by Bo Peabody
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Product Description
At twenty-seven, Bo Peabody was an Internet multi-millionaire. In the heady days of the late 1990s, though, when every cool kid had an IPO, that wasn’t very remarkable. What is remarkable is that he’s even more successful today. He has co-founded five different companies, in varied industries, and made them thrive during the best and worst of economic times. Through it all, the one question everyone asks is: Was it his smarts that made him an entrepreneurial leader, or was it just plain luck? The truth is, Bo was smart enough to know when he was getting lucky. And he wants you to have the same advantage.
With proven methods for success and a witty, conversational voice, Bo takes the reader through the lessons his experiences as an entrepreneur have taught him. At the heart of Bo’s manifesto is a mantra that everyone, whether working for a multinational corporation or a solo start-up, should heed: If you want your business to be successful, make sure your work is fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and philosophically positive.
Lucky or Smart? will teach you how to put yourself in a position to get lucky, create the right situations for success, and take advantage of every opportunity. It is the first truly authentic guide to an entrepreneurial life, a must read for anyone looking for his or her own road to fulfillment.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Yawn., 2007-09-28
This book is useless. I'm so surprised others gave it four stars. The author just got lucky with his timing and he inflated the valuation of his company by posing as a slacker CEO while in reality he was working 100 hour work weeks.
Then he was smart because he cashed out instead of going IPO because in his own words, he knew that the company was "all hat, no cattle". Then he took his money invested it in other companies that he "started" through his venture capital company. He actually doesn't talk about any of those operations so one wonders if he considers investing the same as starting a company.
Personally I wasn't looking for someone's luck story. I wanted "secrets to an entrepreneurial life" as the cover claims and what I really wanted was information that I could implement in the next company I start. This didn't teach me any. It was like reading an article in some bad paper, like USA Today, just longer.
If you want an autobiography of a random lucky guy, this is the book for you. If you want to make your business more successful without lying to the press or being someone you aren't, read Adrian Slywotzky. He can tell you some real entrepreneurial secrets that you can apply to your business.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Short but very informative, 2007-08-13
I thouroughly enjoyed the read, it was like listening to a good story page after page and gleaning 1 or 2 lessons from it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Lucky and Short, 2007-04-16
This small book from the founder of Tripod is worth the hour it will take you to read it. Peabody was a `B' student and suggests that successful entrepreneurs are almost always `B' students: good at lots of things, experts at none. To compensate, `B' student entrepreneurs need to hire `A' student managers (and coders and VPs), who are excellent a one or two things, to successfully take a startup to maturity. This revelation is not rocket science, and not an entirely new concept either, but it is very interesting to hear how this strategy played out for Peabody and Tripod.
Even though he made millions, Peabody does not boast or make the silly claim--like many Internet millionaires--to have known all along that he was destined for greatness. In fact he is quite humble: he readily admits he was making a lot of his business strategy up as he went along, and that with Tripod, it could have just as easily gone the other way and ended in failure.
The three salient lessons from this very short memoir of an entrepreneur: work very hard, hire the right people, and be smart enough to know when you are getting lucky.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A good book, not a great book. , 2007-03-21
I picked up this book on the recommendation a client. Mr. Peabody tells good stories and lays out some straightforward facts. In many ways, it's a nifty little autobiography with some useful nuggets of information.
The advice he gives is mainly for Type-A personality entrepreneurs; Risk-taking, project-starting individuals whose main focus is getting product out the door so their effort can be called a success.
For anyone who does not fit that mold, this book is not necessarily speaking to you. However, even if its not directed at you, you'll still gain some insight into why people like Peabody behave and think the way they do.
What I liked most:
-- Always sell. As the person at the top of the organization, always sell.
-- Recognize which role is naturally in you: Entrepreneur, or Manager, and then excel in that role.
-- Know what you don't know. Don't try to buffalo your way through things. To me this is part of being intellectually honest.
What could have been better:
-- I do agree that striving for "good" will be what gets a company off the ground, but that's the end of the road for the entrepreneur on that project anyway. After the entrepreneur moves on to other challenges, the company he leaves behind needs to press forward and strive to be great. That part needed more value ascribed to it.
-- Peabody talks a lot about selling at the entrepreneurial level, but never touches on the mechanics of developing a strategy for it. It may be instinctive to him, but it would have been nice to have him explain a more functional approach.
I liked the book. Quick read. Some good nuggets. Just not enough of them in the right places.
I suppose Peabody followed his own advice: He wrote a good book, not a great one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Invaluable Book for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Managers, 2006-11-10
This is one of the best business books I've ever read. It conveys highly insightful, meaningful ideas in a remarkably concise and common-sense way. No droaning on with complex business models or contrived new management theories. Peabody simply shares his views of what makes a successful entrepreneur and manager, and the importance of understanding the value of diverse personalities and skill sets. The ideas it contains are motivating, entertaining and invaluable. I've purchased several copies for colleagues. I highly recommend it.
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