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Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur

Written by: Jay Hamilton-Roth

Article Overview: What struck me about Stuart Skorman’s book (subtitled, "Why I Can’t Stop Starting Over") is his creative need to start new businesses and his (growing) wisdom about business. Stuart’s better-known accomplishments are launching Reel.com (sold for $100M) and Elephant Pharmacy.

Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur

What struck me about Stuart Skorman’s book (subtitled, "Why I Can’t Stop Starting Over") is his creative need to start new businesses and his (growing) wisdom about business. Stuart’s better-known accomplishments are launching Reel.com (sold for $100M) and Elephant Pharmacy.

Stuart’s smarts, creativity, luck, risk-taking, and finances are well-described. The book is written in a conversational style - it’s as if you’re sitting down with him (or going for a walk) and he’s mentoring you on customer service and startup business logic. He not only describes his business life, but also his personal life (and the give-and-take he learned). The best part of the book is his hard-won pearls of wisdom that end each chapter:

* Why I rarely hire MBAs (they often don’t understand the needs for creativity, struggle, and sacrifice)
* Customers can be your best teachers (by intimately knowing your customers likes and dislikes you have a better chance for success)
* Decisions should be made by the person with the best resumé (Hire well and entrust the right person make the right choices on your behalf)
* Three rules to winning in poker and business (Be aggressive, be conservative, be opportunistic)
* Do’s and don’ts for choosing a business (base it on logic, stick with the familiar, prioritize fun, start small, do something established, know your risk tolerance, and focus on short-term goals)
* Create a second bottom line for your idealism (calculate the cost of your idealism from your profitability)
* Avoid creativity at all costs (where possible, reuse existing well-tested solutions to your problems. Creativity is expensive (but attention-getting)).
* How to make the transition from a big company to a start-up (start small, do your homework, work for a startup first, understand your motivation, and be financially prepared).

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Article Tags: 100m, better chance, business base, business life, business logic, conversational style, creativity, elephant, knowing your customers, new businesses, pearls of wisdom, personal life, profitability, resum, right choices, risk tolerance, smarts, startup business, stuart skorman, term goals



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