Effectual Entrepreneurship

Whether you come to this book as an entrepreneurship student, a corporate manager or a seasoned creator of new ventures, you already know that entrepreneurship is becoming the de facto engine of growth, innovation and that most delicious of personal freedoms financial self-reliance. What you will discover is that there is a science to entrepreneurship a common logic we have observed in expert entrepreneurs across industries, geographies and time. The underlying principles are the same ones that enabled Josiah Wedgwood in the eighteenth century shape a pottery business into an enduring brand, helped Earl Bakken transform his college job into MedTronic, and allowed Mohammed Yunus to transform the lives of millions of women in Bangladesh. You will come face-to-face with some common misconceptions about entrepreneurship, as well as fears faced by every entrepreneur. You will find four core principles plus a fifth overarching view that expert entrepreneurs have learned in the process of creating new ventures, products and markets: 1. Start with your means. 2. Set affordable loss. 3. Leverage contingencies. 4. Form partnerships. 5. Create opportunities. When you start a new venture for-profit or not, individually or within existing organizations you are not only trying to make a good living, you are engaged in expanding the horizon of valuable new economic opportunities. This book is designed to help you do that start to finish. And, in form and content, the book embodies the expert entrepreneurs logic bold, systematic, pragmatic, and at all times full of energy, mischief and fun.