The Idea Is the Easy Part: Myths and Realities of the Startup World - Hardcover

by Brian Dovey (Author)

"Innovation & Creativity" winner in the 2023 Porchlight Business Book Awards

Lifelong entrepreneur Brian Dovey offers readers a personal, humorous, story-driven compendium of practical advice for navigating the risky entrepreneurial journey.

The Idea Is the Easy Part counters widespread myths of failure and success with lessons learned from Dovey's decades of hands-on experience.

Today's entrepreneurs can earn celebrity and billionaire status. Our books, movies, and TV shows seem to say that with a big idea and a jazzy elevator pitch, anyone can quickly earn funding for their own startups and achieve massive financial success. In these stories, a brilliant initial idea--and the funding you'll easily acquire--are all you need.

The reality, however, is vastly different. Getting funding is incredibly hard, and success depends on many factors, strategies, and decisions.
The idea, as it turns out, is the easy part.

Between serving as the president of the company that developed the groundbreaking EpiPen, bringing entrepreneurship to a Fortune 500 company as president, working in venture capitalism for several decades, and being involved in the development of nearly 300 startups, Brian Dovey was well acquainted with entrepreneurship--its reality as well as its mythology.

In The Idea Is the Easy Part, Dovey busts common myths about entrepreneurship and lays out an enthusiastic but realistic guidebook for aspiring entrepreneurs to make better decisions at every stage of the entrepreneurial process.

For those seduced by the myths of fame and fortune, as well as for those who don't realize what they're missing out on, The Idea Is the Easy Part is a reliable guide to navigating the entrepreneurial waters, replacing today's misleading notions with objective and actionable advice.

Author Biography

Brian Dovey was a partner at the venture capital firm Domain Associates--which has invested $2.8 billion in startups--from 1988 until his passing in August, 2023. He was involved in the development of 300 pharmaceutical and life sciences startups and served on the boards of more than 35 companies (and as chairman of six) with a combined value of more than $50 billion. Dovey also taught business students part-time, including a long-running acclaimed course at San Diego State University called "Managing the Growing Firm."

A native of New Jersey, Dovey received his B.A. in mathematics from Colgate University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, their three children, and eight grandchildren.