Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)

While the Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship contains a number of tips that any entrepreneur is likely to find useful, much of the book deals with topics that only a handful of the largest and most ambitious start-ups will encounter. The book was written by multiple authors, so it offers a variety of viewpoints but also occasionally contradicts itself.

The first half of the book is especially good and is likely to be relevant to any entrepreneur. The reader is encouraged to answer some important questions that help determine exactly what they hope to achieve, both personally and professionally, through their business. One useful section assists with the creation of the business plan, and an even more useful section warns the reader not to spend so much time planning that they miss their opportunity entirely.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the book deals with venture capital. If your business plan involves venture capital, the information in the book will undoubtedly be of use to you. However, one of the last chapters of the book deals with “bootstrap finance” and points out that an exceedingly small number of start-ups actually need or receive venture capital. The final section, concerning “commercializing technology”, is also unlikely to apply to most small businesses.

I’m glad I had a chance to read this book, but I think other books will prove more useful to the typical entrepreneur (NOLO’s Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business is particularly good).

As an entrepreneur with varying degree of success and failure, I found this book to be the most accurate writing on the subject. If I could read this book many years ago, I would have avoided many expensive mistakes. If you are looking to become an entrepreneur, or if you are are already one, I strongly recommend you read this book–and take notes because virtually everthing in this book applies to every entrepreneur. This is a must read for every business person.

This book is a collection of easy to read articles by eminent faculty as well as venture capitalists teaching and supporting entrepreneurship.

These articles offer an insight into the problems faced by a start-up as well as methods to prioritize their activities. It does offer ideas to entrepreneurs to manage and grow a start-up.

Overall a good collection of articles with some very contrasting schools of thought.

This book is really a compilation of Harvard Business Review articles on the subject of entrepreneurship. As with all HBR articles, these are quite informative. That being said, different chapters will appeal to different readers, depending if you are a practicing entrepreneur, business school student, or academic observer of entrepreneurship.

Since I am primarily a practicing entrepreneur, my favorite chapters are those written by Amir Bhide: The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer, How Entrepreneurs Craft Strategies That Work, and Bootstrap Finance: The Art of Start-Ups. All of these chapters are especially well-written and convey practical information that will enhance the likelihood of success for any start-up entrepreneur. The legendary venture capitalist Arthur Rock also contributes a chapter that contains valuable information. While this book may not be a primary reference or source of inspiration for practicing entrepreneurs, it makes for some excellent complementary reading.

Steven K. Gold
Author, Entrepreneur’s Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture

This book helped me go through the basics of starting up a company, it helped me clear up simple ideas with a few basics questions.
It’s diversity of topics and the arrangement of them, make it very simple to follow.
Great book, very happy with it, i’ll certainly go back to it as my company goes.
R

One of the best books you can get,if you are interested in studying entrepreneurship. real life examples. simply, it is a Harvard Business Review.

As others have mentioned, this is simply a collection of various HBR articles. Several are classics, while others are less interesting or relevant to most entrepreneurs. Overall, this book is more academic than practical.

HBR on Entrepreneurship is a recommended reading for people who would like to be entrepreneurs. It teaches the basics and provides tricks on how to go about being an entrepreneur and establishing a new company. It was very useful for my Entrepreneurship course at Robert Kennedy College.

Great price for this easy to read and insightful book. However, better development on preparing business plans for financing and better examples for these plans.