Synopses & Reviews
No two exit experiences are exactly alike. Some people wind up happy with the process and satisfied with the way it turned out while others look back on it as a nightmare. The question I hope to answer in this book is why. What did the people with good exits do differently from those whod had bad exits?” When pioneering business journalist and Inc. magazine editor at large Bo Burlingham wrote Small Giants, it became an instant classic for its original take on a common business problemhow to handle the pressure to grow.
Now Burlingham is back to tackle an even more common problemhow to exit your company well. Sooner or later, all entrepreneurs leave their businesses and all businesses get sold, given away, or liquidated. Whatever your preferred outcome, you need to start planning for it while you still have time and options. The beautiful part is that if you start early enough, the process will lead you to build a better, stronger, more resilient company, as well as one with a higher market value. Unfortunately, most owners dont start early enoughand pay a steep price for their procrastination.
Burlingham interviewed dozens of entrepreneurs across a range of industries and identified eight key factors that determine whether owners are happy after leaving their businesses. His book showcases the insights, exit plans, and cautionary tales of entrepreneurs such as
- Ray Pagano: founder of a leading manufacturer of housings for security cameras. He turned down a bid for his company and instead changed his management style, resulting in a subsequent sale for four times the original offer.
- Bill Niman: founder of the iconic Niman Ranch, which revolutionized the meat industry. He learned about unhappy exits when he was forced to sell to private equity investors, leaving him with nothing to show for his thirty-five years in business.
- Gary Hirshberg: founder of organic yogurt pioneer Stonyfield Farm. He pulled off the nearly impossible task of finding a large company that would buy out his 275 small investors at a premium price while letting him retain complete control of the business.
Through such stories, Burlingham offers an illuminating and inspirational guide to one of the most stressful, and yet potentially rewarding, processes business owners must go through. And he explores the emotional challenges they face at every step of the way.
At the end of the day, owning a business is about more than selling goods and services. Its about making choices that shape your entire life, both professional and personal. Finish Big helps you figure out how to face your future with confidence and be able to someday look back on your journey with pride.
Review
This well-written book should inspire thousands of entrepreneurs to reject a mantra of growth for growths sake in favor of a passionate dedication to becoming the absolute best. Bo Burlingham reminds us of a vital truth: big does not equal great, and great does not equal big. (Jim Collins, author of
Good to Great)
It aims to do for small private companies what In Search of Excellence did two decades ago for big public companies: shine a light on a handful of business practices the author admires, and which he believes are the reason some companies consistently do better than others. (Joseph Nocera, The New York Times)
Small Giants is one of the most relevant and articulate arguments for staying bold and creative, intimate and manageable as I have ever read. I guarantee that expression and the arguments for staying small will cause a collective sigh of relief from thousands of entrepreneurs. (Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop)
With new management books arriving by the boatload, Bo Burlingham has somehow managed the near impossiblehes given us a true original. Moreover, in the process he may have discovered the most interesting and under-reported corner of the U.S. economy. In short, Small Giants is a Large Masterpiece. Bos reporting is stupendous, and his writing and storytelling skills make the book equal parts fun and profound. (Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence)
The fourteen companies that Bo Burlingham... features in his new book Small Giants demonstrate conclusively that a company can resist the temptation to keep getting bigger and biggerand wind up better for it. (Cecil Johnson, The Fort Worth Star- Telegram)
For all you harried entrepreneurs out there, Bo Burlingham has a reassuring message: Relax. Bigger isnt necessarily better. The wonderful stories in Small Giants show you how to prosper by retaining the vision of excellence that got you into business in the first place. (Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of Confidence)
Bo Burlinghams done for private companies what Jim Collins did for public companies in Good to Great. (Steve Pearlstein, The Washington Post)
Review
“I love Burlinghams quest to understand why some entrepreneurs create a meaningful life after exiting their businesses while others suffer and wander without purpose. Practical and profound, fast-moving and thought-provoking, masterful in its clear prose and compelling stories—Bo Burlingham has once again done a tremendous service in deploying his craft.”
—Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and coauthor of Built to Last and Great by Choice
“Finish Big is for all those founder/leaders who want to do more than take. . . . It is for the ones who want to leave something behind.”
