People who think they want to be entrepreneurs should read this book. In life, you can either fall down to learn all of your own lessons or you can pay attention to and learn from other peoples' experiences. I recommend the latter approach and Mr. Skorman provides an easy-to-read memoir that you can easily absorb. His range of experience will probably cover something that you are thinking about doing. I commend him for choosing to ask Catherine Guthrie to help him write the book; it flows more smoothly than 99% of the business memoirs you'll read.
I work with dozens of would-be entrepreneurs at any given time. Their motivations vary. Some want to create a huge business. Others just want to establish a business they would be proud of. Still others want to establish a certain kind of lifestyle. Some want to escape the humdrum qualities of their lives. A few have an idealistic vision of what a business could do for others. At various times, Mr. Skorman tried all of these approaches and candidly assesses the pros and cons of those perspectives.
When I first meet them, the would-be entrepreneurs have three things in common:
1. They have no idea of how to prepare to be an entrepreneur.
2. They don't understand the various processes to use in establishing a successful new business.
3. They are in a hurry.
In addition, most of would-be entrepreneurs have no understanding of how to think about customers and what might appeal to customers.
As a result, they employ what I like to call the "fire, ready, aim" school of entrepreneurship. That approach can work just fine . . . as long as you have enough energy, capital, and patience.
Most entrepreneurs are self-taught: They learn by accumulating bumps and bruises. That learning process is, however, so painful that they either don't want to talk about it or develop amnesia as time passes.
Stuart Skorman's memoir is a great resource for inexperienced entrepreneurs because he does remember how he got where he is and is willing to share with you. You follow along while he goes from starting up one venture to another and get a candid look at what he did right and wrong, and why that happened. In his biggest success, he freely describes how not paying enough attention to a deal he needed to make and to technological development cost him most of what he could have gained. You'll be there, too. When you are, remember his example.
I also find that would-be entrepreneurs think they will be married to their business for life. In drawing that conclusion, they deny themselves the opportunity to experience the joy of creation all over again . . . but with more resources and experience to guide them. I don't recall another book where an entrepreneur so often moved on to start a new enterprise and in another industry as often as Mr. Skorman has. You'll be fascinated.
Why is it that most entrepreneurs cannot repeat their success in another industry? Success is very much influenced by being in the right place at the right time with the right resources and skills. Miss one of those elements and the next enterprise may be a loser.
Mr. Skorman is also a very interesting fellow when he's not starting-up businesses. He spent the Summer of Love in San Francisco. He did a cross-country bicycle jaunt by himself. He spent two years earning a living as a professional poker player. He also managed a rock band. You'll enjoy those parts, too.
In understanding Mr. Skorman's perspective, it's helpful to remember that he is primarily a marketing thinker who sees deep needs that aren't being met and can conceptualize very extreme ways to improve on what exists. That talent is best exhibited in his experience with Empire Video where he conceptualized a whole new approach to video rental stores that greatly expanded the market in the geographies that he served. I suggest that you read that case with the most attention for what's needed to succeed. There were few false steps because he deeply understood the needs of video renters. I was so impressed with this case that I summarized it for some of my entrepreneurial students.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, read the case of Elephant Pharmacy to show you how wealth and comfort can induce bad habits into what may well be a good business idea. As the ultimate story of "ready, fire, aim" I commend his story of HungryMinds.com.
Although the chapters end up with entrepreneurial lessons, I suggest that you think of these not as general lessons . . . but rather as the lessons than you can draw from Mr. Skorman's example. He didn't study what other entrepreneurs do and don't do, so you shouldn't treat this book as a literal business text. It's more like an annotated series of cases.
As his career evolves in the future, I hope Mr. Skorman will favor us with an updated edition of this book at some point.
