Rating: 
Summary: Fun and Easy Read for An E-Commerce Blank Slate
Review: "The Leap" is a fun, accessible and page turning foray into the world of e-commerce wannabes, especially if you happen to be clueless but intrigued by the phenomena of web start-ups and the preternatural sums of money required for so many of them. A friend lent me this book unsolicited. More out of courtesy than curiosity, I thought I'd skim the first few pages and return it. Wrong! Until I read it, I didn't think I was particulary interested in e-commerce matters, especially yuppie-sounding ones. But I found instead that Tom Ashbrook's book resonates on multiple levels, so that someone like me who'se not likely to be interested in what goes into starting 'just one more cyber company' is in for a big suprise. "The Leap" is an edgy mixture of personalities, relationships, families, mid-life crises, risk taking, and lots more. It's a quick and suspenseful read. Given the fickle nature of these companies, there's no final ending. Since completing this book, I've found that I pick up on media stories about other similar ventures undertaken by people with little or no capital and have a more fully informed (albeit of a 'cyber start-up 101' nature) idea and appreciation for what's involved. While people like Tom and his partner, Rolly Rouse (the obsessed and original brains behind the entire Homeportfolio venture) may not be entirely like you and me (they are after all Yale educated and know lots of people with potential deep pockets) they and their families are enough like lots of us that their story is simultaneously exciting and frightening. Enjoy your leap into their leap!
Rating:
Summary: Fun and Easy Read for An E-Commerce Blank Slate
Review: "The Leap" is a fun, accessible and page turning foray into the world of e-commerce wannabes, especially if you happen to be clueless but intrigued by the phenomena of web start-ups and the preternatural sums of money required for so many of them. A friend lent me this book unsolicited. More out of courtesy than curiosity, I thought I'd skim the first few pages and return it. Wrong! Until I read it, I didn't think I was particulary interested in e-commerce matters, especially yuppie-sounding ones. But I found instead that Tom Ashbrook's book resonates on multiple levels, so that someone like me who'se not likely to be interested in what goes into starting 'just one more cyber company' is in for a big suprise. "The Leap" is an edgy mixture of personalities, relationships, families, mid-life crises, risk taking, and lots more. It's a quick and suspenseful read. Given the fickle nature of these companies, there's no final ending. Since completing this book, I've found that I pick up on media stories about other similar ventures undertaken by people with little or no capital and have a more fully informed (albeit of a 'cyber start-up 101' nature) idea and appreciation for what's involved. While people like Tom and his partner, Rolly Rouse (the obsessed and original brains behind the entire Homeportfolio venture) may not be entirely like you and me (they are after all Yale educated and know lots of people with potential deep pockets) they and their families are enough like lots of us that their story is simultaneously exciting and frightening. Enjoy your leap into their leap!
Rating: 
Summary: Dramatic Startup Tale of Foolishness & Luck
Review: 'The Leap' is a personal story of the foolishness pursued by unqualified dreamers, and the trials & tribulations they put their families & friends through, prior to getting substantial funding for a startup home design web portal.The purpose of the book seemed to be 1. to apologise to the hard-suffering supporters; and 2. to advertise the company HomePortfolio.com. Previously reviewer's comments about repetitive redundant writing style (surprisingly the author is an award-winning journalist), superficial business-content throughout, and lack of a business-reality ending are worthy. Despite claiming an 'adventurous spirit' high ground, Ashbrook seemed to focus much on the personal money aspects- perhaps the true motivation. Considering the described round-the-clock several-man-years effort, I can't help thinking that the 2 founders should have achieved more sooner (or found experts to support) and/or listened more closely to the venture capitalists, to help them work smarter. Whilst undoubtedly a fashionable dot.com personal adventurous tale, this book does not seem to be written with the reader in mind, is too linear & repetitive, and ultimately unsatisfying (to this reviewer). There are other (non-fiction) dot.com books which better cover the extremes of human spirit, determination & passion (e.g. eBoys, Confessions of a Venture Capitalist, Secrets of Software Success etc..)- try these first.
Rating:
Summary: an insightful look at entrepreneurial terrors
Review: An excellent 200 pages book which is unfortunately 300 pages long. The first 100 pages are mostly self-absorbed blah blah and I nearly quit reading around there out of boredom. But then it gets good, really good. The rest is a very well-written story about the agonies of getting first funding and it's a cliff-hanger. Disappointingly, it ends there and we never know how the venture did once it got funding.
Rating:
Summary: A Captivating Business Thriller
Review: As a 17 year veteran of nascent technology companies (pre-internet e-mail/online services, wireless data, online banking), I loved the book! The Leap is fresh and honest. Ashbrook has yet another promising career as an author and perhaps even novelist. The prose flow and the events unfold at a perfect pace. Ashbrook appears to be a keen observer of people with laser sharp instincts for capturing the true essence of people with a few pithy phrases. Reading this book was like watching a business thriller behind a one-way looking glass. The Leap should be on the recommended reading list of B schools to balance all those case studies by illustrating the unpredictable impact on companies of real world variables and individual emotions.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Unexpected
Review: As someone who "took the leap" myself, I was expecting to see a book with business insights that I could compare with my own, or with others found in, say, "High Stakes, No Prisoners." I figured there'd be "do's and don'ts" about leaving your job in midlife to try an Internet business. Instead, this book is in a completely different genre. To me, it reads like an inspirational autobiography of someone who once was a drug addict or a prisoner of war. It's a tale of pain, degradation, and ultimate redemption. You see how this comfortable, middle-class guy lets his need to join the entrepreneurial crowd take him lower and lower and lower. He goes past the threshold of pain that I could have taken and past what he would have believed he could take. Once my expectations adjusted, I loved the book. He writes so powerfully! Anyone with a soul will find the book to be thrilling and moving.
Rating: 
Summary: Personalizing Business Makes Good Reading
Review: Excellent account of leaping from job security to job risk for the rewards of founding and growing your own company. This is not a "how-to do it" book. It is more of a "what I faced book" with helpful pointers along the way-- the book does shows the steps in general terms of what an entrepreneur with a vision must do to succeed. Passion is a driving force and Mr. Ashbrook's account showed that he and his co-founder had it. The book is a touching and interesting read, with informative business points interlaced in it.
Rating:
Summary: Personalizing Business Makes Good Reading
Review: Excellent account of leaping from job security to job risk for the rewards of founding and growing your own company. This is not a "how-to do it" book. It is more of a "what I faced book" with helpful pointers along the way-- the book does shows the steps in general terms of what an entrepreneur with a vision must do to succeed. Passion is a driving force and Mr. Ashbrook's account showed that he and his co-founder had it. The book is a touching and interesting read, with informative business points interlaced in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Leap away
Review: I bought the book to learn about starting an e-business..what I got was hand wringing over loss of so-called job security..booooring
Rating:
Summary: The Leap: A Guaranteed Blockbuster
Review: I can't remember the last time I read such an extraordinary book! The Leap is the story of a successful journalist who risks everything he holds dear to follow an Internet dream. Tom Ashbrook allows you to live vicariously through the eyes of someone who dares to do what so many of us merely dream about. This richly crafted book is both a thrilling page turner and a beautifully written story where each chapter, each sentence is treasured. I guarantee you will love The Leap! Don't miss out on the first book by the best American author to come along in a generation.
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