Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

STEPHEN C. HARPER is President of Harper and Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm. He is also Progress Energy/Betty Cameron Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Steve has worked with entrepreneurs in the United States and Canada for more than thirty years. He is on the editorial review board of the Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship and serves on the board of directors of Wachovia Bank (Wilmington area) and the Coastal Entrepreneurial Council, of which he is a cofounder and a former president and executive director.

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Don't Let Your Innovative Business Idea Sit on the Shelf One More Day!

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is not for people who want to start a mom-and-pop type of business. Instead, it is written for people who want to start an exceptional enterprise. It is written for executives, managers, engineers, scientists, inventors, and other professionals who want to break away from their organizational boxes, who want to seize the moment, and who want to experience the thrill of creating an exceptional enterprise. This book is also a valuable resource for bankers, attorneys, accountants, consultants, and educators who want to assist people who are about to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

This entrepreneurial road map guides prospective entrepreneurs through its 14-step New Venture Creation process by offering timely and practical guidance for identifying and evaluating market opportunities, systematically developing a business plan, and securing the appropriate level and type of funding.

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is for professionals who want to create a business that: Capitalizes on lucrative market opportunities Is positioned to achieve a high rate of growth Offers goods and/or services that are in sync with its target market Has significant and sustainable competitive advantages Generates considerable wealth for the founder(s)

With insights into the qualities and capabilities entrepreneurs must have to start a successful venture, Extraordinary Entrepreneurship applies the latest accounting, finance, and marketing practices to the entrepreneurial process. It illustrates how having a keen sense of timing, doing perceptive market research and test marketing, analyzing key feasibility and logistical issues, and having a flexible funding plan prepared in advance are essential before launching the venture. It also demonstrates how using kaleidoscopic thinking, developing competitive matrices, being the first mover, bootstrapping, and establishing a network of value-added advisors will enable prospective entrepreneurs to boldly go where no venture has gone before.

Aus dem Klappentext

Don't Let Your Innovative Business Idea Sit on the Shelf One More Day!

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is not for people who want to start a mom-and-pop type of business. Instead, it is written for people who want to start an exceptional enterprise. It is written for executives, managers, engineers, scientists, inventors, and other professionals who want to break away from their organizational boxes, who want to seize the moment, and who want to experience the thrill of creating an exceptional enterprise. This book is also a valuable resource for bankers, attorneys, accountants, consultants, and educators who want to assist people who are about to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

This entrepreneurial road map guides prospective entrepreneurs through its 14-step New Venture Creation process by offering timely and practical guidance for identifying and evaluating market opportunities, systematically developing a business plan, and securing the appropriate level and type of funding.

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is for professionals who want to create a business that: Capitalizes on lucrative market opportunities Is positioned to achieve a high rate of growth Offers goods and/or services that are in sync with its target market Has significant and sustainable competitive advantages Generates considerable wealth for the founder(s)

With insights into the qualities and capabilities entrepreneurs must have to start a successful venture, Extraordinary Entrepreneurship applies the latest accounting, finance, and marketing practices to the entrepreneurial process. It illustrates how having a keen sense of timing, doing perceptive market research and test marketing, analyzing key feasibility and logistical issues, and having a flexible funding plan prepared in advance are essential before launching the venture. It also demonstrates how using kaleidoscopic thinking, developing competitive matrices, being the first mover, bootstrapping, and establishing a network of value-added advisors will enable prospective entrepreneurs to boldly go where no venture has gone before.

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Extraordinary Entrepreneurship

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

The entrepreneur is not circumscribed by the walls of a job description or limited in what he may accomplish, by the insecurities of his superiors, or the necessity to wait until others ahead of him in the corporate pecking order retire. His field is wide open, and he can attempt whatever broken field running he is able to perform. -Leonard A. Batterson

Extra effort has been devoted in this chapter to identifying the qualities that entrepreneurs need so they can meet the challenges associated with starting a new venture. The analysis of entrepreneurial preparedness is the first step in the New-Venture Creation Process profiled in the introduction. Although the list of qualities may seem formidable and the list of challenges may seem overwhelming, this chapter is not intended to discourage you from starting a venture. Instead, it is designed to provide insights into the challenges of starting and running a new venture so you can decide if you are ready to take the journey.

