Book Review — “Entrepreneur Revolution” by Daniel Priestley

I discovered Daniel Priestley a couple of months ago during a debate with Gary Stevenson. His arguments were thought-provoking. That encounter led me to Entrepreneur Revolution: How to Develop your Entrepreneurial Mindset and Start a Business that Works, a book that has been referenced in the podcast by Steven Bartlett. I wanted to see for myself what Priestley had to say.

The book is not groundbreaking in terms of new content. If you have read widely about business, you will encounter familiar themes. But dismissing it on those grounds would be unfair. For someone picking up their first business book, it can be electrifying. Priestley packages the fundamentals in a way that is accessible and motivational. His writing jolts you into reflection, even when the message is simple.

Priestley grounds his authority in his own journey. He tells us:

“I grew up in a beachside town in Australia. As a teenager I worked at McDonald’s, I delivered pizza, I went door-to-door selling and I worked behind a bar but all I wanted to be was an entrepreneur.”

He describes dropping out of university because he was disappointed by lecturers who had never built or sold businesses. Instead, he apprenticed under a successful entrepreneur, learning sales, marketing, product creation, and team building. By 21, he founded his own business. By 25, he expanded into London and was generating millions. His later ventures range from publishing to tech startups, with global reach and impressive exits. The stories are meant to inspire, but more importantly, they illustrate the lived reality of an “entrepreneurial mindset.”

One of the most refreshing ideas in the book is that entrepreneurship is not always about scaling endlessly. A business can be valuable and fulfilling even if it is not chasing unicorn status. If it provides income and flexibility, or even purpose, that can be success. This point is easy to overlook in an era where every conversation seems to orbit around billion-dollar valuations.

Another thought that lingers is Priestley’s observation that entrepreneurs rarely think about retirement. He writes:

“Hardly any of them are retired. Almost none of them have used their wealth to lean back from life and sit on a beach endlessly consuming stuff. Most of them are typically engaged in the joy of creating, not the burden of consuming.”

This struck me. Paid employment builds retirement into its structure, even if you are not ready to stop. Business ownership flips that logic. Creation continues as long as there is energy and purpose.

The book is also forward-looking in its discussion of artificial intelligence. Priestley frames AI as a dividing force: those who master it will accelerate their creative potential, while those distracted by its addictive consumption traps will fall behind. He writes vividly about how algorithms manipulate our browsing habits, and how the only way to resist is to create an “air gap” by removing addictive apps. The message is clear: use AI to amplify what you build, or risk being swallowed by what it sells you.

Where the book stumbles is in its predictability. Many of the stories and ideas can be found in other business titles. Some passages feel padded with motivational flourishes rather than detailed analysis. Readers already deep in entrepreneurship may want more substance, more tactical frameworks, and less rallying cry.

Still, the book does its job. It reminds you that luck plays a role in success, but opportunities today are extraordinary compared to past generations. Starting a podcast, creating videos, or launching a global small business. If you squander these tools, the fault lies less with circumstance and more with inaction.

For beginners, Entrepreneur Revolution is a solid roadmap. It lays out the mindset shifts required and highlights the need to keep building rather than consuming. For seasoned entrepreneurs, it may not be revelatory, but it can be a useful reset button. Priestley is proof that these ideas are not hypothetical. He has lived them, and continues to live them, as his ventures expand across publishing, software, and AI-driven platforms.

I closed the book with a mix of admiration and caution. Admiration for the energy Priestley brings, and caution against treating it as the final word on entrepreneurship. It works best as a spark. I am picking up “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future” by Dan Wang next but once I am done, I will reread this book again. The author says many have told him they got more out of the book on a second read. I will take him up on that offer, especially since I have someone to read it with.