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The Unfair Advantage  By  cover art

The Unfair Advantage

By: Ash Ali,Hasan Kubba
Narrated by: Ash Ali,Hasan Kubba,Raj Ghatak
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Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2021 Business Book of the Year Award.

What is the difference between a startup that makes it, and one that crashes and burns? Behind every story of success is an unfair advantage.

But an Unfair Advantage is not just about your parents' wealth or who you know: anyone can have one. An Unfair Advantage is the element that gives you an edge over your competition. 

This ground-breaking book shows how to identify your own Unfair Advantages and apply them to any project. Drawing on over two decades of hands-on experience, including as the first Marketing Director of Just Eat (a startup now worth over four billion pounds), the authors offer a unique framework for assessing your external circumstances in addition to your internal strengths. Hard work and grit aren't enough, so they explore the importance of money, intelligence, location, education, expertise, status and luck in the journey to success. From starting your company, to gaining traction, raising funds and growth hacking, The Unfair Advantage helps you look at yourself and find the ingredients you didn't realise you already had, to succeed in the cut-throat world of business.

©2019 Ash Ali, Hasan Kubba (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK

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Informative, humble, excellent

A really good book, written by people who have discovered that in every person there is a hidden secret to success.

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Good start, weaker middle and not related ending

This book has great starting promise - this will not be a book where we will tell you to work hard... though somewhere around middle I start hearing - if you are not lucky to have advantages, work hard. This was the moment I felt disappointed. Though examples are great, they are outliers, exactly as authors mentioned in the beginning, so the beautiful idea dies even more. Authors tried to touch every aspect of starting a start-up, including investments, founding teams. Some tips were useful, but initial idea of finding my unfair advantage had disappeared by 2/3 into book and all I heard was how outliers worked hard and how I should do the same.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Es un audiolibro que deberiaa escuchar todos los e

me encantó y lo volveré a escuchar y comprare el libro para repaso y más aprendizaje

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I Found my Unfair Advantages

Listening to the voices of the author made it all easier to comprehend.

I found my Unfair advantage using the MILES framework as prescribed in the book. I realized that I have been using some, however, I intend to harness them more going forward. I totally loved this and definitely recommend it!

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Must read for anyone

This an amazing book. It is educational, insightful and not at all hard to finish.

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By far one of the most essential business books

Dont read this book
And waste a ton of useful knowledge
Ur choice
The quality is great and engaging

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  • David H.
  • 05-03-21

Helped to cystalise my unfair advantage

‘The Unfair Advantage’ by Ash Ali and Hasan
This should be essential reading for anyone who wants to build a business, especially startups.

Before listening to this book, I was guilty of making a general association that ‘unfair advantages’ were primarily economic. Reading this made me look at the idea in far broader (and much more useful) context.

True unfair advantages come in all forms, from emotional intelligence to geographic. The key is realising what you have that few others do, and putting those advantages to the best possible work in your business. This book will help you do just that.

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  • Architecture Social
  • 06-04-21

Massively overhyped on social media

It's 10 hours to say the same thing, that your unique circumstance is your driver

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  • Paul (the other one)
  • 05-24-21

All buzzwords and no substance.

Here's an idea for a drinking game -- take one shot for every time he says 'start up'! :D

This book is relatively easy to listen to, but it kind of lacks substance -- it celebrates people with unfair advantages, such as those who went to private school or those with rich parents or exceptional people skills, and good luck to them, but it really won't be the majority of us.

Some people may find a positive message in this, they may see the advantage in their location or their age, but for me, it put me in touch with my own disadvantage and annoyed me with all entrepreneurial buzzwords (runway time, unicorn, elevator pitch, bootstrap, pivot, and so on).

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  • Chibueze
  • 01-06-21

Disadvantages are not barriers in life!

Excellent book. Gives hope that whatever your upbringing you can succeed by creating advantages.

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  • Kealan Magee
  • 11-21-20

Opportunity is there for the taking

Good insights into the opportunities that we all come across in business, opportunities that we don't necessarily see or think we should take. But in hindsight its ours for the taking

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  • Mr Mohammed Al Mousawi
  • 10-01-20

Great help for my Start Up

Learnt so much here. Asked the right questions. Business already benefiting from the various advice on offer. THANK YOU

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  • Chibueze Ogodo
  • 09-23-20

Brilliant Read

I enjoyed the book and found a lot of useful insights for start ups.
i like how realistic it is too.
brilliant book.

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  • Babatunde Pratt
  • 09-10-20

The Unfair Advantage

Best business book I have read! Was nice to hear a book suggested success was not only down to work work work but working hard and leveraging your advantages at the same time

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  • Anonymous User
  • 06-05-20

Excellent and different

Such a good book. 2 genuine human beings telling and authentic story. Loved it. Practical and insightful.

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  • Seoi
  • 05-28-20

Practical, well written and humane

The antithesis of the "tech bro" approach, this book sets out a framework for identifying your strengths and weaknesses and leveraging them to achieve success in business, ethically and without betraying your core values or burning yourself out.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-26-20

Self-help book unique to you!

An interesting book targeting your “unfair advantages” with the aim of helping one get their “startup of the ground”. Although the recurring theme of the book is entrepreneurial and business based, it can’t help but to help one discover themselves, their strengths and their weaknesses.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to both authors and their humble beginnings, as well as their journeys up until the publication of this book. We learn how both Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba utilise their “unfair advantages” or lack of “unfair Advantages” to help grow their business. We are then introduced to a new phenomenon that sets us on journey of self discovery that is unique to us known as the “MILES framework”. Through this framework we learn and understand the importance of money, intelligence/insight, location/luck, education and status play a crucial role in determining whether we are set if for success or not.

As we dive deeper into the framework, we come to know each element of the “MILES framework” and how to use what we have or lack of it to our advantage.

Throughout the book we are given many examples and cases of what we know and see everyday from celebrities to billionaires and businesses from Silicon Valley. Through the examples, we are taught about their advantages and disadvantages that helped them through their journey of becoming successful.

Tips and trick are plentiful, as well as advise we can use in our day to day life but also when we are making our ideas into a reality business. This motivates one to get started and adds a boost of energy to see the brighter side of things. However through our journey of self discovery, we are constantly being humbled by being reminded to always look for adding value to ourselves and society.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a way to learn more about entrepreneurship and those starting their business or thinking of starting one. But it also caters to those wanting to discover themselves and what they can do in their life that can add value to them and the world. I personally enjoyed listening to the audiobook, as well as being motivated to start a new company!

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  • Anonymous User
  • 09-24-23

Good book

Good book not a mind boggling storyline. You can get some ideas about how things work around the world.

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  • Nasir
  • 04-14-20

Excellent book

Loved it! To the point, excellent examples and stories. Well done! Must read for all new entrepreneurs and startups.

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