Derek Sivers – Anything You Want: Book Review & Audio Summary

Book Info

• Book name: Anything You Want
• Author: Derek Sivers
• Genre: Self-Help & Personal Development, Business & Economics
• Published Year: 2011
• Language: English

Audio Summary

Synopsis

Derek Sivers didn’t set out to build a multimillion-dollar company. He just wanted to help his musician friends sell their CDs online. What started as a simple weekend project became CD Baby, the largest online distributor of independent music, which he eventually sold for $22 million. In Anything You Want, Sivers shares forty unconventional lessons learned from this journey, challenging traditional business wisdom at every turn. This isn’t your typical startup manual filled with growth hacks and investor pitches. Instead, it’s a refreshingly honest look at building a business that serves your life rather than consuming it, proving that success doesn’t require venture capital, elaborate business plans, or sacrificing your values.

Key Takeaways

• Improve your ideas constantly rather than clinging to one “perfect” concept—if you’re not getting positive feedback, it’s time to pivot and try something new
• Keep your business plan simple with clear, logical numbers that anyone can understand; complexity doesn’t equal credibility
• Define specific target audiences and stick to serving them well rather than trying to please everyone who comes knocking
• Limited funding can be an advantage that forces creativity—start with what you have and focus on being useful to people, not raising capital
• Build a business around your values and lifestyle goals, not someone else’s definition of success

My Summary

When Accidental Success Teaches You Everything

I’ll be honest—when I first picked up Derek Sivers’ Anything You Want, I expected another typical entrepreneur memoir full of humble brags and overnight success stories. What I got instead was something completely different, and frankly, more valuable than dozens of traditional business books I’ve read over the years.

Sivers’ story begins not with a grand vision or a detailed business plan, but with a simple problem: his musician friends couldn’t sell their CDs online. This wasn’t 2023 where you can spin up a Shopify store in twenty minutes. This was 1998, and the big music distributors weren’t interested in independent artists. So Sivers, being a musician himself, built a simple website over a weekend to help them out.

That weekend project became CD Baby, which eventually sold over $100 million worth of music for independent artists before Sivers sold it in 2008 for $22 million. But here’s what makes this book special: Sivers isn’t bragging about the money. He’s sharing the counterintuitive lessons he learned about building a business that actually serves your life.

The Power of Iteration Over Perfection

One of the first major lessons Sivers shares really hit home for me. Before CD Baby took off, he’d tried several other business ideas that went absolutely nowhere. Most entrepreneurs would see this as failure, but Sivers reframes it brilliantly: each failed idea was actually a step toward finding something that worked.

The key insight here is that you need to keep improving and evolving your ideas rather than stubbornly clinging to one “perfect” concept. If you’ve been promoting the same idea for years without getting substantial positive feedback, it’s probably time to let it go and try something else.

This resonates deeply with my own experience. I spent nearly two years trying to make a particular writing project work before finally admitting it wasn’t connecting with readers. When I shifted focus to what people were actually responding to—book summaries and authentic reflections—everything changed. The audience grew, engagement increased, and the work became genuinely fulfilling.

Sivers emphasizes that positive feedback is your compass. If people aren’t excited about what you’re offering, if they’re not telling their friends, if you’re constantly having to convince them it’s valuable—those are signals worth listening to. The market will tell you when you’ve hit on something good. Your job is to keep experimenting until you hear that message loud and clear.

In today’s startup culture, there’s often pressure to commit fully to one idea, to show investors you’re “all in” on your vision. But Sivers’ approach suggests something different: stay flexible, test multiple concepts, and let actual customer response guide your direction. This is especially relevant now when you can test ideas quickly and cheaply through social media, landing pages, or minimal viable products.

Simplicity Beats Sophistication Every Time

Another principle that runs throughout Anything You Want is the value of keeping things simple. When Sivers started CD Baby, his entire business plan consisted of two numbers: how much it would cost musicians to list their CD ($35) and how much he would take from each sale ($4). That’s it. No complex financial projections, no elaborate spreadsheets forecasting revenue five years out.

This simplicity wasn’t laziness—it was strategic clarity. When your business model is simple enough to explain in one sentence, several good things happen. First, potential customers understand immediately what you’re offering. Second, you can make decisions quickly because you’re not juggling dozens of variables. Third, you can actually explain your business to others without putting them to sleep.

I’ve seen this principle validated repeatedly in my own work. When I tried to explain Books4soul.com with elaborate descriptions of content strategy and audience segmentation, people’s eyes glazed over. When I said, “I read books and share what I learned in a way that feels like talking to a friend,” people got it instantly. They could immediately picture what I did and whether it might be valuable to them.

The modern business world often confuses complexity with sophistication. We think that to be taken seriously, we need thick business plans, detailed financial models, and industry jargon. But Sivers proves that the opposite is true. The clearer and simpler your explanation, the more people will understand and trust what you’re doing.

This doesn’t mean being simplistic or ignoring important details. It means stripping away everything that doesn’t directly contribute to your core purpose. For CD Baby, that purpose was connecting independent musicians with fans who wanted to buy their music. Everything else was secondary.

