Book Review: Killing Giants

Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath In Your Industry

Being an entrepreneur sounds glitzy... Oh, I decide when I come into work... But in reality it is a daily struggle. Sure you can sleep in... at your own peril... Having now read and heard Stephen speak, what for me resonated?

1)It is human instinct to root for the little guy. Whether we are talking David & Goliath, The British & American Colonies, or Apple & Microsoft(Whoops now Apples the behemoth), we root for the underdog. That is a powerful card any entrepreneur can pull.
2)Think outside of the box. Do the unthinkable. No risk no reward.
3)Reading this book, especially for entrepreneurs is part of the point. Thinking out of the box... applying a fresh spin on what you do from an outside source. I work for a company but can still apply the lessons learned here to my work life and personal life. All the world's a stage, and all the people pitchmen. Sound stressful? Yep, no one gets out alive.
4)Are entrepreneurs doomed to, either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain? How does this impact your identity as a company... The once scrappy upstart now is the industry leader... Do your employees abandon ship for more exciting digs?
5)Just because killing giants may look cool does not mean it's good for society or the consumer. Giants provide economies of scale the entrepreneur only salivates over. Tech arguably has diminished this upside but not eradicated it. Behemoths provide better job stability. Not everyone wants Alan Greenspan's roaring river of destructive capitalism... Some want job security and to retire. 
6)The final and most important lesson from Stephen is that truly the liberal arts education permeates the embodiment of the entrepreneur. Being well rounded, well versed, and exposed to a myriad of  ideas makes the entrepreneur that much more effective and deadly to the giant. I may have been a business school econ and business double major... but I benefited from this style of learning. That required marketing class, though not grounded in finance, would benefit my finance career down the road. Entrepreneurship sounds exciting, scary, but mentally stimulating. 

The book does share insights into multiple strategies, but I would have enjoyed fewer examples but with more meat into how these strategies impacted ROI, Profits, Sales, etc... I am sure all of these examples employed several of the strategies discussed. Seeing examples of the layering would be interesting as well. Are all of these strategies compliments or are some supplements?