The Web Startup Success Guide

by Robert Walsh

If there's a software startup company in your developer heart, this is the book that will make it happen. The Web Startup Success Guide is your one-stop shop for all of the answers you need today to build a successful web startup in these challenging economic times. It covers everything from making the strategic platform decisions as to what kind of software to build, to understanding and winning the Angel and venture capital funding game, to the modern tools, apps and services that can cut months off development and marketing cycles, to how startups today are using social networks like Twitter and Facebook to create real excitement and connect to real customers. Bob Walsh , author of the landmark From Vision to Reality , digs deep into the definition, financing, community–building, platform options, and productivity challenges of building a successful and profitable web application today.

Genres: Business, Startup, Web

440 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile might contain books by several authors with this name.

See also
- Robert Walsh, 1784/1785-1859, Diplomat, American Review
- Robert Walsh, 1772-1852, clergyman, historian, writer and physician

Reviews

[Vladyslav · Rating 5 out of 5]

My colleague shared electronic copy of this book long time ago around 2009. He was always passionate about software development, technologies, IT overall and the idea of running own startup instead of spending life at corporative routine. So I was really intrigued to look inside of the book and finally get the essence of how to actually start. I finished two chapters in one evening and decided to buy paper copy to proceed. Time passed but the idea to finish the book stayed with me. And I finally managed to do that.

Personally I enjoyed the style how the author expresses his thoughts. I found it familiar for developer: address the problem, analyze it, provide possible solution, run over interview with different entrepreneurs, hear their advice, analyze their thoughts, sum up the results. However some addressed problems are seems obvious sometimes and some are already well covered in blogs and other publications. But at the same time I discovered some points that were new to me that I didn't even think of.

So I found reading the book well worth it. The ending is encouraging though: "Flexibility is the middle name of every successful startup in this business. Just as long as you never, never, never, never give up. If you don't give up, you're going to succeed. It's just that simple."

Happy reading.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bob Walsh used to strike me as a Microsoft fanboy, but his presentation is more balanced than ever before in this book. There is a lot of very useful information and observations based on experience (his and others'), but most of the 'interviews' are so lightly edited that there might be one nugget per 6-page interview. I'm sure I ended up missing some of the good stuff as I skimmed over the fluff and filler in frustration.

In some sections, there is little advice regarding apparently equivalent choices; I'd like to see some discussion of the thought process that his experience has taught him. There is some of that, but many sections say "There are these 5 options. Next...".

[Vinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book is really a good one for Tech Startups ... However some of the sections are a bit dated since this book was written / published in 2008. A Good as well as bad point is the interviews ... Though they do add experience but they also stretch the book a bit and sometimes become boring ...

[Slava · Rating 3 out of 5]

It does contain a lot of useful information, but there are also too many long and boring interviews. Actually interviews are more than a half of the contents.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could be a shorter read, but lots of interview padding. Many of these same topics are covered by Kevin Rose and guests on Foundation.kr.