Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Avoiding the Field of Dreams Approach
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: In the 1989 film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner plays an Iowa farmer who hears a voice that tells him, “If you build it, he will come.” Inspired by this vision, Costner’s character turns his cornfield into a baseball field (of dreams), and…
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Introduction
Figure 11.1 The initial plan for Vita Coco did not work for its founders, Michael Kirban and Ira Liran, but the coconut water found later success, ultimately becoming the market leader, by using customer-focused design throughout the entrepreneurial process. (credit: modification of “Vita Coco at Vitality Show” by Zeyus Media/Flickr, CC BY 2.0) Chapter Outline 11.1 Avoiding the…
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Summary
10.1 Launching the Imperfect Business: Lean Startup There is no such thing as launching a perfect business. A startup requires time to clarify its identity, market, product, and business model through the build-measure-learn loop, which requires businesses to describe or build a prototype of a product, ask for feedback from potential and actual early customers, measure their responses, and learn from that…
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Growth: Signs, Pains, and Cautions
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: The work of the entrepreneur is not over after the launch of a business. There are constant changes to manage. Sustained business growth requires a company to improve profits by increasing its revenue, cutting costs, or both. Increasing profit yearly indicates improvement…
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Managing, Following, and Adjusting the Initial Plan
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: In this chapter, we’ve discussed how to start the imperfect business using the lean startup approach. We’ve looked at the build-measure-learn loop and how to test an MVP. We’ve also covered how to deal with fear of failure and how to overcome…
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The Challenging Truth about Business Ownership
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: People usually have different reasons for starting a business. Some of the reasons—other than the idea they’ve hit upon—include the freedom to set their own hours, spend more time with family, be their own boss, and make money. However, in many cases,…
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Why Early Failure Can Lead to Success Later
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, students will be able to: Your goal in your venture is to achieve success—ideally, fairly quickly—but most successful entrepreneurs experience some failures along the way. While these setbacks can be discouraging, they provide lessons and experiences that can lead to eventual success. Whether a new business is…
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Launching the Imperfect Business: Lean Startup
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: As you can see from the Dropbox example, businesses can function without being perfect. The company initially provided a short video description of the Dropbox product without even having it coded to the actual program first.5 This way, they could test the idea and receive customer feedback…
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Introduction
Figure 10.1 Dropbox, founded by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, has realized unprecedented growth, as the company is valued in the billions of dollars. (credit: modification of “Dropbox” by Ian Lamont/Flickr, CC BY 2.0) Chapter Outline 10.1 Launching the Imperfect Business: Lean Startup 10.2 Why Early Failure Can Lead to Success Later 10.3 The Challenging Truth about Business Ownership 10.4 Managing,…
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Summary
9.1 Overview of Entrepreneurial Finance and Accounting Strategies Entrepreneurial financing is concerned with understanding the funding requirements for a new business and what sources of funds are available. Each source comes with different expectations and requirements. Equity financing provides the entrepreneur with maximum flexibility: Dividends are not required and can be made when cash flow is…
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