Start-Up Saboteurs: How Incompetence, Ego, and Small Thinking Prevent True Wealth Creation

Ziad Abdelnour book: Start-up Saboteurs is intriquing, as in clear and vivid wriing he is able to capture the joy and pain of being an entrepreneur. Each chapter is so easily read that I delighted in reading it again and again. the insights on the entrepreneurl process are those only visable to someone who has lived through it and emerged wiser. Of particular interest for me was the emphasis on getting a business of the ground, a skill seldon written about as those that are able to do it often end up devoting their time to building the business and their struggles of raising the necessary money are often forgotten about or the effort becomes a distant memory despite its critical importance.Ziad's explanations of how to deal with venture capitalist and other investors are so clearly from deccades of being a participant that has seen the process numous times and understand the detail so well that his explanations in direct and honest language gives the reader the feeling that you are prive to the actual details of a deal, making this gem of work a classic in clarity of the craft of raising money. there are dozens of insigts that I took notes on for my own desire to explain this process to young people without capital who have a fine idea and would be excellent entrepreneurs, yet often are not given an opportunity as they do not have the opportunities to raise money. this books is an equalizer as each page gives insights that would take decades to learn and often are not explained in language anyone can understand. Ziad is also captivating on writing about leadership, a field with immense literature he goes directly to the lessons nessasary to be learned always using examples of real life events portraying the detail of what is to be learned with a microspic view , authentic sensitiity and candor. As example In a chapter on phrases to be avoided the subheadings of what not to say during any negotiation tells all; AVOID THE WORD BETWEEN, I THINK WE RE CLOSE, WHY DON'T YOU THROW OUT A NUMBER' I found self not only becoming more capable and also finding humor in Ziad's explanation suble but important unwritten rules of the entrepreneurial process. lastly I read the forward and was delighted that Ziad had acknowledgements to the noble prize winners F.A . hayek and Milton Friedman both of whom I in my youth, 45 years ago had done research for. His tribute to John f Kennedy was a joyful moment for me as well as understanding president Kennedy's fine example of leadership is something to be shared in the nesst generation of the small business community. I hope Mr Abdelnour will keep writing as what he has to offer intellectual to the entrepreneurial community is invaluable. Steve Mariotti

The heart of Start-Up Saboteurs for me is when Ziad Abdelnour profiles the cyber marketing flops of the last 20 years. He observes that, after the Netscape IPO in 1995, the tech pitches to credulous venture capital funds were growing like "black mold." Reading through the results of hundreds of millions of dollars of foolish or craven or cynical start-ups is like reading a stand-up comedy script. I had no idea there was such an enterprise as Boo.com, which, if I understand, was something to do with fashion. It destroyed capital faster than a warehouse fire, leaving the glamorously thin European founders a punchline until the next knothead idea. Maybe we can blame it on iffy technology. But more likely the fault is in ourselves for believing a huckster. Abdelnour is kind: "Overly ambitious goals." My favorite disaster is Juicero, created by a flam-flam man who claimed he could squeeze fresh juice with a $700 "Tesla of juicers." It might not be the entrepreneur at fault here. Who are these geniuses who spend fortunes on rubbish? Again, Abdelnour is polite about why Juicer failed: "No amount of VC money or good marketing can save a bad product." If you are certain you have a sure thing; if you are already deep into your pitch for a first round funding; if you know you are the first person ever to leap tall buildings with your product, then you are more likely a saboteur than a salesman and reading this book won't save you. Everyone else, consider this book a friendly checklist. There is always the balm of laughing and asking, "What was I thinking?"

If you are a prospective entrepreneur of any industry on Earth, I cannot encourage you enough to go out and get yourself a copy of this phenomenal work. Ziad's first hand experience and insider knowledge about the financial industry helps to build a foundation of thought for anyone seeking their own financial freedom in the world of today. This book explains how the system actually works, seeking inspire individuals to learn how to play the game and serves as a guide to navigate the world of business and finance. Do yourself a favor and read this book as soon as possible.

