Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Why I Can't Stop Starting Over

by Stuart Skorman, Catherine Guthrie (Primary Contributor)

Entrepreneur Stuart Skorman―the founder of Elephant Pharmacy, Hungryminds.com, Reel.com, and Empire Video―grew up in a retailing family in Ohio. He worked every kind of job, from cab driver to professional poker player to CEO. In this entertaining, personal account of his coming-of- age in the business world, Skorman gives an insider’s view of what it takes to start a business from the ground up. Stuart Skorman offers his hard-won lessons in business for any entrepreneur or small businessperson who wants to create a company that has a heart and soul. He reveals what he learned about marketing while working a stint as a rock band manager and bares his soul about his failure during the dot-com bubble. He describes in vivid terms the roller coaster ride of the entrepreneur in good times and bad and explains how to survive in today’s uncertain business environment.

Genres: Business, Business Leadership, Entrepreneurship

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2007

Reviews

[Magdalena Trivina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important personal lesson I got from this book is, when the author exit his Reel.com startup and made like 10M $ money, he said he got all the money he'll ever want. And that triggered me to think of my number, the sum of money I'll ever want in this life. And that made me have clearer view of my life.

[Betsy J · Rating 1 out of 5]

I strongly disliked the story told by the author, such that I shut off audio after 45 minutes and never found anything of value. The book starts with the tale of a poor little rich boy from the Midwest who struggles to find his niche in the world. It turned me off immediately.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book, so insightful and reassuring especially when things might not be going as planned

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Why I can’t Stop Starting Over (2007) by Stuart Skorman and Catherine Guthrie is an autobiographical account of Skorman’s adventures in starting businesses. Skorman founded reel.com which was an early fairly successful dot com in the first dot com boom. He had an entertaining interview on ‘The Internet History Podcast’ recently and the host recommended his book.
Skorman grew up in Ohio and his father ran a business that had a number of stores so he was brought up being aware of retail and business. He went to college and then managed a band in New England. Following that he tried to become a writer and then worked for Bread and Circus, a health food retailer in New England. After that he founded and ran a chain of video stores in Vermont then sold them to Blockbuster and then founded reel.com. Finally he founded a blended pharmacy and new age medicine store.
There is definitely some interesting stuff in the book. The fact that people in the know thought as early as the start of the 1990s that video stores were going to be replaced by online streaming and purchases is interesting. There is also quite a lot of business advice from Skorman. It’s not a bad book but far from the most interesting memoir about dot coms and the like you can find.

[Josh Steimle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title seems a bit mis-matched, since the book is not focused on being a serial entrepreneur. You wouldn't read this book to learn about how to run two businesses at the same time, or how to run one business after another. It's really just the entrepreneurial biography of the author. But I suppose the editor thought the title would sell more books.

As a brief biography, it's a decent read. Biographies are always interesting, and this one has several lessons spread throughout the book that would be valuable for any budding entrepreneur to learn from rather than going through it all themselves.

[Franco Arda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession of a Serial Entrepreneur is an entertaining book of, well, the book titel says it all, a serial entrepreneur. The interested would-be & entrepreneur can have hear a laugh while learning some deep level business philosophy; like the importance of heart & soul of a company and to look for a business with the potential to be deeply satisfying. It's neither the funniest book i've ever read nor the best book on entrepreneurship ... but a good mix of both. Worth reading.

[Akhil Mehta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regarding matters of practical significance, it's always better to read a book by someone who has actually done it. Professors from Academia and Professional Authors can research and write well, but the doer can help you sketch out their decision making under ambiguous circumstances, which is Invaluable.

If your ideas don't let you sleep, this is a great book for getting you off your ass, and doing, which is how ideas come to life.

[Adriano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skorman has a lot of different experiences to pull from, yet you only get a brief glimpse into each endeavour. Worse yet, you don't see the motivation for jumping from one business to the other. The glimpses themselves are interesting enough, but not a lot to grab onto.

[Polly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit self-promoting, but good tips in general

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read book on entrepreneurial success stories for the knowledge worker or aspiring entrepreneur.

[Dolf Hottman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, fast read with solid insights and tips on being an entrepreneur.

[Larry Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the emphasis on heart and soul. I found it inspiring.