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Breakpoints by Larry Kesslin, Chris Winter and Susan Caba

The full title of this book by Larry Kesslin, Chris Winter and Susan Caba is

Breakpoints: Where Businesses Get Stuck. and How They Get Unstuck!

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.

Here is my review.

An interesting book about the growing pains as companies get bigger

While this book has the subtitle “where businesses get stuck. .. and how they get unstuck”, it’s really about the growing pains from startup through to building a business of 100+ people.

This is a business fable told in two ways:

1 The CEO is giving lectures to a group of business students on what it’s really like to manage a growing business.

2 You get taken back in time to read what is happening in the tech business at critical times.

It is structured around 7 breakpoints:

1 charting your course
2 building your pit crew
3 communicating on purpose
4 partnership pain
5 revving the engine
6 changing the guard
7 CEO time

I think it’s more useful for entrepreneurs planning to start a business with the potential for fast growth than it is for a business that has hit a barrier and wants to push past it.

It shows that business is a series of challenges and you shouldn’t expect things to settle down in the months after startup unless the business will stay small.

What it has to say on partnerships and having shared beliefs about the business is good. So too, the issue that your style of communication may not be received as it was intended.

My problem is that I don’t recognise the relatively smooth growth of the company. There is nothing in here about strategy, about customers needs changing, about competitors changing the game, nothing about recessions. Basically the company seems to have a very easy market without it being new and having to educate customers or to wait for them to adapt.

It’s better as a story of potential dangers than a guide to get you out if trouble.

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