After my first conversation with Ziad, I found him captivatingly interesting. As my relationship with him started to grow due to daily interactions - I decided to buy this book so I could get a deeper look into this man's mind. This book is extremely well written and is so much more than just Ziad's opinions and personal experiences. You will learn right away that this man has lived in the trenches and has witnessed so much. There is no sugar coating here and Ziad tells it just how it is - warts and all. There is enough puffery out there to fill your mind with so it is such a breath of fresh air to read a book full of so much honest truths about how business really works. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or someone in the relatively early stages of your business - this book is an essential read.

Start-Up Saboteurs: How Incompetence, Ego, and Small Thinking Prevent True Wealth Creation by Ziad Abdelnour has been one the best entrepreneur book I have read in a long time. Being in PE and a capital raiser it really opened my eyes to how VC think and what they look for when it comes to investing in a business. Grab a copy of this book and use it as your bible whenever you look to raise money for your business or grow it the right way.

I have been a serial entrepreneur for the past 35 years. I thought I have read it, heard it, and seen it all, but after reading Start-up Saboteurs I realized that I was wrong. There was a lot of valuable eye openers that will benefit any person embarking on starting a new venture irrespective of their years of experience. The book is direct, unapologetic, and occasionally challenges long held beliefs and norms in the business world. One of my favorites is that you don't need to be passionate about what you do. Instead, you need to be passionate about succeeding at what you do. This book is a very valuable tool with rich examples based on practical experiences of highly successful individuals across a wide spectrum of markets and industries.

Start-Up Saboteurs is rich in tactical and philosophical content relating to business. Ziad immediately sets the tone with the reader by establishing that money is more about freedom and not the object for purely for acquiring things and that money is a form of wealth but wealth isn't necessarily money. As an entrepreneur myself that perspective is huge. The pursuit in business cannot be all about money. The reader will also find practical business concepts and case studies. I always enjoy reading about the stories of other entrepreneurs and their businesses and learning from their experiences. Ziad is a great teacher and his voice and business philosophies are heard from beginning to end in this book.

I liked Start-up Saboteurs, I found it insightful and engaging with good practical examples. To me, it felt more like a summary of a larger topic, namely Ziad's previous book, Economic Warfare in which I personally found more insightful. Both books are good and worth the time and money, kudos to Ziad for sharing his wisdom, fearless edge and no BS approach to wealth creation. Just as a side note, he also published a full course, called Z-Shark, in which I plan to take when time permits.

Even though we have great access to information, there is a lot of never tested assumptions and theory sold as something that works. It took me couple of years to find the right mentors and authors. This book is written by a person who walks the talk and it is clearly visible when one reads it. It is full of advise on key business topics and it tells how it really is, reveals how things really work and what people really think, but don't say. I definitely recommend buying it.

In Start-Up Saboteurs, Ziad Abdelnour provides time-tested advice that is as relevant as ever in today's tumultuous times. With candor and clarity, he helps people understand how not to let ego get in the way of success. The book is full of ideas that typical entrepreneurs do not apply to their business. The goal is not to create a start-up, but have the mindset of long-term wealth creation. As an entrepreneur, I will apply the knowledge learned from reading to my business. As a professor, I immediately asked my students to read, understand, and use Ziad's framework to support a graduate-level capstone project/business plan.

