Ceo: Building a $400 Million Company from the Ground Up (ISBN 0875845428)

Not helpful for women in E-tailing:
As a woman who is starting my own " Silicon valley startup" I am always on the lookout for material that is both helpful from a business perspective as well as empowering to women. This book provided neither of these things. It had the possibility of giving women who are running their own businesses an inspiring message to succeed but fell far short of this goal. Ms. Kurtzig's message to women is one that needs some serious debugging. E-benefits and Ask computing customers be wary!

Excellent, detailed advice:
This book is full of great advice for anyone starting a software company. It is also an interesting story. The negative reviews on this site to the effect that Sandra Kurtzig is some sort of vain egomaniac are just plain wrong. The book is NOT just for women. Its for anyone starting a high tech business.

Tremendous insights, highly relevant to any business owner:
I loved this book because it shows what it takes to start up and manage a business in a new niche -- forging relationships with early adopters and establishing alliances with industry giants. Sandra Kurtzig's personal story demonstrates how entrepreneurs succeed not by the quality of their product alone. Everyday decisions about employees, customers, alliances, board members, investments -- and the negotiations and timing of them -- contribute as much if not more to an organization's fate. The importance of listening to customers, seeking education and advice from others outside your business, and trusting your intuition are all lessons to be learned. Some earlier Amazon reviewers dissed this book because ASK declined in later years. These reviewers are missing the point. When Kurtzig stepped away from running day-to-day operations in 1985, after her father died and she desired a better work/life balance (as many people do after a close family member passes away), she faced a critical juncture in her business and perhaps mishandled planning her succession and exit strategy. Burnout is something about which all entrepreneurs need to be aware. I was inspired by her decision to return to ASK in 1989 and would be very interested in reading an addendum to the story.

Fresh, motivating, inspiring!:
This is book is about how to succeed within the system of the American-style capitalism, not any marxist socialism! It is a great, inspiring, motivating book for both men and women alike. The book about success in a political-economic system of free enterprise. Reviewers like the one from England, who are so unhappy about the competitive nature of capitalism, will find more enjoyable Das Kapital by Karl Marx or The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin (both available on amazon.com) as their kind of books!

Not technical advice, not a feminist book - just a nice story on being a CEO:
I don't understand where all these negative reviews come from, we must have not been reading the same book. I'll address a few points. This book is not meant as feminist advice. It is a book about personal struggle that just happens to be written by a woman. If you are a woman looking for self serving feminism seek elsewhere. The author barely touches the aspects related to her gender and does so in light of the way such matters affected her business. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well she managed to not make the story about "a girl against the world" even though it is easy to imagine how hard it must have been for a female software entrepreneur back in the 1970s. The book is written as an autobiography focused on the development of the authors company, ASK, presented as a success story, and tastefully humanized with insight into the landmarks of her personal life as the business struggle takes place. I have read several books on entrepreneurial success and I highly recommend this book as a good addition to anybody's collection. Don't expect heavy tactical advise, the essence of this book is its view of the CEOs personal life and the journey of developing a fresh eager sales agent into a seasoned CEO with precise instincts. The author takes us through the personal learning stages of how to deal with clients, successes, losses, negotiations, lawyers, family, merges, etc. For instance, another review attacked her "flinch method", I particularly consider it one of the highlights of the book. The author is not afraid to tell you that at first she didn't know how to price her software, and how she came up with the "flinch method" to find a way to negotiate her products in a time when the word software was synonym for lingerie. Eventually the corporation grew, as did the skill set, and they moved on to fixed pricing lists and occasional especial deals. In summary, this book is about the ultimate business journey, a woman in a world of men, a software company in a pre-software world, surfing its way at the crest of the wave of technological change. Don't expect MBA business advice from our age, there are other books for that. Expect sound savvy advice on how an entrepreneur builds the road when there isn't one, and a refreshing discussion on the personal matters that await the CEO throughout life and business. If you read enough BA technical books you may never find yourself without answers, but if you ever do, a book on CEO instincts is worth its weight in gold. The only thing I regret about this book is that it ended. The final chapters seemed too short with so much going on to talk about. I wish there was a sequel.