—Simon Sinek, optimist and author of Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last
“Bo Burlingham is a liar. He advertises this as a book about entrepreneurs exiting their companies. Instead it is a book about doing business well and living a life of value. Remarkable research, remarkable prose, remarkable book. Bravo!”
—Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence
“This book is a gift, a must read for anyone who has even an inkling that it might be helpful. It will reward you with both peace of mind and a significant ROI.”
—Seth Godin, entrepreneur and author
Synopsis
Most books about successful businesses focus on public companies, where the definition for success is steady growth in revenue and profits. Yet there are many excellent, privately held companies marching to the beat of a different drum; they have stricken revenue and profit growth from the top of their mission statements. Instead, they define themselves by their passion for their products and their commitment to their employees, customers, and community—embracing a clarity and loyalty to purpose that’s an anomaly in today’s environment.
Small Giants is a fascinating book about the unconventional people who run these purpose-driven companies. Longtime Inc. magazine editor Bo Burlingham takes us deep
inside these companies to determine the secret ingredient, the elusive “mojo” that makes them great.
He profiles fourteen of the best, including Anchor Brewing, CitiStorage, Clif Bar Inc., Righteous Babe Records, Reel Precision Manufacturing, and Zingerman’s Community of Businesses. These companies are consistently profitable yet have consciously resisted convention by staying small and great instead of becoming large and mediocre.
For anyone who wants to explore America’s most innovative and inspiring small business successes, this unique book is the place to start.
Synopsis
It’s an axiom of business that great companies grow their revenues and profits year after year. Yet quietly, under the radar, a small number of companies have rejected the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do . . . creating a great place to work . . . providing great customer service . . . making great contributions to their communities . . . and finding great ways to lead their lives.
In Small Giants, veteran journalist Bo Burlingham takes us deep inside fourteen remarkable companies that have chosen to march to their own drummer. They include Anchor Brewing, the original microbrewer; CitiStorage Inc., the premier independent records-storage business; Clif Bar and Co., maker of organic energy bars and other nutrition foods; Righteous Babe Records, the record company founded by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco; Union Square Hospitality Group, the company of restaurateur Danny Meyer; and Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, including the world-famous Zingerman’s Deli of Ann Arbor.
Burlingham shows how the leaders of these small giants recognized the full range of choices they had about the type of company they could create. And he shows how we can all benefit by questioning the usual definitions of business success. In his new afterward, Burlingham reflects on the similarities and learning lessons from the small giants he covers in the book.
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Small Giants returns with an original guide to exiting your company successfully and gracefully Bo Burlinghams book
Small Giants became an instant classic for its original take on a common business problemhow to handle the pressure to grow. It used deeply researched entrepreneurship stories to provide fresh insight into what really makes a great small business. Now Burlingham returns with a look at an even more common problemhow to leave your company gracefully. He interviewed dozens of owners who have sold or bequeathed their companies and distilled nine key lessons for success. For example, Ray Pagano turned down an initial offer for his twenty-eight-year-old company that manufactured housings for security cameras in favor of making the business more efficient and profitable. The effort paid off when he sold his newly improved company at the bottom of a recession for four times the original offer. Through stories like Paganos, Burlingham offers an inspirational and enlightening guide through one of the most stressful processes every business owner must face.
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Small Giants returns with an original guide to exiting your company successfully and gracefully Bo Burlinghams book
Small Giants became an instant classic for its original take on a common business problemhow to handle the pressure to grow. It used deeply researched entrepreneurship stories to provide fresh insight into what really makes a great small business. Now Burlingham returns with a look at an even more common problemhow to leave your company gracefully. He interviewed dozens of owners who have sold or bequeathed their companies and distilled nine key lessons for success. For example, Ray Pagano turned down an initial offer for his twenty-eight-year-old company that manufactured housings for security cameras in favor of making the business more efficient and profitable. The effort paid off when he sold his newly improved company at the bottom of a recession for four times the original offer. Through stories like Paganos, Burlingham offers an inspirational and enlightening guide through one of the most stressful processes every business owner must face.
About the Author
Bo Burlingham is the author of
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, a finalist for the
Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year in 2006. An editor at large at
Inc., he has also written for
Esquire, Harper’s, Mother Jones, and the
Boston Globe, among other publications.