A nice addition to the genre. A good purchase for nonfiction collections where entrepreneurship and small business titles are popular.

You get a view of how to kickstart digital marketing and do Naked selling like the Direct to Customer companies. You learn lot of intricate details about the finance part of custoemr acquisition, what metrics are important - internal return rate, contribution margin and other three letter words of marketing. You hear many stories of how other companies made it too.

So you want to start a new business. Now what? If you want to sell directly to consumers with Facebook and Instagram ads driving customers to your website, read Selling Naked. It will prevent you from making mistakes made by failed businesses. It will also motivate you by including short bios of successful online companies like the author’s own contact lens company, Hubble.

The ideas presented here are not new if you have read any other business start-up book. However, the companies used as examples are much more modern. Quip sells toothbrushes and toothpaste by subscription. Scentbird sells small bottles of perfume for $14.95 per month. There was a discussion of Unilever’s purchase of Dollar Shave Club, which explains why the razor prices went up so much.

Overall, Selling Naked is best when showing how other companies have overcome the hurdles of start-ups. However, it also teaches about what metrics must be tracked and how to compute them. As the author states, “if you apply the principles in this book, you’ll at least stand a fighting chance. And, if nothing else, you won’t be bored.” I agree. 3 stars.

Thanks to Currency, Crown Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

There is much more in this book than mere selling advice. I think it will be helpful to students in an entrepreneurship class, or of course anyone who uses it for the benefit of their own business.

This book surprised me positively in several ways. From the description, I thought the book primarily concerned itself with selling directly to consumers, hence the term "selling naked", a subject it covered excellently, discussed in detail covering both pros and cons, but it went deeper into subjects such as raising capital for your company, seeking partners and selling your company and many other facets that I hadn't expected.
If I have to be a little negative, then while reading the section on raising funding for your company seemed overly long while reading it, in part because I didn't expect the section to be there. However, later in the book, it became clear why that section was that important and therefore it ultimately made sense.
Bottom line: great book.