Who's it for?

[MikeHarris]

I've aimed the book at entrepreneurs who have high ambition, even if their current resources are very limited and they have no idea how to achieve their dreams.

It's true the majority of start ups have very limited ambition - to make enough money to make a living. Few are ambitious enough to aim at turnovers and values in the millions let alone the tens of millions or more. There is nothing wrong with having limited ambition and there are many useful books aimed at helping people who want to do no more than that.

But there are a significant number of start ups which are more ambitious. The ones that have been very successful such as Innocent and Glasses Direct have started with great ambition and great enthusiasm and have learned in time about the skills needed to generate and sustain growth. Skills in the areas of customer engagement, marketing and branding, strategy and planning leadership, culture and teamwork. These skills are relevent not only to big business but to every ambitious start up. Innocent is a shining example - any large company, including the big innovation leaders, would be proud of Innocent's skills and approach in these areas.

Yet Innocent started with a big idea, big ambitions and little or no resources. A few guys making smoothies in somebody's kitchen. That sounds like a traditional start up doesn't it?

Yet they have gone on to build a business with turnovers measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds. It's not luck!

So the book is based on the principle of making accessible to anyone with ambition , the skills learned by successful start ups and used as a matter of course by Innovation leaders.

The forum is an extension of the book - it would be great to see more UK start ups in particular show great ambition and have a bit of the U.S. "go for it" attitude. So if I have managed to light the way a bit in the book please feel free to ask me (and my little band of experts) some questions as you go along.

The book also has a lot of material useful to people trying to make ideas happen in large organisations although I didn't set out to do that particularly. So if that's what you are up to also feel free to ask some questions - making ideas happen in large , apparently conservative organisations is definitely something I know a lot about!