Fundamentals for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur: From Business Idea to Launch and Management

Fundamentals for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur: From Business Idea to Launch and Management

by Malin Brännback, Alan Carsrud
Released November 2015
Publisher(s): Pearson FT Press
ISBN: 9780133967005

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Book description

This is the complete, up-to-date guide to creating a successful new venture. Using real-life examples, it helps you assemble every piece of the puzzle: you, your team, your opportunity, your business concept and revenue model, your resources, and your successful launch, execution, and growth.

The authors illuminate entrepreneurial mindsets, motivation, attitudes, and leadership, and cover the entire process of starting a company, from idea through your first four years of operations. You’ll learn how to recognize, define, test, and exploit opportunities; transform ideas into revenue models that earn sustainable value; demonstrate viability to funders; establish a strong ethical and legal foundation for your concept; and build a thriving team to execute on it.

You can use this guide’s entrepreneurship techniques and approaches in many ways: to build a profitable new venture, to succeed as a self-employed professional, to make a non-profit or public agency more successful, or even to transform your current organization!

Entrepreneurship: From dreams to outcomesDefining success for yourself—and achieving itDesigning concepts for profitability and growthPlanning your high-potential business, step by stepInnovating in product/service development and marketingDelivering something new that your market will valueBuilding your entrepreneurial venture, one person at a timeDeveloping great teams—and avoiding common hiring mistakesMastering the essentials of entrepreneurial financeRevenue models, financing options, metrics, and growth

