DISCIPLINED
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
24 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL STARTUP
BILL AULET
INTRODUCT
ION
NEWS FLASH—ENTREPRENEURSHIP CAN BE
TAUGHT!
• “Do you think entrepreneurship can be taught?”
• When we look at Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and all
the other highly visible entrepreneurs, they seem to be different from us……
products that made them successful, not some special gene
• To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have great and innovative
products
• Products can be physical goods, but also services or the delivery of
information
• All the other factors that influence success are nothing without a product
• Process of making a great product can be taught
• We must tackle three common myths about the entrepreneur that often
hamper those wishing to start new companies
Three Common Myths That Must
Go
• The first myth is that individuals start companies
More founders = better odds of success
• The second myth is that all entrepreneurs are charismatic and that their charisma
is a key factor in success
Effective communicators, recruiters, and salespeople.
• The third myth is that there is an entrepreneurship gene
Personality traits like flamboyance or boldness are correlated with successful
entrepreneurship
Real skills such as people management, sales skills, and product conception and
delivery
Entrepreneurship can be broken down into discrete behaviors and processes that can
be taught
• Students who attend MIT start companies at
an absolutely prolific rate
• In fact, as of 2006, over 25,000 existed, and
900 new ones are started each year
• These companies employ over 3 million
people with aggregate annual revenues of
approximately $2 trillion
• Total annual revenue from MIT alumni–
founded companies taken together would
make them the eleventh-largest economy in
the world.
What Explains MIT’s Success in Entrepreneurship?
• Students at MIT are extremely intelligent
• MIT students have access to leading-edge technologies in the laboratories
• Companies started with MIT-licensed technology are only a small part of why
MIT is so successful at entrepreneurship.
• Over 90 percent of the companies started by MIT alumni are started without
MIT laboratory–produced technology.
• The real reason is a combination of spirit and skills
• At MIT there is a culture that encourages people to start companies. An aura of
possibility and collaboration so that students quickly adopt the mindset that
“yes, I can start a company too”
• They become infected with the “entrepreneurial virus,” believing in the
benefits of launching a new venture
• The work of developing entrepreneurial skills comes from classes,
competitions, extracurricular events, and networking programs
• A major contributor is the social herding mentality: Not only do they learn
from one another, but that learning becomes part of their individual and group
Distinguishing Two Distinct Types of
Entrepreneurship
Our Focus Is Innovation-Driven
Enterprise
• A healthy economy consists of both types of entrepreneurship,
and both have their strengths and weaknesses
• They are substantively different enough that they require
different mindsets and different sets of skills to be successful
• Therefore, in this course, rather than teach “entrepreneurship,” I
will teach IDE entrepreneurship
What Is Innovation?
Innovation = Invention * Commercialization
• The invention (an idea, a technology, or some sort of intellectual property) is
important, but the entrepreneur does not need to create the invention
• In fact, the inventions that lead to innovation driven companies often come
from elsewhere.
• Example: (the computer mouse created by Xerox PARC is the most famous
example) Apple (Commercialization) (Overture, had invented AdWords, the
text-based, keyword-driven advertisements) Google (Commercialization)
• These examples show that the capability to commercialize an invention is
necessary for real innovation. An entrepreneur, then, serves primarily as the
commercialization agent.
• “technology-driven” entrepreneurship innovation is not limited to technology
• Innovation can come in many varieties including technology, process, business
model, positioning, and more
• Some of the most exciting innovations of our time, such as Google, iTunes,
Salesforce.com, Netflix, Zipcar, and many more are, at their core, business
model innovations. They are enabled by technology, yes !
• Example: Zipcar’s innovation is treating a rental car as a substitute for
owning a car
