Lessons for budding entrepreneurs

How I Built a $100 Million Business Against the Odds

Penguin, £14.99

Buy on Amazon

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Most people who write books about starting a company tend to play it safe, praising everyone involved and downplaying any obstacles. That frequently makes for a dull book. Happily, Raegan Moya-Jones doesn't follow this formula. Instead, her book is a "warts and all" account of how she set up aden + anais, which sells premium baby swaddles and blankets, while she was working in sales for The Economist. She grew it into a $100m powerhouse with operations around the globe.

As she admits, Moya-Jones is not someone who suffers fools gladly, and she is scathing about those she feels treated her badly or got in her way. They include her employers, who repeatedly passed her over for promotion, her business partner, Claudia, whom she fell out with, and the private-equity firm who eventually ousted her.

Occasionally these complaints come across as special pleading, notably her outrage that competitors would try to copy her concept, when she herself took the idea from a product that was being sold in her native Australia. But some of her other points are valid, such as the limited vision of venture-capital firms, and her candour makes the book entertaining and informative.

There are plenty of lessons for budding entrepreneurs too. Anyone who has contemplated starting a business or wants to find out what it is like to create one should definitely read this book.