will review Startup Growth Engines: Case Studies on How Today’s…
In December 2013, I wrote a blogpost selecting my four favourite Lean Startup books from the many books on the area of Lean Startup. Since then I have been on the lookout for books more directly focused on Marketing for fast growth-oriented startups. This article highly recommends two such books: 1. Traction: A Startup Guide…
I have just finished reading Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet, Managing Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Published in 2013, it is a superb book (Book available in Ireland via Easons). This review does not seek to summarise the book – for that I suggest you read this excellent post ‘A book in 5…
Being the Best in the World is seriously Underrated … Seth Godin The Dip You might be wondering how I came to read Seth Godin’s book, ‘The Dip – The Extraordinary Benefits of Knowing When to Quit (And When to Stick)’ published in 2007 early in 2015. He mentioned the idea of The Dip…
Thanks to Tara Dalrymple of Mission Possible for giving me a loan of Seth Godin’s ‘Tribes’ a few weeks ago. The book, published November 2008, is contemporary – it is becoming even more relevant as time passes. It is a fascinating book, I was half way through it before I realised that it does…
I am a big advocate of Lean Startup. This post selects my four favourite Lean Startup books from the many books on the broad area of Lean Startup. To be read in this order: 1- Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development 2- The Lean Startup 3- Running Lean 4- Lean Analytics Starting Point The book that…
This blogpost discusses ‘how do you build a business when what you are selling is your skills, domain knowledge and expertise’. This is an important question for Ireland Inc, which has for many years been reliant on the Services sector as evidenced by a CSO report which found (page 22) that new service enterprises accounted…
I was delighted to be asked by Maria Staunton,of GMIT’s Innovation in Business Centre in Castlebar to speak at the first meeting of 2013 of the Mayo Open Coffee Club. I was asked to speak about ‘New Year, New You, Setting Smarter Goals for 2013’. I readily accepted as I have a keen interest…
This blogpost will highlight some of my favourite parts of the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaccson – which i think is a brilliant read. I will focus on the parts which epitomize the role of Steve Jobs in building Apple – a company which changed the world. I will also pick out nuggets…
Chapter 12 of ‘What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography’ by Alan Sugar (2010) is fascinating. It tells how Amstrad reinvented itself by helping Rupert Murdoch to launch Sky. I love stories. This particular story is fascinating as it shows superb lateral thinking by Alan Sugar and his team. Around 1988, satellite dishes and receivers were on the market for approximately £5,000. In June of that year, Alan Sugar agreed that Amstrad would develop satellite receiving equipment which would sell in the shops for £199.