How They Started: How 25 Good Ideas Became Great Companies

by David Lester, Carol Tice

How do you turn a good idea into a great business?

Lots of us have ideas we think would make great businesses. Most of us never do anything with those ideas. Maybe it’s because we’re really happy with our jobs, maybe it’s because we’re not confident that our idea would really work. Or maybe it’s simply because we don’t know where to start.

This book is about 25 like you. They had an idea, and went on to start a business. Those businesses are all extremely successful and most are now household names all across America.

With success stories ranging from retail and gaming to social media and the restaurant business, How They Started relives the humble beginnings of companies such as Coca-Cola and Disney, Google and Twitter, Zynga and Chipotle Grill. Through personal interviews with key sources – including founders, investors and past employees – each profile reveals how the company took its first tentative steps and subsequently became the famous name it is today.

Written by Carol Tice, regular writer for Entrepreneur Magazine, and David Lester, who set up a highly successful software company in Farmington, CT and now runs a company dedicated to supporting start-ups and entrepreneurs, How They Started is an enlightening and fascinating book that answers key questions for each business, such

• What happened first?
• How did they choose their name?
• How much did it cost to set up?
• Where did they find suppliers?
• How did they get their first customers?
• What problems did they run into - and how did they overcome them?


Profiles Blackberry, Chipotle Grill, Coca-Cola, Disney, Dropbox, eBay, Electronic Arts, Etsy, Gatorade, Google, Groupon, IBM, Jamba Juice, KFC, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pinkberry, Spanx, Trip Advisor, Twitter, Wholefoods, Zipcar, Zynga.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2009

Reviews

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book if you want a brief story about some of your favorite companies, like Twitter, Microsoft, KFC or Disney. However, if you want a good understanding of their businesses, this is not enough at all. Of course, there were constraints - there's only that much you can include in 10-20 pages. However, some facts are not exactly correct. For example, in the case of Twitter, all those CEO stepping downs were not friendly at all as presented in this book. And I could only find it out by reading an entire volume about their history.
So if you you want a quick story about overcome adversity and finding success, as well as some insight into some of the biggest corporations, check it out. But if you want more, check out an entire volume about each of them (if it exists).

[Rebecca Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick & easy - good airplane reading. Each chapter (business) is about 7-10 pages. While this was a good introduction, would enjoy a deeper view, perhaps in a future edition?

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book changed me because I learned about highly successful companies/ businesses and how they became successful. I would recommend this book to my Dad because I think that he would really enjoy it and find it really interesting. Carol Tice is a longtime Seattle business writer and was born April 1937 and David Lester is a British Psychologist and was born July 1967. My main question raised by this book is probably how they get the story and details of the companies/ Businesses that started a long time ago (like in the 1800s). This book is made up of 25 true stories. How They Started was a very interesting book because each chapter was a different story of how each different business/ company started (the company's/ Businesses were SPANX, Electronic Arts, Pixar, Zipcar, eBay, Etsy, Groupon, LinkedIn, Match.com, Twitter, TripAdvisor, Zynga, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Gatorade, Jamba Juice, Pinkberry, Whole Foods Market, Blackberry (RIM), Dropbox, Google, The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, The Walt Disney Company, KFC, and Microsoft). Some observations I made were that there were some parts of what the business owner said (for example it would say like “this business changed me for life” said Johnny). Over all I think that this book deserves 4 stars.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition) lies in its actionable intelligence: a proprietary toolkit of heuristic algorithms, decision matrices, and emergent market diagnostics designed to future-proof entrepreneurial ventures. The text delineates a paradigm shift from linear growth trajectories to multi-vectorial scaling, with an emphasis on psychographic segmentation and hyper-localized targeting.

[Chidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It takes you along on the journey to build these global brands highlighting the fact that it just doesn't happen over night. It is a must read for anyone who aspires to build a company in foreseeable future .
In conclusion this book tells you one thing: All entrepreneurs must have persistence, fearlessness and resilience as personality traits to be successful.

[Mark Bunch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read, must keep - a great resource pulled together by the authors. I really enjoyed this one. It breaks each tale down and adds juicy details. 26 great ideas/companies.

[Khoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool, reduction

[Booqmonk · Rating 4 out of 5]

To get up, we must study the those that are on top

[Carol Tice]

Hi folks...umm...I wrote about half of this book, so I'm not really reviewing it here.

Just saying if you need business inspiration, it's got 25 (not 30! not sure why we can't get that changed out) great business startup stories -- Twitter, Groupon, Chipotle, Spanx, Jamba Juice, PInkberry, LinkedIn, Electronic Arts.

It's a fun and informative read for anyone looking to build a business.

[Adam Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible book!! I LOVED IT!!

[daniel dirnfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book easy to read.

[Elijah Oyekunle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read