Your Idea, Their Money

One of the unexpected rewards of my WorldReads project is the way in which it steers me to pick up books that I would likely never otherwise have even spotted, let alone actually thought to read, yet which turned out to be informative and interesting and that was exactly the case with Your Idea, Their Money by Saudi investor Saad AlSogair. The book provides a clear overview of the best ways to go about gaining funding for start-up businesses, taking readers through the planning and presentation process in easy to understand steps.

I would say that Your Idea, Their Money is aimed towards readers with some pre-existing business expertise, but AlSogair mostly manages to avoid too much in the way of niche terminology so, even with my minimal experience, I could understand the points he made and follow the reasoning behind them. I would have liked more in the way of real world examples to illustrate the various stages described. Your Idea, Their Money ends with three relevant case studies, but the majority of the book is purely theoretical and seems written to apply to as broad a variety of business start-ups as possible.

As a self-help guide for anyone considering turning their concept into a profitable business, I think Your Idea, Their Money could be an invaluable read early in the process. It approaches the topic of financing from both entrepreneur and investor's perspectives and manages to convey well just how much is involved in planning, pitching for and successfully gaining investment. I imagine realising the effort required might be enough to put less passionate entrepreneurs off before they even start, but this book would give the serious entrepreneur a good foundation and, potentially, a headstart on less prepared competitors.