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Praise for Fundamentals for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Contents
  6. Introduction: Why This Book, What It Is All About, and Who We Are
    1. The Why
    2. The What
    3. The Who
  7. 1. What Is This Thing Called Entrepreneurship?
    1. 1.0 Introduction
    2. 1.1 The Entrepreneur
    3. 1.2 Entrepreneurial Dreams and Their Outcomes
    4. 1.3 There Is No One Narrative
    5. 1.4 Collective Dreams
    6. 1.5 Why Entrepreneurship Became Important
    7. 1.6 Challenging Assumptions—Entrepreneurship Is for All
    8. 1.7 Entrepreneurial Environments
    9. 1.8 National Innovation Systems for Entrepreneurs
      1. 1.8.1 Incubators and Accelerators
    10. 1.9 Entrepreneurs: Made or Born
    11. 1.10 Who Is an Entrepreneur?
    12. 1.11 The Entrepreneurial Personality
    13. 1.12 Entrepreneurial Mindset
    14. 1.13 Defining Entrepreneurship: It All Depends
    15. 1.14 Opportunity Recognition
    16. 1.15 Entrepreneurial Goals
    17. 1.16 Different Goals for Different Folks
    18. 1.17 Other Definitional Issues
    19. 1.18 The Self-Employed as Entrepreneurs
      1. 1.18.1 The Context for Self-Employed Entrepreneurs
    20. 1.19 A False Dichotomy
    21. 1.20 Do Goals Differentiate?
      1. 1.20.1 A Mini-Case Example
    22. 1.21 Opportunity and the Entrepreneur
    23. 1.22 Exercises
    24. 1.23 Advanced Exercises
    25. References
  8. 2. What Is Being Successful: Well It All Depends
    1. 2.0 Why Examine Success?
      1. 2.0.1 Case Example from Finland and Sweden
    2. 2.2 Defining Success
    3. 2.3 Defining Failure
    4. 2.4 Measurement Issues in Defining Success (and Failure)
    5. 2.5 Success in the Entrepreneurial Context
    6. 2.6 How Some Firm Founders See Success
    7. 2.7 How Entrepreneurship Researchers View Success
    8. 2.8 An Ancient Narrative on Obtaining Success
    9. 2.9 Success and Opportunity
    10. 2.10 Tying Success to Entrepreneurial Goals
    11. 2.11 Is Success Wealth?
    12. 2.12 The True Secret to Success: Networking
      1. 2.12.1 Rules for Networking
    13. 2.13 Finally, Success Is Having Fun
    14. 2.14 Case Example From Italy
    15. 2.15 Conclusion
    16. 2.16 Exercises
    17. References
  9. 3. Getting a Good Idea and Making It Work
    1. 3.0 Overview
    2. 3.1 The Idea
    3. 3.2 Idea Generation
      1. 3.2.1 Concept Benefits: Needs, Wants, and Fears
      2. 3.2.2 Examples of Needs, Wants, and Fears.
      3. 3.2.3 Thinking out of the Box: Not Everything Needs a Hammer
      4. 3.2.4 The Role of Creativity
    4. 3.3 The Concept
      1. 3.3.1 The Conceptual Event
      2. 3.3.2 A Case Example of the Conceptual Event
    5. 3.4 The Entrepreneur as a Dreamer
    6. 3.5 Generating Ideas
    7. Creating a Viable Business Concept and Business Model
    8. Looking for Trends and Counter Trends as Concept Sources
    9. Brainstorming: The Good and The Ugly
    10. 3.7 Timing: It Is Not First to Market
    11. 3.8 Designing a Concept for Profitability and Growth
      1. 3.8.1 Building a Viable Business Concept
    12. 3.9 More Thoughts on Concept Development
    13. 3.10 Some Commentary on Franchises
    14. 3.11 The Concept Feasibility Worksheet Exercise
    15. 3.12 Exercise: Can You Describe the Concept?
    16. References
  10. 4. The Basics About Marketing You Have to Know
    1. 4.0 An Overview
    2. 4.1 Why Know Your Market?
    3. 4.2 What Is Marketing?
      1. 4.2.1 Basic Marketing Terminology
    4. 4.3 Marketing Research: Doing the Work Upfront
      1. 4.3.1 Market Research: Start Personally
      2. 4.3.2 Examples of Walking Around Research
    5. 4.4 Developing Effective Marketing Strategies
      1. 4.4.1 Mobile Devices and Marketing
      2. 4.4.2 The Internet: The Best and Worst for a Venture
      3. 4.4.3 Using the Internet and Cell Phone Apps
    6. 4.5 Selling: The Challenge
      1. 4.5.1 Typical Problems in Selling Anything
      2. 4.5.2 Selling to the Internet Generation
      3. 4.5.3 Marketing in the Social Media Age
    7. 4.6 Advertising
    8. 4.7 Public Relations
    9. 4.8 Branding
    10. 4.9 Exercises
    11. References
  11. 5. It Is All About Building a Better Mousetrap: Product and Service Development
    1. 5.0 Overview
    2. 5.1 Product/Service Innovation
      1. 5.1.1 Entrepreneurs Versus Inventors
      2. 5.1.2 Stage-Gate Model of Product Development
      3. 5.1.3 Using Stage-Gate Model
    3. 5.2 Types of Innovation
      1. 5.2.1 Focus Innovation
