Entrepreneurs who envision going public will find value on every page.
An expert delivers advice on how to launch an IPO in this debut guide.
With a strong insider’s perspective, Cakebread, the CFO of Yext, examines IPOs up, down, and every which way. His advice starts at a critical juncture that enthusiastic entrepreneurs may overlook, sometimes to their regret. The author posits that while an IPO is the best long-term strategy for most companies, that’s not true for all of them. He outlines the variables that should factor into a decision to go public. He draws from his experiences and the lessons he learned in leading three startup tech companies to successful IPOs (Pandora, Yext, and Salesforce). He explains why going public in 2017 was the most important step in transforming Yext from a fledgling company to the nearly $2.3 billion behemoth it is today. Business owners who decide on an IPO will find a useful toolbox and instruction manual here. As the title promises, this is a playbook rather than a staid text. Cakebread lays out step by step the actions that will lead to the formation of a winning IPO and cautions about traps to watch out for. Some are surprising: “Along the way, you suddenly realize that the only difference between an IPO road show and your prior rounds of venture funding is that now some of the people you are meeting are potential enemies.” Before going public, he says, if a venture capitalist didn’t like an offering, he simply walked away. But in the public markets, “people are looking not just to bet on you, but perhaps to bet against you.” Few books examine the IPO model from all angles. Cakebread’s wide-ranging analysis uses bullet points and questions to prompt readers into honest assessments. At one point, he asks: “Is the company ready to make the investments in time and money to prepare itself to go public?” The author stresses the importance of creating chemistry in the company’s management. Time is a crucial factor, and Cakebread is a stickler about it. He tells readers that if a recruiter says a company is planning an IPO in less than nine months, it’s a red flag to “run away” because it takes a minimum of 18 months to prepare for one. The appendix includes every deadline needed to offer an IPO and keep it successful.
Entrepreneurs who envision going public will find value on every page.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73395-912-4
Page Count: 211
Publisher: Silicon Valley Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection...
A Dumpster diver–turned-CEO details her rise to success and her business philosophy.
In this memoir/business book, Amoruso, CEO of the Internet clothing store Nasty Gal, offers advice to young women entrepreneurs who seek an alternative path to fame and fortune. Beginning with a lengthy discussion of her suburban childhood and rebellious teen years, the author describes her experiences living hand to mouth, hitchhiking, shoplifting and dropping out of school. Her life turned around when, bored at work one night, she decided to sell a few pieces of vintage clothing on eBay. Fast-forward seven years, and Amoruso was running a $100 million company with 350 employees. While her success is admirable, most of her advice is based on her own limited experiences and includes such hackneyed lines as, “When you accept yourself, it’s surprising how much other people will accept you, too.” At more than 200 pages, the book is overlong, and much of what the author discusses could be summarized in a few tweets. In fact, much of it probably has been: One of the most interesting sections in the book is her description of how she uses social media. Amoruso has a spiritual side, as well, and she describes her belief in “chaos magic” and “sigils,” a kind of wishful-thinking exercise involving abstract words. The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success. Some of the guidance Amoruso offers for interviews (don’t dress like you’re going to a nightclub), getting fired (don’t call anyone names) and finding your fashion style (be careful which trends you follow) will be helpful to her readers, including the sage advice, “You’re not special.”
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection or insight.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16927-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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