Startup Nation

I like reading a good book on how to start up a business. I had hopes that this book would provide lots of inspiration and motivation. Startup Nation is written by Jeff and Rich Sloan who have successfully started up several businesses.

The book works primarily from the perspective of creating a product and then licensing it. This includes patents, trademarks, and copyrights. The Sloan brothers did this with their successful battery buddy (for cars) jump starting system. I suppose for those who are intent on following this type of product development, then this book may be for you. There are probably lots of products in which you don't want to be involved in the daily manufacturing and delivery issues. And while this process made sense for the Sloans and their product, I don't believe it is for everyone. There is a lot of investment before you see any ROI.

This form of product development is not for every product, especially apparel or soft goods. So I guess the first thing to learn is not every book is going to address every form of product out there. The book does cover some basic business planning concepts. But for that, there are much better books out there.

The book does provide some case stories of successful entrepreneurs, so some may enjoy reading that. As an overall business self-help book it is only so-so.