Brains versus Capital: Entrepreneurship for Everyone - Lean, Smart, Simple - Hardcover

Many believe they know how to do it, but very few actually try. Even fewer succeed. There is something wrong in the way we go about starting new companies. There is an alternative: create your own idea-masterpiece as a collage or puzzle made from existing pieces; construct your company from pre-existing components that are freely available to everyone. Keep your mind free for the important questions. Look to the horizon; don t drown in routine tasks. Is this just a dream? No, it isn t: with practical examples of successful companies, Guenter Faltin shows how anyone can refine an idea to create a new company, by combining components that already exist. Accounting and bookkeeping? Leave it to those who can do it quickly, reliably and economically. Shipping, packaging and logistics? You can easily find professionals for these tasks. Guenter Faltin has been teaching this approach for many years, and he has applied it with great success in his 'Teekampagne' (Tea Campaign). The largest mail-order tea company in Germany, it has over 200,000 customers and is the largest importer of Darjeeling Tea in the world. A growing number of companies created in Professor Faltin's surroundings uses his principles successfully. This book opens up vistas of opportunity for many people who never thought they would start their own company. Entrepreneurship is not a calling for a select few! Creative work and economic self-realization are goals that anyone can pursue.

Guenter Faltin is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Free University of Berlin. In 1985, Faltin started the 'Teekampagne' (Tea Campaign), a venture that turned the German tea market upside down by betting on consumer education, transparency and trace- ability. Today, the company is the largest importer of Dar- jeeling world-wide. Faltin initiated the Berlin-based Entrepreneurship Lab and has been a business angel for successful startups. Through the Faltin Foundation for Entrepreneurship, he promotes a new culture of entrepreneurship in Germany. In the United States, the Price-Babson Foundation recognized him with an award for bringing entrepreneurial vitality to academe. In 2009, he won the German Founder s Award, as well as an award from Germany s Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology for his idea of founding with components. In 2010 he received the Federal Cross of Merit from the German president for his pioneer work on entrepreneurship.