Articles

After spending three incredible sunny days in Rome, I could try to wax poetically about the history, culture, and people of this truly unique city but many books have been written about this topic by people far more qualified than I to comment on these topics, so I will not. I will focus on observations on the entrepreneurship dimension of the city.

This past week (March 20-22), I had a full immersion into the Paris entrepreneurial scene. It was highly energizing and eye-opening since my last visit. My previous visits (over two years ago now), had been quick visits to “City of Lights” – so called because it was one of the first cities to have lights due to early adoption of electricity. This early adopter mentality strangely did not apply to entrepreneurship or a translation of the first Disciplined Entrepreneurship book. It was surprising…

On March 16th and 17th, I had the good fortune to run a two-day seminar on “Introduction to Disciplined Entrepreneurship” at the University of Luxembourg. In the process of this and the following Monday, I had a chance to directly experience what was happening with entrepreneurship in the Grand Duchy of 600,000 inhabitants, or more specifically, in its dominant city, the City of Luxembourg.  These types of experiences always generate interesting data points to refine my worldview of…

When I heard the news that GE is considering breaking itself up into smaller units, I was overcome with sadness. I started my career at IBM in the early 1980s and saw that company brought low, and now a similar scenario is playing out with another venerable firm.

Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, and Bill Gurley have impressed me on how they write so often (and there are many others). In discussing it with them, they say it really helps them process thoughts, events, and information as well as forcing them to continue to push them forward to be innovative. I have publicly applauded them and encouraged others to do the same but not done it myself.

I have had the great honor and fortune to teach entrepreneurship for over a decade at MIT, and it has been a journey of continuous learning and improvement. While I could write books on what I have learned about how to teach entrepreneurship, here is a selection of 13 key lessons learned that I encourage you to consider incorporating into your teaching strategies.

Valuing a company is always a mix of science and art, especially for startups.  Historically the science has been pretty simple: Find comparable companies and do a multiple of earnings or revenue. However, three drivers of startup valuation have emerged that are changing the game. “Acquihire,” is the act of buying out a company for the skills and expertise of its staff. When Facebook buys a company like Hot Potato, it’s not for the revenue stream or products — it’s for the employees. Companies…

When I heard the news that GE is considering breaking itself up into smaller units, I was overcome with sadness. I started my career at IBM in the early 1980s and saw that company brought low, and now a similar scenario is playing out with another venerable firm.

To inspire today’s generation of company builders, entrepreneurship education needs a common language and apprenticeship opportunities. In my 20-plus years as an entrepreneur and seven years as an entrepreneurship educator, I have explored whether starting successful companies should be thought of as a science or an art. If entrepreneurship is a science, then I could easily teach my students that if they perform actions X and Y, they will get a result of Z. If it is an art, then it can be…

In the fall of 1977, the aspiring Harvard varsity basketball players used to play pickup games every afternoon. All of us were vying for the limited spots on the team. The competition was fierce. I remember one not particularly athletic guy, less of a thoroughbred and more of workhorse, a Clydesdale. I did not see him making the team, but Charlie Baker surprised us. He not only made the team, but turned out to be a terrific teammate.