Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth

I'm nearly finished reading this book as I write this review and I have to say that it's one of the best business books I've ever read. I can see myself referring to it repeatedly in the future as I chart my course in achieving my business goals. While I will readily agree with earlier reviewers that the book only reveals to us the 20/20 vision insights of success viewed in hindsight - I'll temper that concession by asking: 'What else can an author do?' Whether the writer is a consultant or former entrepreneur, he or she definitely can't take us by the hand and guide us to our successes. This book does about as best as could be asked of the only viable alternative to that: Showing us a formula that's worked consistently in the past for numerous companies and the individuals who run them. Whatever your business aspirations or goals for personal wealth are, this book should be in your personal library. It will raise your business acumen - whether you want to build a great small business or a billion dollar revenue public company.

I work for a technology start-up that is trying to move to a fast revenue ramp. I found Thomson's book to be extremely relevant and on point to what we are trying to accomplish, grow the company quickly and stand out from the myriad of competitors. What I particularly like is that it has specific, actionable recommendations, not high level mumbo-jumbo consultant-speak. If I'm going to carve time out of my schedule to read, it has to accelerate my ability to do my work, and this did.

This book could have been called 'A Billion Dollars Made Easy'. What an awesome book! This book fills a much needed niche. As a CEO of a company on it's way to $1B, I am incredibly grateful that David has mapped out the 7 Essentials -- making our job of building a globally admired, billon brand much easier. Thank you David!!

My years in telecoms have included experiencing life with one of Dave's study companies. We hit the $billion mark in the 6 to 7 year timeframe and what a ride it was. Dave's book captured the reasons for that success exceptionally well. Far better than any 'how to' management book if you are trying to drive your company to similar exponential growth. I find myself driving a similar opportunity today and the insight's from Blueprint to a Billion are being put to great use! If you are a VC, read this and then look at your portfolio companies in a new light. You might also want to get those independent board members on the team sooner!

I wish I had the knowledge imparted through this book when we started Lycos in 1995. Things might be very different today. Blueprint to a Billion is filled with millions (no...billions) of dollars worth of information. Thomson has created a comprehensive and practical book that truly provides a blueprint for how to make your company a success. Unlike the hundreds of "how to" and "get rich quick" books on the market, I found Blueprint to a Billion to back up its statements with hard facts and also to structure itself in such a manner that I would not hesitate to have every employee in one of my companies read it. I highly recommend Blueprint to a Billion. To me, it is the "Good to Great" of 2006 and beyond.