Knowing Who You Serve (And Who You Don’t)

One of the most powerful sections of Anything You Want deals with defining your target audience and having the courage to say no to people outside that group. Sivers shares how record label executives constantly approached him wanting to list their artists on CD Baby. These were powerful industry players who could have brought significant revenue.

But Sivers said no. Every single time.

Why? Because CD Baby was specifically built for independent musicians without label support. Fifteen years earlier, these artists had no distribution options. Major labels had plenty of ways to get their music out there. Serving the underserved was CD Baby’s entire reason for existing, and Sivers refused to compromise that mission even when it meant turning away money.

This lesson feels especially relevant in today’s creator economy where there’s constant pressure to expand your audience, serve everyone, and maximize growth. But trying to please everyone often means you end up serving no one particularly well. Your message becomes diluted, your offerings become generic, and you lose the very thing that made you special in the first place.

I’ve wrestled with this myself at Books4soul.com. Should I cover every bestselling book to maximize traffic? Should I write in a more academic style to appeal to literary critics? Should I create video content because that’s what algorithms favor? Each time I’ve been tempted to chase a broader audience, I’ve had to remember who I’m actually writing for: busy readers who want authentic, relatable book insights without the pretension.

Sivers also makes a crucial point about risk management. If you tailor your entire business to one big client, you’re incredibly vulnerable. If they leave, you’re finished. But if you serve a well-defined group of many smaller clients, losing one doesn’t destroy you. You’re more flexible, more independent, and more sustainable.

The practical application here is straightforward but not easy: get crystal clear on who you’re serving and why. Then have the discipline to say no to opportunities that don’t align with that mission, even when they’re tempting. Your business will be stronger, more focused, and ultimately more successful for it.

The Unexpected Advantages of Having No Money

Perhaps the most counterintuitive lesson in Anything You Want is Sivers’ take on funding. In a business culture obsessed with raising capital, pitching investors, and securing venture funding, Sivers argues that having no money can actually be a massive advantage.

His reasoning is brilliant: when you have limited resources, you’re forced to be creative. You can’t throw money at problems, so you have to think your way through them. You can’t hire a team immediately, so you learn every aspect of your business intimately. You can’t afford expensive marketing, so you focus on making something so good that people tell their friends.

These constraints don’t limit you—they liberate you. Without investor money comes another huge benefit: you don’t have investors telling you what to do. You’re not obligated to pursue aggressive growth that doesn’t align with your values. You’re not pressured to exit quickly so venture capitalists can get their return. You can build the business you actually want, at the pace that makes sense for your life.

Sivers started CD Baby with $500 and his own coding skills. He didn’t have an office, a team, or a marketing budget. What he had was a useful service that solved a real problem for a specific group of people. That turned out to be enough.

This perspective feels particularly important right now. We’re constantly bombarded with stories about startups raising millions in seed funding, often before they have any real customers. These stories create the impression that you need significant capital to start anything worthwhile. But Sivers proves that’s simply not true.

What you actually need is to be useful to people. Money doesn’t make ideas grow—solving real problems for real people does. If you can start serving customers today with whatever resources you currently have, you’re already ahead of someone waiting to raise funding before they begin.

The practical takeaway here is powerful: stop waiting for perfect conditions or adequate funding. Start with what you have, even if it seems insufficient. Teach someone something today if you want to start a tutoring business. Write and share one article if you want to start a publication. Help one person solve a problem if you want to start a consulting practice.

Action beats planning. Usefulness beats capital. Starting beats waiting.

Building a Business That Serves Your Life

What really sets Anything You Want apart from typical business books is Sivers’ underlying philosophy: your business should serve your life, not consume it. This might sound obvious, but it’s actually radical in a culture that glorifies hustle, celebrates 80-hour work weeks, and treats burnout as a badge of honor.

Sivers built CD Baby to support his life as a musician and his values around helping other artists. When the company grew, he made decisions based on what would make him happy and serve his customers well, not what would maximize growth or impress investors. When it stopped being fun, when it started feeling like a burden rather than a joy, he sold it.

This approach challenges the conventional entrepreneurial narrative where you’re supposed to sacrifice everything for your business, scale at all costs, and measure success purely by revenue and growth metrics. Sivers suggests a different definition of success: building something sustainable that serves people well while supporting the life you actually want to live.

I’ve thought about this a lot while building Books4soul.com. There are plenty of strategies I could employ to grow faster—clickbait headlines, algorithm gaming, covering only trending topics. But would that serve the life I want? Would it align with my values around authentic, thoughtful content? Would it make the work more fulfilling or just more frantic?

Sivers’ example gives me permission to build something more intentional, even if it grows more slowly. To prioritize quality over quantity. To serve readers deeply rather than chasing massive scale. To remember that the point isn’t to build the biggest blog possible—it’s to create something valuable that fits the life I want to live.

Where Sivers’ Approach Might Fall Short

As much as I love Anything You Want, it’s worth acknowledging some limitations. Sivers’ approach worked brilliantly for his specific situation: a technical founder solving a clear problem for a defined audience in an emerging market. Not every business opportunity fits this template.