This chapter focuses on five entrepreneurial issues.

1. It encourages you to take a good look at your skills and capabilities.

2. It encourages you to identify the skills and capabilities needed to start a venture.

3. It encourages you to identify gaps between the first and second areas.

4. It encourages you to identify areas that you can improve.

5. It encourages you to identify areas where other people will need to be involved in your venture to supplement your skills and capabilities.

These people may be members of your management team or employees. They could also be paid advisors (accountants, attorneys, insurance specialists, etc.), members of an advisory committee if you have one, or members of the board of directors. You may even choose to outsource certain skills and activities to an individual or firm.

STEP ONE: KNOW THYSELF!

Let's face it; most people are not cut out to be entrepreneurs. They don't have the temperament, experience, abilities, or resources to do what is necessary to create a successful venture. The first step in determining whether you have what it takes to start a successful venture is to step back and take an objective look at your skills and capabilities. You need to evaluate what you do know and what you don't know. You also need to know your strengths and weaknesses-and what makes you tick.

Amy Lingren, president of Prototype Career Services, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, offers the following list of questions for prospective entrepreneurs:

1. What is my motivation?

2. What are my goals? Every new business owner should have a clear idea of what he or she wants from the business. If your goal is income, you need to map out how much you want to earn and in what time period. If your goal is independence, you must define what it means to you. For some, it means freedom to work 80 hours a week at something they love. For others it means not working insane hours.

3. What am I willing to give up? Although most budding entrepreneurs have a clear picture of potential gains, they rarely understand what they will give up for their businesses. For example, your friendships and family life will definitely change as you become more absorbed in your new venture. Other sacrifices will include free time and vacations. Even your dignity, professional status, and physical comfort are up for grabs as you do everything from moving inventory to cleaning bathrooms.

4. What is my work style? Are you happiest working with a team or by yourself? To be happy, you must know your needs and work style before you choose the kind of company you will run.

5. What is my timeline? If you're currently unemployed, you may need an income as soon as possible. Whatever your start-up strategy, you need to choose a date to actually start and then develop a calendar of research and startup activities leading to that date. Without a timeline, you risk missing steps and starting too soon, or procrastinating until your excitement is gone.

6. What is my budget? You will need a revision in your household budget to reflect your first 6 to 12 months of business. What will your family do without your salary?

This first step also includes taking a close look at your motives and aspirations. Why do you want to start a venture? Is it for fame and fortune? Is it to be your own boss and to have a sense of fulfillment? Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, indicated that potential entrepreneurs need to decide if the venture is the thing they want to do with their time and their life more than any other thing.

Check Your Motives

If your primary drive is to make a pile of money, then you may be among a small group of entrepreneurs. It is only recently that the desire to make millions has moved to center stage. The twenty-something dot-com entrepreneurs who thought they could rule the Internet seem to have been marching to the tune of a very different drummer. They had a mantra:

1. Develop some idea using Internet technology while working for someone else.

2. Quit your job to pursue your dream.

3. Have venture capitalists fight to invest in your business.

4. Go public.

5. Relax for the rest of your life.

Their lofty expectations and sense of infallibility were matched by the brevity of their timelines. Many wild-eyed young entrepreneurs believed they could do the whole set of actions in less than one year! David Arnoff, an associate of the Graylock Venture Capital firm, noted at a closing-fund dinner for a new company, "The celebration was a little dry as the VCs were the only ones at the table old enough to drink."

Show Me the Money

Entrepreneurs are driven by various motives. Some want to make a quick buck; others want to change the world. Steven Jobs, who cofounded Apple and then created NeXT, had very little interest in generating wealth. His desire to make computing user-friendly and to enhance the quality of education enabled him to attract great talent and create revolutionary products.

It has been observed, "Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have forgotten what the Valley's business used to be: developing revolutionary technologies, bringing them to market, and building organizations that can, over the years, continue to create and sell stuff that can change the world." It has also been noted, "If the founders of get-rich-quick startups were to study the history of the most successful tech companies, they'd find a recurring theme; money comes to those who do it for love."

Richard Burnes, cofounder of Charles River Ventures, noted, "If you look at Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, money was not why they did it. They did it because they were driven to do it.... They earned their wealth...