Ziad Abdelnour book: Start-up Saboteurs is intriquing, as in clear and vivid wriing he is able to capture the joy and pain of being an entrepreneur. Each chapter is so easily read that I delighted in reading it again and again. the insights on the entrepreneurl process are those only visable to someone who has lived through it and emerged wiser. Of particular interest for me was the emphasis on getting a business of the ground, a skill seldon written about as those that are able to do it often end up devoting their time to building the business and their struggles of raising the necessary money are often forgotten about or the effort becomes a distant memory despite its critical importance.Ziad's explanations of how to deal with venture capitalist and other investors are so clearly from deccades of being a participant that has seen the process numous times and understand the detail so well that his explanations in direct and honest language gives the reader the feeling that you are prive to the actual details of a deal, making this gem of work a classic in clarity of the craft of raising money. there are dozens of insigts that I took notes on for my own desire to explain this process to young people without capital who have a fine idea and would be excellent entrepreneurs, yet often are not given an opportunity as they do not have the opportunities to raise money. this books is an equalizer as each page gives insights that would take decades to learn and often are not explained in language anyone can understand. Ziad is also captivating on writing about leadership, a field with immense literature he goes directly to the lessons nessasary to be learned always using examples of real life events portraying the detail of what is to be learned with a microspic view , authentic sensitiity and candor. As example In a chapter on phrases to be avoided the subheadings of what not to say during any negotiation tells all; AVOID THE WORD BETWEEN, I THINK WE RE CLOSE, WHY DON'T YOU THROW OUT A NUMBER' I found self not only becoming more capable and also finding humor in Ziad's explanation suble but important unwritten rules of the entrepreneurial process. lastly I read the forward and was delighted that Ziad had acknowledgements to the noble prize winners F.A . hayek and Milton Friedman both of whom I in my youth, 45 years ago had done research for. His tribute to John f Kennedy was a joyful moment for me as well as understanding president Kennedy's fine example of leadership is something to be shared in the nesst generation of the small business community. I hope Mr Abdelnour will keep writing as what he has to offer intellectual to the entrepreneurial community is invaluable. Steve Mariotti

The heart of Start-Up Saboteurs for me is when Ziad Abdelnour profiles the cyber marketing flops of the last 20 years. He observes that, after the Netscape IPO in 1995, the tech pitches to credulous venture capital funds were growing like "black mold." Reading through the results of hundreds of millions of dollars of foolish or craven or cynical start-ups is like reading a stand-up comedy script. I had no idea there was such an enterprise as Boo.com, which, if I understand, was something to do with fashion. It destroyed capital faster than a warehouse fire, leaving the glamorously thin European founders a punchline until the next knothead idea. Maybe we can blame it on iffy technology. But more likely the fault is in ourselves for believing a huckster. Abdelnour is kind: "Overly ambitious goals." My favorite disaster is Juicero, created by a flam-flam man who claimed he could squeeze fresh juice with a $700 "Tesla of juicers." It might not be the entrepreneur at fault here. Who are these geniuses who spend fortunes on rubbish? Again, Abdelnour is polite about why Juicer failed: "No amount of VC money or good marketing can save a bad product." If you are certain you have a sure thing; if you are already deep into your pitch for a first round funding; if you know you are the first person ever to leap tall buildings with your product, then you are more likely a saboteur than a salesman and reading this book won't save you. Everyone else, consider this book a friendly checklist. There is always the balm of laughing and asking, "What was I thinking?"

If you are a prospective entrepreneur of any industry on Earth, I cannot encourage you enough to go out and get yourself a copy of this phenomenal work. Ziad's first hand experience and insider knowledge about the financial industry helps to build a foundation of thought for anyone seeking their own financial freedom in the world of today. This book explains how the system actually works, seeking inspire individuals to learn how to play the game and serves as a guide to navigate the world of business and finance. Do yourself a favor and read this book as soon as possible.

After my first conversation with Ziad, I found him captivatingly interesting. As my relationship with him started to grow due to daily interactions - I decided to buy this book so I could get a deeper look into this man's mind. This book is extremely well written and is so much more than just Ziad's opinions and personal experiences. You will learn right away that this man has lived in the trenches and has witnessed so much. There is no sugar coating here and Ziad tells it just how it is - warts and all. There is enough puffery out there to fill your mind with so it is such a breath of fresh air to read a book full of so much honest truths about how business really works. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or someone in the relatively early stages of your business - this book is an essential read.