Some ventures genuinely do require significant capital to start. If you’re developing medical devices or building manufacturing facilities, you can’t bootstrap from zero. Some markets are winner-take-all where rapid scaling is necessary for survival. Some businesses benefit enormously from experienced advisors and strategic investors who bring more than just money.

Additionally, Sivers was fortunate to have technical skills that allowed him to build CD Baby himself. Not everyone can code their own platform or has equivalent skills in their field. The “start with what you have” advice works better when what you have includes valuable, applicable skills.

There’s also a survivorship bias consideration. We’re reading Sivers’ lessons because CD Baby succeeded. Presumably, many other entrepreneurs tried similar approaches and failed. Their stories don’t get published. This doesn’t invalidate Sivers’ insights, but it’s worth remembering that following his advice doesn’t guarantee success—it just improves your odds while keeping you aligned with your values.

Some readers have noted that the book is quite short and focused primarily on Sivers’ personal experience rather than systematic business advice. If you’re looking for detailed implementation strategies or step-by-step guides, you might find it lacking. The book is more philosophical than tactical, more about mindset than methodology.

How This Compares to Other Business Books

Anything You Want occupies an interesting space in business literature. It’s not a comprehensive startup guide like The Lean Startup or a growth-focused manual like Traction. It’s more personal and philosophical, closer in spirit to books like Company of One by Paul Jarvis or Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

What these books share is a rejection of conventional startup wisdom. They question whether bigger is always better, whether you need investors, whether rapid growth should be every company’s goal. They advocate for sustainable, intentional businesses that serve their founders’ lives rather than consuming them.

Where Sivers differs is in his emphasis on values and purpose. While Rework focuses on efficiency and Company of One focuses on staying small, Anything You Want focuses on staying true to yourself and your mission. It’s less about business strategy and more about business philosophy.

For readers interested in this alternative approach to entrepreneurship, I’d also recommend The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau and Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling. Together, these books paint a picture of entrepreneurship that’s more accessible, more sustainable, and frankly more appealing than the venture-backed, exit-focused model that dominates startup culture.

Practical Applications for Your Own Journey

So how can you actually apply Sivers’ lessons to your own business or creative work? Here are some concrete ways I’ve been thinking about implementing these ideas:

Test multiple ideas quickly. Instead of spending months perfecting one concept, try several different approaches and see what gets genuine positive response. Create a simple landing page, post on social media, or offer a basic version of your service to a few people. Let actual feedback guide your direction rather than your assumptions about what should work.

Simplify your explanation. Take whatever you’re building and try explaining it in one sentence. If you can’t, your concept might be too complicated. Keep refining until someone who knows nothing about your field can understand what you do and why it matters. This clarity will serve you in every aspect of your business.

Define your core audience. Write down specifically who you’re serving and why. Then identify who you’re not serving. Practice saying no to opportunities that don’t align with your core mission, even when they’re tempting. This focus will make your business stronger and your message clearer.

Start before you’re ready. If you’re waiting for more funding, better conditions, or perfect preparation, stop waiting. Figure out what you can do today with what you currently have. Even small action beats elaborate planning. You’ll learn more from helping one real customer than from six months of theoretical preparation.

Check your definition of success. Are you building toward someone else’s vision of success (impressive revenue, rapid growth, eventual exit) or your own (sustainable income, meaningful work, life balance)? There’s no wrong answer, but make sure you’re clear on what you’re actually working toward and why.

Questions Worth Pondering

Sivers’ book raises some questions that I’m still wrestling with, and I’d love to hear how other entrepreneurs and creators think about them:

How do you balance staying true to your original mission with adapting to market feedback? Sivers was adamant about serving independent musicians, but what if the market had told him to pivot toward something else? When is focus actually stubbornness, and when is flexibility actually losing your way?

In an age of venture capital and rapid scaling, is the bootstrap, stay-small approach still viable for most businesses? Or does it only work in certain niches? Are there industries or markets where Sivers’ approach simply won’t work, and if so, what are the alternatives for people who share his values?

Why This Book Still Matters

Anything You Want was published over a decade ago, and the business landscape has changed dramatically since then. Yet somehow, Sivers’ lessons feel more relevant than ever. In a world of hustle culture, growth hacking, and venture capital pressure, his message of building something sustainable and value-aligned feels almost countercultural.

What I appreciate most about this book is its honesty. Sivers isn’t trying to sell you a course or convince you that his way is the only way. He’s simply sharing what worked for him and why, leaving you to decide what applies to your situation. That humility and authenticity make his insights more trustworthy, not less.

For anyone feeling overwhelmed by conventional business advice, anyone who wants to build something meaningful without sacrificing their values or their life, this book offers a refreshing alternative perspective. It’s a quick read—you can finish it in an afternoon—but the ideas will stick with you much longer.

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read Anything You Want or if you’re trying to build something using these principles. What’s working? What’s challenging? What have you learned? Drop a comment below and let’s keep this conversation going. After all, the best insights come from sharing our experiences with each other, not just reading about someone else’s journey.