Startup Your Life

October 17, 2016
Extrapolating from her successful record of entrepreneurship, first-time author Akbari recounts her discovery that the same skills used in running a successful business could be applied to her personal life as well. In many varied areas of life—including the search for love and an attempt to lose weight—Akbari believes that an entrepreneurial approach can be all that’s necessary to push one over the top. Using the Thomas Edison quote “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work,” as her benchmark, Akbari explains that behind any notable success stretches a long trail of trial and error. Illuminating stories about business giants such as Ralph Lauren, Instagram, Netflix, and Zappos illustrate the constructive tips covered in each chapter. As an added bonus, the author rounds out each chapter with usable snippets of wisdom. Though the book is expressly aimed at readers wishing to improve their personal lives, many of Akbari’s ideas are business-specific. It’s doubtful, for instance, that advice such as developing a website presence could be applied to someone struggling to build healthier eating habits. That said, budding entrepreneurs should benefit greatly from Akbari’s sound guidance. Agent: Kirsten Neuhaus, Foundry Literary + Media.

November 15, 2016
A startup company demands flexibility, hustle, passion, and experimentation, as does a successful life, according to entrepreneur and psychologist Akbari. Her book is aimed at young professionals in between college and family life who are scrambling to find happiness, success, identity, and purpose. Each chapter uses a startup (often Silicon Valley) success story and Akbari's experiences to explore a theme (e.g., becoming a prototype, unlearning old lessons, maintaining a virtual persona, finding a partner, learning to pivot, when to exit, etc.). Some of Akbari's suggestions are techy and unconventional (e.g., experimenting with images and preferences using a second-life avatar, dressing up for role-playing), but her advice also includes inspiring, commonsense commands, such as Hustle trumps pedigree. Get moving and Always. Be. Changing, that encourage readers to take a chance in the real world. Each chapter concludes with a Scrum Master Cheat Sheet that recaps the concepts and Lazy Lowdown, Top Ten Chapter Takeaways that sum it up in 10 short sentences. Akbari has created self-help for the millennials.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)