You Need to Be a Little Crazy

By: Barry J. Moltz

Narrated by: Barry J. Moltz

Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Advice about starting a business never sounded like this! Beginning with "you must be crazy", serial entrepreneur and angel investor Barry Moltz offers the true insider's scoop on new business start-ups. With doses of irreverence and humor, this return-to-basics guide focuses on what comes before the bottom line. Addressing passion, the ultimate entrepreneurial fuel, relationships, failure, and authenticity, Moltz incorporates stories from his entrepreneurial colleagues and shows what it takes to integrate personal and professional life to achieve the highest satisfaction.

Moltz describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a start-up business and invites readers to let go of the myths and expectations that can hamstring them emotionally while getting their businesses up and running. In a helpful, heartfelt, and often humorous way, Moltz reassures entrepreneurs that they are not alone, whatever their form of craziness, and that they can retain self-worth and sanity as they ride the start-up roller coaster.

Showcasing the varieties of new venture craziness, entrepreneurs at all ages and stages in their business-building processes will realize they too can succeed. Jolts of passionate entrepreneurial wisdom energize these anecdotes, with such ideas as:

People, not capital, are the true currency.

Passion keeps everything going.

Relationships and authenticity are the drivers in this business climate.

There is no perfect idea and no magic bullet.

Don't expect your path to be a straight line.

Incorporating lessons from the boom and bust 1990s, the realignment of business, personal values in the wake of terrorism, and proven ways to nurture the human dimension in business, this audio program is designed to help all business owners find and trust their own entrepreneurial passions. After all, says the author, "The worst they can do is eat you!"

©2003 Barry J. Moltz (P)2006 Seth D. Gershel LLC

Critic reviews

"[Barry] Moltz makes entrepreneurialism intoxicating." (The Chicago Sun-Times)

Interesting Perspective

I was playing with the idea of starting a small business and downloaded this book as part of my research. I can't say how valid the information provided is, but what I can say is:

- This book is designed to prepare you for the emotional experience of being an entrepreneur; if you are looking for technical information, look elsewhere.

- The book paints life as a small business owner as an agonizing, never ending struggle that only the strongest personalities can handle.

- Relative to other books on the subject, it downplays the role of meticulous preparation and planning while emphasizing the significance of relationships, luck, passion and perseverance.

- Although the books tone is negative (or, quite possibly, just realistic), he encourages the reader, if they are considering starting a business, to stop planning and "just do it", regardless of where they are in life. He considers waiting for the right time and most planning a way of putting off your dream not helping to secure it.

This book had a lot of insight to offer and presented a seemingly more accurate picture of what to expect in starting a business than a lot of the other more flowery entrepreneur-oriented literature out there--which while providing a few token warnings seem more concerned with not scaring away perspective readers than preparing them for what's ahead.

I think this should be required reading/listening for would-be entrepreneurs looking to know exactly what becoming an entrepreneur could mean for their life. It also has plenty of tips for running a business successfully (assuming, of course, they're good tips :P). Although it's short*, there's real wisdom here and I thought it was well worth a credit.


*Entrepreneurs looking for a longer, more intense reading to temper their go-getting disposition should see Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, also available for 1 credit on Audible)

Misleading title

I would've gave this book 5 stars if the title replaced "Crazy" with "Careful". Be careful not to be discouraged as it sum up the ugly truth about starting a business.