Start-Up Saboteurs: How Incompetence, Ego, and Small Thinking Prevent True Wealth Creation by Ziad Abdelnour has been one the best entrepreneur book I have read in a long time. Being in PE and a capital raiser it really opened my eyes to how VC think and what they look for when it comes to investing in a business. Grab a copy of this book and use it as your bible whenever you look to raise money for your business or grow it the right way.

I have been a serial entrepreneur for the past 35 years. I thought I have read it, heard it, and seen it all, but after reading Start-up Saboteurs I realized that I was wrong. There was a lot of valuable eye openers that will benefit any person embarking on starting a new venture irrespective of their years of experience. The book is direct, unapologetic, and occasionally challenges long held beliefs and norms in the business world. One of my favorites is that you don't need to be passionate about what you do. Instead, you need to be passionate about succeeding at what you do. This book is a very valuable tool with rich examples based on practical experiences of highly successful individuals across a wide spectrum of markets and industries.

Start-Up Saboteurs is rich in tactical and philosophical content relating to business. Ziad immediately sets the tone with the reader by establishing that money is more about freedom and not the object for purely for acquiring things and that money is a form of wealth but wealth isn't necessarily money. As an entrepreneur myself that perspective is huge. The pursuit in business cannot be all about money. The reader will also find practical business concepts and case studies. I always enjoy reading about the stories of other entrepreneurs and their businesses and learning from their experiences. Ziad is a great teacher and his voice and business philosophies are heard from beginning to end in this book.

I liked Start-up Saboteurs, I found it insightful and engaging with good practical examples. To me, it felt more like a summary of a larger topic, namely Ziad's previous book, Economic Warfare in which I personally found more insightful. Both books are good and worth the time and money, kudos to Ziad for sharing his wisdom, fearless edge and no BS approach to wealth creation. Just as a side note, he also published a full course, called Z-Shark, in which I plan to take when time permits.

Even though we have great access to information, there is a lot of never tested assumptions and theory sold as something that works. It took me couple of years to find the right mentors and authors. This book is written by a person who walks the talk and it is clearly visible when one reads it. It is full of advise on key business topics and it tells how it really is, reveals how things really work and what people really think, but don't say. I definitely recommend buying it.

In Start-Up Saboteurs, Ziad Abdelnour provides time-tested advice that is as relevant as ever in today's tumultuous times. With candor and clarity, he helps people understand how not to let ego get in the way of success. The book is full of ideas that typical entrepreneurs do not apply to their business. The goal is not to create a start-up, but have the mindset of long-term wealth creation. As an entrepreneur, I will apply the knowledge learned from reading to my business. As a professor, I immediately asked my students to read, understand, and use Ziad's framework to support a graduate-level capstone project/business plan.

Ziad provides the reader with time-tested principals any entrepreneur can apply to its benefit on the journey towards freedom and wealth creation. He dives into the substance that’s very important, but challenging to accomplish. This book provides a roadmap and tools to achieve your goals that includes live case studies. I’m also impressed with the information and consideration Ziad put into these 159 pages of the book – it is clear he really wants the reader to be successful.

Ziad Abdelnour is a very seasoned businessman who has a wealth of experience and a top-notch education. In this book, he offers his invaluable wisdom in a clear, comprehensive format, supplemented with case studies and industry insights. Start-up Saboteurs is a treasure cove of business sense and education, useful to anyone, not just entrepreneurs. It is also a great reference manual to be consulted whenever one wants to refresh his mind about a particular issue.

Back in the days of road maps, I often wished that the map not only showed the road, but also marked hazards along the road. That is what this book does for entrepreneurs. It is a good handbook for the entrepreneur, guiding the way to success while warning of the hazards along the way that can sabotage the entrepreneur. Well worth the price.

