Founder connections
- Michael BloombergSigned foreword contributionBloomberg contributed the foreword, signed June 2005, and compared the startup story with his own experience. Steve Hindy and Tom Potter wrote the book; this link does not establish completed reading or use at Bloomberg.Source
Summary
Steve Hindy and Tom Potter recount founding the Brooklyn Brewery after careers in journalism and banking. Their account follows the creation of a beer brand and a distribution business in a competitive New York market, despite their lack of commercial brewing experience. They organize the story around practical problems: choosing a partner, forming a team, writing a business plan, raising money, defining a mission and managing growth. Later sections address employee controls, publicity, hiring, firing and the decision to sell or remake the business. The result is a founder account of the daily demands and difficult choices involved in building a sales-driven manufacturing company.
Why read it Our view
Use the partnership, financing and employee-control sections to test a startup plan against practical operating demands. The authors discuss mistakes as well as growth.