Giving Capitalism Its Due

Carl Schramm on the importance of entrepreneurship.

Carl Schramm doesn’t buy the idea that some businesses are “too big to fail.” That notion, says the president of the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, only creates obstacles for entrepreneurs. Instead, he sees the failure of big companies as the “moment when 1,000 flowers can bloom.”….

A great article in the Wall Street Journal - Check it out.

(Source: online.wsj.com)

Economist’s special report on entrepreneurship: Global Heroes

Howard Stevenson & Ramana Nanda in the Economist’s special report on entrepreneurship: Global Heroes

Check it out. Here.

So, You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

Found a great little article by Kelly K. Spors, of The Wall Street Journal. It describes 10 questions to see if your up for the challenge of entrepreneurship.

“Building a successful business can take years filled with setbacks, long hours and little reward. Certain personalities thrive on the challenge and embrace the sacrifices. But it can be a hard switch for someone who has spent years sitting in a cubicle with a steady paycheck.

So, how can you figure out whether you’re suited for self-employment? We spoke with entrepreneurship researchers, academics and psychologists to come up with a list of questions you should ask yourself before making a big leap.” Check it out by clicking here.

(Above quote taken from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123498006564714189.html)

Noam Wasserman - “Founders of CEO”

Today I attended a seminar by Noam Wasserman, who teaches a second-year MBA elective, entitled “Money and Power in Entrepreneurial Ventures,” that is based on his research over the last decade at Harvard.  From 2004-2007, he taught in HBS’s required first-year MBA course on Entrepreneurial Management, and he has also taught in Harvard’s Doctoral and Executive Education programs.  For three years in a row, Noam’s MBA students elected him to teach their “second-year reunion” classes (Capstone and EC Viewpoints).  He is one of three members of the core faculty of the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars program, and has delivered numerous keynote addresses to meetings of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and various entrepreneurship conferences.

The main points that came from the reading material were:

If, as an entrepreneur your batting for a home-run or your “swinging for the fences” in baseball terms you have a greater chance of “striking out” where if you went for  single or a double there would be more chance to succeed. Meaning, sometimes its better to aim for smaller more achievable targets rather than aim for something that ‘could’ be unattainable or at least of having a high risk of failure.

From the reading prep I took away a few interesting points, which I think any startup or entrepreneur should at least think about:

• Don’t try to build too much, too soon.
• Don’t create something that you wouldn’t use yourself and be excited by.
• Don’t raise too much money too soon.
• Do listen to your gut instinct.
• Do focus, not necessarily at first but at some point it will help to narrow to one area.
• Do be picky, don’t except any old deal, employee or advice.
• Do have balance. The old saying “work hard, play hard” - it will help you through the hard times and help to motivate.

Starting Companies in Turbulent Times (pt 2)

Other things Dr Kurzina touch on were:

Be bold or be cautious, ITS ALL UP TO YOU, but now is the time, IF you know what to do! (Dr. Kurzina)

he talked about different strategies; Twitter strategy: Grow first, monetize later. Value is created bu increased number of users, and

Yammer strategy: Grow slower, Monetize immediately. Values is created by sales ($) and hopefully profits. Two very different approaches, neither wrong but he pointed out “Choose your strategy carefully”.

The VC World of Today (in the US)

IPO and M&A activity is dead

$ to start ups was down 30% in Q4, 2008

VC’s are “gun” shy

The VC’s are telling companies… cut expenses, lay people off, preserve cash.. get real or go home.

SURVIVAL IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Attitude of some companies, is to push now, buy now and grow later. Reap the benefits on ‘the other side” of this down-turn.

NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO SELL ( in the most case)

The Troubles ahead

Every technology company hits a wall, the good one work around it. Don’t over or under react.
Don’t be too optimistic, build and work on a “sales pipeline” of customers.
Start small, meet targets. Then build up. “don’t set your sell up for a big fall”

He also talked about using three different sales strategies.

official sales plan - 100%
sales budget - 115%
operating plan - 80-85%

An entrepreneur has to wear two hats; enthusiastic charismatic leader who “Sells the dream” and Stark Realist