The Only Book you’ll Ever Need if You want to SWIM with the BIG FISHES !!!.. This World Can be Ruthless and Big Business is No Different so Prepare Yourself before you jump into the DEEP END !!!.. its RAW and REAL and Will Make you Realize your True Potential ???.. D.A.

There is a simplicity revealed in the processes examined by a man who has walked the walk. He is not writing in an attempt to "figure it out". Mr. Abdelnour has been there and fully understands the game. Even better, he openly shares his insight. The second half of the book is hard to put down.

Anything Ziad writes is worth the read and always full of useful/tactical food for your brain. He tells it like it is from years of real experience, polished/hardcore technique, and success in the field as both an entrepreneur and venture capitalist/financier. It's worth re-reading to absorb it even more.

Pragmatic, hard-hitting, brutally honest, and invaluable. Entrepreneurship is not for the timid and Ziad's approach lays it all out there...without sugar-coating the entrepreneurial, start-up experience. Not many business books are as candid as this one, which is why it is an essential read for anyone thinking of building a successful company from the bottom up.

the book was a great exciting read, the author holds noting back and doesn't use kitten gloves to express himself . I especially liked the chapter 7 "The Rules of Negotiation" i know implement in my business. An A+ book

This is a simple, effective and practical primer for its identified audience: beginning entrepreneurs. I thought the analysis of the venture capital world is especially needed in today's fast-changing economy. This is a perfect reference document for entrepreneurs, business teachers and MBA students.

Ziad revisits the fundamentals around wealth creation in America. From his extensive experience he sheds light on the good and bad sides of funding entrepreneurship. I’m a converted disciple. This is a must read for anyone seeking alternatives to VC funding.

Loved Chapter 4 on how startups get funded. The last 2 chapters expose Silicon Valley investors as greedy and incestuous. Truly insightful and entertaining book.

Very helpful in guidance and advice for the new business world after COVID-19.

I read Ziad's book a few times already because of the unfiltered and raw perspective he lays out about the real business world. I read tons of books and listened to tons of people provide advice about business and wealthcreation, but most of them are filled with conventional wisdom and pontification. The only agenda in this book is to wake you up to the REAL way of the business world: a real cutthroat world, where only results speak, and teach you how to succeed on your own terms. This book breaks through the illusion that everyone on Wall St and Silicone Valley is a genius, that we should respect or revere, or even worse, copy some of these so called gurus and unicorns, and evaluates the world according to actual results, not trends and PR. I personally learned to stop being impressed by talk and social standing/reputation, and start pressing people for actual information and results. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to be a self-made entrepreneur, create real wealth and grow a business based on real actions and results, not on delusion, hopes, dreams and promises.

I've said this before and it deserves to be up front and center: when you look to model success for yourself, follow those who are successes over and over again. That would be Ziad Abdelnour. The true bifurcator of the business world are those who have the courage to assess their own competence and ability to visualize success as the only option. When you watch the investment shows, both sides of the aisle are represented but one thing is common: before I invest do you know how to run your company, what metrics of success can you show me, and can you entertain ideas other than your own for success. I am one of those who adore Ziad's frankness. He has both the track record of a serial entrepreneur, but helping others learn what it takes. He has an impressive educational pedigree, philanthropic record, and shares this information without a lot of filler writing to waste your time. Start-up businesses have a timeline in which to get running, profitable and grow. If you can only buy one book, buy this one. There is opportunity for everyone if you see it and believe it. Thank you Ziad.

If you want to navigate through the financial jungle and make your mark on the world, this book is for you. The author's brusque, straight forward manner seems to tell you that he doesn't suffer fools, as he very irreverently slaughters some of his fellow businessmen. A Harvard degrees doesn't make you a success, it is hard work, common sense, the ability to build a network and a few secrets that he describes - leadership, how to negotiate, how to pitch, and how to "see the field" when building strategy for your company. His "Lessons from Real Life Faiures" will make you cringe at how stupid certain smart people can be, but your learn some important lessons. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to build a business beyond "mom and pop" status.