As the cover proclaims, The Art of the Start is an amazing read for anyone that has ever considered starting anything - from a business to ballet school. However, the book is more heavily slanted toward the former than the latter, but, then, you're probably not reading the book to learn the ins and outs of your foot position and flexibility.

The book overflows with practical, simple advice that makes so much sense after you've read it, you wonder how you couldn't have realized it yourself. The best way to drill what not to do into your head may be by doing, but a smarter way to learn is to listen to someone who's been there tell stories about how they've fucked up. Even better is to listen to stories from the person largely responsible to deciding when someone's worth the risk betting that they won't fuck up.

A couple tidbits of advice that the author gives:

Develop your pitch first and use it to develop your business plan. You need to have a business plan because some people expect it, but the reality is that unless your pitch is enough to sell your concept then it won't ever get looked at. In fact, even if you do a great job convincing and someone decides to fund you, it probably still won't be loooked at. Perfect the pitch and the rest will follow.