CTech’s Book Review: the Building Blocks of Scaling Fast

Uzi Scheffer is the CEO of Tel Aviv and New York-based innovation hub SOSA. This is his pick for the best technology book he has read recently.

Title: Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies

Authors: Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh

Format: hardcover

One-liner: not just another best seller, this book is a must read for every entrepreneur with big dreams of rapidly scale his or her company.

Summary: this book describes what blitzscaling a company is while breaking it down to the basic building blocks. It is so well-written and structured that I found myself taking notes every three-four pages, notes that included ideas, action items, thoughts to share with my team, and so on. In addition to the foreword by Bill Gates, the book also includes many quotes and case studies of known and inspiring companies and leaders that you can then look up and learn more about.

This book brings inspiring real life examples and is written in a way that's generic and simple enough to transform into action items for almost every company out there.

Bottom line: an inspiring, well-written book that will ignite your imagination and fuel your energy with nitro.

What I’ve learned:

Speed versus certainty: a challenging task for professionals and entrepreneurs who are used to being deeply involved in the details, but it is a must to sacrifice certainty and perfection if you want to scale up fast.

Scaling fast comes with a massive risk. You have to be on the offensive and on the defensive at the same time.

Culture, culture, culture. Blitzscaling requires complete alignment of the people working in the company with regards to the "why?", the vision, and the mission, but also with the principles of blitzscaling. This becomes even more difficult to maintain when the company grows from several dozens of people to several hundreds.

Critique: I honestly don't have any criticism to give. Bestsellers of this kind ("how to") are a category of their own and can sometimes be tiresome, but if you know that this is the type of book that you're about to read and if scaling a company is your next challenge, this book will inspire you.

Who should read this book: entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and top-level managers.