AMSTERDAM, December 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Management consultant Cees J. Quirijns discovers the dos and don'ts for starting a business in his book Startup Best Practices: Conversations with Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs and shares his insights in a free e-book that is available for download at http://www.efactor.com/sbp and is distributed via EFactor; the largest global online community for entrepreneurs.

The entry rate of new firms is remarkably high across industries in most modern economies. The exit rate is often also very high. According to several researchers the probability of new firm survival after five years is only around 50%.

This was yet another reason for management consultant Cees J. Quirijns to go in search of the critical success factors of startups in the one true bastion of entrepreneurship: Silicon Valley. Quirijns: "The Bay Area has produced a gigantic number of entrepreneurial tribulations and successes over the past decades, so in order to discover startup best practices, Silicon Valley is the best place to start."

The book contains interviews with 15 entrepreneurs, most of whom have started and sold companies, not just once, but several times. Quirijns: "These serial entrepreneurs, such as Naeem Zafar and Eileen Gittins, have a wealth of experience. By sharing this empiricism in my book, they help newborn entrepreneurs focus on the essential issues. Such best practices are not often documented. I wanted to change that."

Startup Best Practices contains practical recommendations in business fields such as marketing and sales, management and organization, and finance. Quirijns: "The importance of being passionate, customer centric, and having an excellent team in place, is seen as essential by many of the interviewees. The value of this book does not lie only in the commonalities, but even more so in the individual eye-openers that these successful entrepreneurs so gracefully share. Examples are the critical role one's spouse plays and the necessity to keep knocking on doors."

Co-founder and CEO of EFactor, Adrie Reinders comments: "We are very pleased to provide our members, and other entrepreneurs, with this pearl of entrepreneurial wisdom. We invite everyone to visit our site and download the book. Membership of EFactor is of course free as well".

For more information about the:

Book and interviewed entrepreneurs: http://www.StartupBestPractice.com

Author and his management consulting firm: http://www.Quirijns.com

Social network for entrepreneurs EFactor: http://www.Efactor.com