Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top

Journalist Burlingham (Small Giants) is back with a helpful guide to the toughest part of building a great company: leaving it. As he points out, we tend to focus on the whiz-bang beginnings of a company’s history, with far less emphasis on if and how the founder will eventually move on. Structured as a narrative describing the experiences of various entrepreneurs interviewed for the book, this is a smooth, fascinating read. Burlingham’s primary question in interviews is, what distinguished positive experiences from negative ones? He found that entrepreneurs who left their positions with a sense of accomplishment, feeling well compensated and secure in the belief that their employees would be treated well by their successors, felt better about the move. In addition, those who were happy about leaving their companies also generally had new projects planned from which to derive a sense of purpose. Burlingham goes on to address the elements of a successful exit, which he breaks down into four stages: exploration, strategy, execution, and transition—all potentially tricky. Detailed and well laid out, with advice that’s easy to understand and incorporate into your own business, this is an essential guide for any leader looking to turn over the reins. Agent: Jill Kneerim, Kneerim, Williams, and Bloom. (Dec.)