Best books help entrepreneurs avoid pitfalls

I spent some time last week with a budding entrepreneur who has spent a lot of time and effort in product development. And the product is indeed ready for start-up — no question about it.

The problem is that little time or effort has been spent in organizing the business or developing the market. It didn't take long to see that what was lacking for this new enterprise was some coaching and direction in what needed to be done to start a business, and how to go about accomplishing it.

Which is not at all unusual. Developing an idea and starting a business can be overwhelming, and most entrepreneurs do not have qualified and experienced advisers to lead them through the startup process. As a result, many end up choosing a somewhat circuitous — and occasionally troublesome — route through the enterprise-founding process.

So I suggested a couple of contacts for networking and recommended some books that have been helpful for other entrepreneurs. Let me share with you a few of the better entrepreneurial books, divided into the four categories of idea development, writing the business plan, starting the business and executing on the plan.

• Idea development — "What Business Should I Start?" by Rhonda Abrams presents seven steps to discovering what she terms "the ideal business for you."

• Writing the business plan — The bookshelves are packed with offerings in this area. Try "How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan" by David E. Gumpert. He includes actual plans from companies such as Pizza Hut and Ben & Jerry's. Another offering by Abrams is "The Successful Business Plan." Along with some great advice, the author has included worksheets to assist the reader in developing their own plan.

• Starting the business — A book that I often recommend is "The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki. He suggests 10 "arts" to starting a business, including bootstrapping, recruiting, branding and positioning, among others. Abrams also has a book in this category, "Six Week Startup." This book is a basic, step-by-step program with checklists to keep the entrepreneur on track.

• Executing on the plan — A big knock on entrepreneurs from investors is that they do not execute the plan that was developed to raise money. Several excellent books (many based upon empirical research) have been written to help entrepreneurs. "Execution — The Discipline of Getting Things Done" by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan covers how to deal with the strategy, operations and people processes. Following his successful "Innovator's Dilemma," Clayton Christensen has added "The Innovator's Solution," a book focusing on creating and sustaining successful growth.