Kudos for Colin Campbell - Serial Entrepreneur's Best Selling Book Earns a Coveted Star from Kirk...

Kudos for Colin Campbell - Serial Entrepreneur's Best Selling Book Earns a Coveted Star from Kirkus Reviews as One of the Year's Best

Serial entrepreneur Colin Campbell (who was profiled in a 2016 DNJournal Cover Story) is widely known in multiple industries after starting, scaling and exiting over a dozen companies worth almost $1 billion, including two of particular note in the domain industry -  Tucows and .CLUB Domains (the latter of which he sold to GoDaddy in 2021). There were also successes with Hostopia and GeeksForLess among others and to this day, Colin continues to build multiple businesses, including his current personal favorite (due to his love for dogs), Paw.com.

After exiting .CLUB, Colin launched Startup Club as a Fort Lauderdale based incubator that nurtures projects from other passionate entrepreneurs. He also shares his wisdom in regular podcasts on Clubhouse, where nearly 1 million people have signed up to listen. 

As if all of that was not enough, Colin wrote a book, Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat., that was released by Forbes Books. It drew rave reviews and quickly became a best seller at Amazon. While every author loves and appreciates positive customer reviews, there is one review in the book world that is most desired but received by few. That is the coveted Star from Kirkus Reviews. Only about 10% of the books reviewed by Kirkus get a star (and an automatic entry in competition for the $50,000 annual Kirkus Prize that will be rewarded next October). Well, Kirkus just announced that Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat, has earned a star and also been named one of the 100 Best Indie Books of the Year.

Now, that is not just the 100 best business books, it is the best from all categories with Fiction, Non-Fiction, Biography & Memoir and Teens & Young Adult titles all competing for the honor. When he heard the news Colin said, "We are so excited and grateful for this recognition. This book took 10 years, and over 200 interviews. It includes 180 call outs, 30 illustrations, and was written for the ADHD entrepreneur. Congrats to the team at Startup.club for making this happen!"

Colin C. Campbell

Coincidentally, the Kirkus Star news came right after I  had spent an extended weekend in Fort Lauderdale that included a visit to the Startup Club offices last Friday (December 13). My wife and I has made the trip over from Tampa after being invited to the annual Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade Party that Colin and his wife Kim host at their home each year (this year's event, that raised funds for the non-profit organization Help for Ukraine, was held Saturday night).

Above: Inside the spacious Startup Club headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. The incubator has co-work space, equipment and private offices with 10 startup companies currently on site. 

Below: We visited at the end of the day Friday when Paw.com CEO Michele Van Tilborg, Colin and several fellow entrepreneurs like Ed Nussbaum (at far left with Colin), e-commerce guru Norm Farrar and FATVillage Arts District Founder Doug McCraw were still there talking about business after others had headed out for the weekend. Hearing them bounce ideas off each other was a great illustration of the kind of productive cross-pollination the incubator atmosphere provides. Regardless of their specialty, every one of them has inspired another with a random idea or lesson learned from their own entrepreneurial journey.

Above: Colin also gave us a peak inside his state of the art podcast studio located in the Startup Club building. When you listen to Colin on Clubhouse, this is where that invaluable advice is coming from. 

All of the people I mentioned above were among the 150 guests at the Campbell's Boat Parade Party Saturday night. Many of us there knew Kirkus Reviews would be awarding their 2024 Stars soon and, having read Colin's book, fully expected Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. to get one. Still, you can never be sure until it happens, so when the news finally came, it was especially gratifying to see the blood, sweat and tears that Colin poured into his business masterpiece rewarded. 

Colin and Kimberly Campbell at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade Party
 they hosted Saturday night, December 14, 2024.

(Posted Dec. 18, 2024)   

*****