If anyone’s qualified to write a book on how to start and run your own business, it’s Luke Johnson. He is one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs with an estimated personal fortune of ￡120 million. In the 1990s he was Chairman of Pizza Express, which he grew from 12 restaurants to over 250; he also founded the Strada pizzeria chain and owns Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie. So he knows a bit about business! He also writes a column for the FT which has a broad international readership, and gets feedback from dedicated readers all over the world.

In Start it Up, Luke draws on two decades of success to reveal the realities of running your own business, and bust some key myths along the way. He looks at the most pertinent questions anyone considering starting a business will face. Is it a good idea to start a business in a recession? Is it better to start your own business or to buy one? Should you go it alone or with a partner? Should you quit your job and dedicate yourself to your start up, or keep working until the business starts to earn money? How do you find an ‘angel investor’?

It’s not just about the start-up process. There is a lot of advice on running your business once it’s established. Chapter 6, ‘The Cycle’ talks about the problems one might face in a economic downturn – including some you wouldn’t necessarily expect – eg epidemics of petty fraud!

Start it Up stands out for me from many other business books by having a lot of personality. It’s not just a ‘how to’ book – Luke Johnson is very generous and honest in sharing a lot of his own personal experiences in business (failures as well as successes), and it’s extremely intelligently and engagingly written, down to earth.

Luke Johnson is one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs with an estimated personal fortune of GBP120 million. He is Chairman of Risk Capital Partners and The Royal Society of Arts, and a former Chairman of Channel 4 Television. He writes columns for the Financial Times and Management Today. He's an investor in the UK's largest business funding agency Beer & Partners, and co-founder of The Institute of Entrepreneurs. In the 1990s he was Chairman of PizzaExpress, which he grew from 12 restaurants to over 250; he also founded the Strada pizzeria chain and owns Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie. He lives in London and is married with three children.