As a result of the uncertain corporate job market, entrepreneurship is flourishing. Advice for start-ups is everywhere, in books, websites, newspapers and magazines and it constitutes a body of received wisdom. Journalist Jonathan Moules, who has devoted six years to interviewing and reporting on successful entrepreneurs, turns some of this advice on its head. His is a model of "rebel entrepreneurship" that defies conventional views about how new entrepreneurs should behave in order to make their businesses successful.

Some of Moules' alternative opinions will startle: He challenges the need for bank loans to start and grow a business, the need for a business plan, and offers the contrarian view of increasing prices in tough times.

His case studies address not only how entrepreneurs can succeed but also how they might fail or fail to achieve full potential and include centuries old companies as well as young stars of the internet age such as Twitter, Gilt Groupe, Criteo, celebrity entrepreneurs James Dyson, Richard Branson and Steve Jobs and companies big and small.

Moules' point is to take alternative opinions on some of the main area of concern in a business. His aim is to show that not following the crowd can be a better way of managing a business and make it grow bigger and faster.