The Dumbest Guy at the Table: How I Founded Australia's First Unicorn

by David Shein

Twenty-one years after selling the company that I founded, Com Tech Communications, for an enterprise value of over $1 billion - arguably Australia's first tech unicorn - I decided to write a book. Drawing on over three decades of experience - gee I'm getting old - and sharing some lessons that I hope will provide valuable advice to anyone looking to start a company or manage a good business. Since 1987 I have hired hundreds of outstanding people, knowing that if I paid well, listened to their valuable ideas and ensured that they loved coming to work every day, I could still be part of something great ... even if I am the dumbest guy at the table. These principles have formed the basis of my management style for over 30 years. So much has changed from a technology perspective - yet, in some ways, nothing has changed. Products come and go, but you will always have customers, staff and business partners. How you treat these three constituents will be the difference between building a good company, a great company, an irrelevant company or one that simply disappears.'As a businessman, David Shein has lived up to his ideals. Don't be fooled by the title of the book; this guy really knows his shit.'Ian Chappell

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published September 30, 2021

Reviews

[Tanya · Rating 1 out of 5]

this could have been an email

[Caspian Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short chapters made this book easy to read. I found it very helpful in thinking about how to be a team leader. There were quite a few take-aways that I will remember, such as the line "there is no greater salesperson than a happy customer", however I don't think Shein came up with that quote, as far as I'm aware. Lots of the book reads like a biography too, but some of the business advice felt a bit general and more like life advice for entrepreneurs. I liked the different feeling this book had to other business books I've read, and it was nice to read something Australian too. I will come back to it when I build a team!

[Mike Beder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. Some great advice no matter what stage you’re at in business or life.

[Sonja Bernhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is only a few hours read.

It's simple and basic. I expected greater insights:-(.

I suspect the authors idea was for simplicity.

I also expected story telling however it was more a bunch of facts and basic diagrams with occasional people mentioned. There is also some repitition which in such a small book is noticeable.

If nothing else to read it's an ok read, however I didn't find it particularly inspiring nor insightful and given what the content could have been that was a little sad it wasn't.

[Summer Wick-Featonby (summerkathleenreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one has regretfully been sitting on my shelf for quite some time and only now I have managed to get to it! Here’s the long and short of it.

I enjoyed this book and felt the advice was useful and succinct and shared in a really accessible way. I had no issue with it right up until the end where the author contradicts himself by saying how he sold his business at the right time, talking about the issue of burnout, to then in the literal next chapter share his regrets and go “don’t quit once you have financial success - it’s only a small part of your life journey.” Sorry - what kind of advice is that?

I lost any remaining respect for the author when referencing the pandemic in example emails sent to other founders he said “when this is all over and someone says let’s WFH, I think the answer will be WTF. Working in isolation is challenging when everyone thrives in a group environment.” Not only is the author’s lack of foresight incredible but that is a massively incorrect generalisation to make about people in the workforce.

I’m so disappointed because I found this book pretty useful up until the last few chapters where the author’s arrogance as a former business owner and founder (and his age and consequently narrow views) shone right through.

Despite its pitfalls, I’m grateful for Echo Publishing for sending this to me in exchange for an honest review as there was quite a bit of useful information I was able to extract from this book.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Khoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone used to say: "You don't really know something until you can explain it to others in simple terms."

That is exactly how David Shein wrote this book: in plain English and with a common sense approach. He provides great lessons in business and in life without jargons and complicated concepts. At the heart of his approach is a genuine desire to share his wisdom and his philosophy on what it takes to build a successful venture that can generate great customer values, dominate the market and improve the lives of so many people involved in the entreprise.

A relatively short and easy-to-read book for anyone interested in some distilled wisdom from one of Australia's best entrepreneurs.

Also just sent David Shein a LinkedIn invitation to tell him how much I enjoyed his book.

[Ashfaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read with some good lessons. I could sense throughout the book that David is a great person to work for/with. His values and philosophy towards life are great.

The only drawback with the book is that it has too many repetitions.

A few words of advice from David that I liked the most:
If you want to be happy in your life, you simply need:
* someone to love
* something to do
* something to look forward to.

As a founder, you should always be an HR manager - you should always be recruiting. The way you treat people will filter through the organisation.



You can only succeed when your team knows that any career opportunity is based on merit.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple read with common sense advice, which can often be forgotten in a complex, profit driven world, and it is even more difficult to execute continuously when competitors aren't doing the same. Though I might treat it as half memoir as the company he founded was in a different time and a very specific industry.

[Rob Hamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical business lessons from someone who has been there and done that. A great read for any entrepreneur who wants to pause and reflect .

[Will L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short simple read on leadership for founders.
Keeps focus on what matters in growing a business - customers, staff and business partners (people).

[Mai · Rating 3 out of 5]

No secret reveals, just fundamental business principles. But they are ones always worth repeating, and importantly, from someone who has applied them and very successfully so!

[Owain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately this was a disappointing read.

I felt the author was on a coffee high when we was writing this book, constantly talking about his success and how his competitors were all failures.

The book did not go into any great detail around business more just repeated generic feel good terms and if you want to be successful just be like Amazon, Apple or Tesla.