BOOKS

The author, Larry Kilham, is from a family of successful inventors and has a master's from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He holds three patents in instrumentation and received the IR 100 award for technical innovation. Mr. Kilham has published numerous technical articles and addresses professional societies. Larry has been in sales, engineering and management positions in high tech companies since 1965. Currently he is owner of Eco Sensors, Inc., a rapidly growing instrument company in Santa Fe, NM and is a director of several start-up companies. Larry and his wife Betsy enjoy Santa Fe’s cultural and outdoor life.

The company collapsed like a house of cards. My net worth had gone from about a million dollars to the possibility of bankruptcy if the bank took my house. Another high tech dream went into the trashcan.

I didn’t run away to Brazil. I didn’t apply for unemployment. I said to myself, "I will start over again. I’ve just been through training school, and now I’m going to do it right." As I write this, my net worth is back up over a million dollars, and I own a fun company making environmental monitoring equipment. Although I graduated from a prestigious business school and had great jobs in distinguished companies, much of my learning about building a company was gained in my own various businesses and from shared family business experiences. Now I would like to share what I learned with you.

When you create a company based on your own product which you have developed, you will also have created a statement of your own self-worth. For me this has been a feeling that's hard to match in life and unlike money, it can't be taken away from you. For this reason I want to help creative people become successful with their own businesses. If you didn’t have a vision for yourself already, you wouldn’t have picked up this book, so don't stop now. As the famous hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, said, You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.

He's "been there, done that" and makes Great Idea highly readable. My favorite chapters were the first and last, but there is much gold lying between.

Larry Kilham has diligently conveyed his principles of entrepreneurial vision. His book superbly documents all the wisdom and knowledge that I have gained in my many associations with him. It is a valuable text on business written by an entrepreneur who has actually experienced all the facets of starting and growing a successful technology enterprise.

Richard T. Meyer, Phd, former director of Georgia's Advanced Technology Development Center; Professor Emeritus, Emory University Business School; and current CEO of CIC Photonics, Inc.

Great Idea to a Great Company  is both a thoroughly practical and delightfully readable book. Any aspiring entrepreneur will find a treasure trove of advice and practical tips - from the "must do's" to the "definitely don'ts." If you ever dream of starting your own business, don't even put a toe in the water before reading this wonderful book.