“If I was going to start a new business today I would be sure to study and pay close attention to Kevin Ready’s new book, Startup. His wisdom, experience, and his self-effacing and honest writing make this a real gem for aspiring entrepreneurs and business people of all kinds.” —Bob Beaudine, author of The Power of WHO Startup: An Insider's Guide to Launching and Running a Business is for people who are excellent at something—product or web development, writing code, marketing or selling anything—but who are now toiling for others. Yet they have long had a dream: to take that special skill set and use it, on their own terms, in a startup business. This pattern is romanticized by the media in the form of the “tech entrepreneur”—the guy brainstorming with buddies in a garage who ends up selling his startup for millions. But what is the reality behind stories like that one? For that matter, what mental processes, frames of reference, hard knocks, and lessons learned make up the “back story” behind any startup success? This book not only reveals the actual experience of entrepreneurship, but it provides readers with a set of universal entrepreneurial skills and tools they can use to build a business. Author Kevin Ready has made this journey, and more than once. He earned his MBA—Master of Bruise Acquisition—through numerous encounters with “situations,” problems, black holes, bad employees, sea monsters, not enough money, and other karate chops to the organizational body. Startup illustrates in detail the lessons he learned the hard way—so you don’t have to. Backed up by stories of both his successes and failures, Ready helps readers learn shortcuts to help them do what eight out of 10 entrepreneurs can’t: Build and sustain a successful start-up. Illustrates the entrepreneurial journey from start to finish Helps readers decide—or not—to start a business Provides dozens of lessons learned and other takeaways budding entrepreneurs can put to use today