      2. 5.2.2 Innovation Impact
    4. 5.3 To Innovate or Not: That Is the Big Question
      1. 5.3.1 Commercialization Is Key
      2. 5.3.2 Defining New: In the Eye of the Beholder
    5. 5.4 Building on the Past
      1. 5.4.1 Reinventing an Industry’s Products: Examples
      2. 5.4.2 E-Commerce: Using Innovation in Marketing and Distribution
    6. 5.5 Industry Change as Opportunity for Product/Development
      1. 5.5.1 Examples of Industrial Change Fostering New Models
    7. 5.6 Spotting New Trends for New Products/Services
    8. 5.7 Basic Conditions for Successful Products and Services
    9. 5.8 Case Study of New Product Development in a New Venture
    10. 5.9 Patents, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights
    11. 5.10 Exercise
    12. Reference
  12. 6. Finding Team Members and Building an Entrepreneurial Organization
    1. 6.0 Overview
    2. 6.1 Building the Venture One Person at a Time
      1. 6.1.1 The Entrepreneurial Team
      2. 6.1.2 Other Issues to Consider
      3. 6.1.3 Outsourcing
    3. 6.2 Finding New Employees
      1. 6.2.1 Big Hiring Errors
      2. 6.2.2 Characteristics of a Good Hire
      3. 6.2.3 A Mini-Case Example
    4. 6.3 Whom to Hire or Not, Whom to Fire or Not
      1. 6.3.1 Saying “No” to an Applicant
      2. 6.3.2 Firing an Employee
    5. 6.4 To Be a Family Firm or Not to Be
      1. 6.4.1 What Is Firm Owning Family?
      2. 6.4.2 Family Goals Impact Hiring
      3. 6.4.3 Long-Term Impact of Hiring Family Members
    6. 6.5 Compensation, Benefits, and Stock Options
    7. 6.6 Building an Entrepreneurial Team Structure
      1. 6.6.1 A Line Structure for Entrepreneurial Teams
      2. 6.6.2 Project Approach to an Entrepreneurial Team Structure
      3. 6.6.3 Informal Structure: Key to a Successful Entrepreneurial Team
    8. 6.7 New Firm Governance
    9. 6.8 Legal Structure Decisions
    10. 6.9 Final Thoughts on Entrepreneurial Management
    11. 6.10 Exercises
    12. References
  13. 7. Everything You Really Need to Know About Entrepreneurial Finance
    1. 7.0 Entrepreneurial Finance: An Introduction
    2. 7.1 Building an Entrepreneurial Financial Strategy
      1. 7.1.1 Entrepreneurial Finance: Not Just Venture Capital and IPO
      2. 7.1.2 Building a Sustainable Revenue Model
      3. 7.1.3 Cash Flow: A Numerical Scorecard
      4. 7.1.4 Determining Cash-Flow Needs
      5. 7.1.5 Timing and Cash Flow
      6. 7.1.6 Money Comes in Four Forms
      7. 7.2 Finding Money and Investors
      8. 7.2.1 More Money Sources
      9. 7.2.2 The Myth of Needing Deep Pockets
    3. 7.3 Understanding Investors and Bankability
      1. 7.3.1 Capital
      2. 7.3.2 Debt Financing
      3. 7.3.3 Banks
      4. 7.3.4 Venture Capital
      5. 7.3.5 Angel Investors
      6. 7.3.6 What Investors Look for in Any Venture
    4. 7.4 Bootstrap Financing
      1. 7.4.1 Advantages to Bootstrapping
    5. 7.5 Crowd Funding
    6. 7.6 Exercise
    7. References
  14. 8. How to Grow or Not to Grow Your Venture: That Is the Management Challenge
    1. 8.0 Growing Your Venture: An Introduction
    2. 8.1 What Is Business Growth?
      1. 8.1.1 Developing a Workable Growth Strategy
      2. 8.1.2 Growth and Success
      3. 8.1.3 Mini-Case on Growth by Replication
    3. 8.2 Describing Growth Versus Defining Growth
      1. 8.2.1 Some Descriptions and Issues
    4. 8.3 Growth and Competition
    5. 8.4 Growth as Metamorphosis
    6. 8.5 Conclusion
    7. 8.6 Exercise
    8. References
  15. 9. Planning: Should You, When Do You, and How Do You?
    1. 9.0 Overview of Plans and Planning
    2. 9.1 Why Plan?
      1. 9.1.1 Hooked on a Feeling
    3. 9.2 When Do You Plan?
    4. 9.3 How Long Will It Take?
    5. 9.4 For Whom Do You Plan?
    6. 9.5 What Goes into a Business Plan?
    7. 9.6 Detail Content of a Written Business Plan
    8. 9.6.1 Executive Summary Content
    9. 9.6.2 Marketing Plan Content
    10. 9.6.3 About Competition
    11. 9.6.4 Management and Organizational Plan
    12. 9.6.5 Financial Plan Content
    13. 9.7 General Comments Concerning Plans
    14. 9.8 Final Words on Planning and Success
      1. 9.8.1 Mini-Case on Chocolate Pralines
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Fundamentals for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur: From Business Idea to Launch and Management
  • Author(s): Malin Brännback, Alan Carsrud
  • Release date: November 2015
  • Publisher(s): Pearson FT Press
  • ISBN: 9780133967005