Unlock your innate entrepreneurial talents, take rewarding risks, and launch and run a successful business The Entrepreneurial Instinct explains that entrepreneurial success is not the result of education, IQ, access to capital, or even an earth-shattering business plan. Instead, it comes from the instincts that enable entrepreneurs to take risks for gain and utilize adaptable action-oriented business planning. The Entrepreneurial Instinct shows you how to tap into your innate abilities to become a financially successful entrepreneur. Monica Mehta is a Managing Principal at Seventh Capital, a New York-based investment firm where she is actively involved with the day-to-day operations of portfolio companies.
Unlock your innate entrepreneurial talent Winner of a 2013 Small Business Book Award - Startup Category We’ve all heard stories of the dropout that makes billions—a triumph relying more on luck than skill and never to be repeated. In real life, successful entrepreneurs take classes, write business plans, and map out every contingency. But if the stories are such a fluke, why do we hear them over and over again? In The Entrepreneurial Instinct, sought after small business expert Monica Mehta looks past the rags to riches stories to explore the role of mind, behavior, and brain chemistry in our ability to be successful entrepreneurs. Interviews with entrepreneurs reveal the traits and habits that allow them to thrive. Groundbreaking insight from neuroscience and psychology experts uncovers the scientific explanations behind self-made mavericks’ seemingly innate knack. More important, Mehta explains how you can use these discoveries to replicate their success by: Taking rewarding risks Overcoming fears and failure Thriving in the face of ambiguity Using your innate talents to find financial independence and make millions The Entrepreneurial Instinct weaves together the incredible self-made stories of the founders of CLIF Bar, Carol’s Daughter, Marquis Jet, Skip Hop, KIPP Charter Schools, J Brand, Tahari, Apple, Paul Mitchell Systems, and Dogfish Head Beer. None of these anecdotes involves higher education, meticulous planning, or years of gathering seed money. These stories are about seemingly average people who possessed a keen understanding of how their minds worked—and used that knowledge to their advantage. In a time when the prospect of unemployment or the loss of life savings is high, the need to seize control of your own destiny is greater than ever. The Entrepreneurial Instinct offers much-needed techniques for using our innate capabilities to make more with less. Now is the time to learn what you’re made of. Now is the time to make your move. Now is the time to tap into your Entrepreneurial Instinct and create your own story of small business success. Praise for The Entrepreneurial Instinct “Monica Mehta’s book is a must-read for anyone aspiring to excel by challenging conventional wisdom and rolling with the punches to do what comes naturally.” —Ajay Banga, President and CEO, MasterCard Worldwide “Illuminating and rich case-based insights into the physiology that drives entrepreneurial risk-taking and decision-making.” —Ian MacMillan, professor of Entrepreneurship, Director of Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, The Wharton School “I couldn’t put this book down. The author does an outstanding job drilling down to unearth exactly what allows some to risk life and limb to create something of value, a feat that should ignite interest in many. Highly recommended reading.” —Robert DiRomualdo, former Chairman and CEO, Borders Group; former President and CEO, Hickory Farms; Chairman, Naples Ventures; Director, Ulta Beauty “This book gets rid of the last excuse of the would-be entrepreneur: fear. By showing how you can work with your brain chemistry rather than against it, The Entrepreneurial Instinct helps you take smarter risks with less angst. It obliterates a lot of the conventional wisdom around entrepreneurship and shows what it really takes to succeed.” –Kimberly Weisul, Editor-at-Large, Inc. magazine, and cofounder, One Thing New “I found this book absolutely fascinating. The science behind success is rarely discussed and certainly not in such an entertaining, relatable way. Great book—read it!” —Larry Winget, author of five New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life
The groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller that taught a generation how to transform their careers—now in a revised and updated edition “A profound book about self-determination and self-realization.”—Senator Cory Booker “The Startup of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project In this invaluable book, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today’s competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a startup business: a living, breathing, growing startup of you. Why? Startups—and the entrepreneurs who run them—are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage. These are the very same skills professionals need to get ahead today. This book isn’t about cover letters or résumés. Instead, you will learn the best practices of the most successful startups and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career. Whether you work for a giant multinational corporation, stitch together multiple gigs in a portfolio career, or are launching your own venture, you need to know how to • adapt your career plans as pandemics rage and technologies upend industries • develop a competitive advantage so that you stand out from others at work • strengthen your professional network by building powerful alliances and maintaining a diverse mix of relationships • engineer serendipity that produces life-changing career opportunities • take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry tsunamis • tap your network for information and intelligence that help you make smarter decisions The career landscape has changed dramatically in the decade since Hoffman and Casnocha first published this guide. In an urgent update to the frameworks that have helped hundreds of thousands of people transform their careers, this new edition of The Startup of You will teach you how to achieve your boldest professional ambitions.
By any measure, the movement toward entrepreneurship is increasing each year; data from the Small Business Administration indicates that there are over 5 million small businesses in operation in the United States. And while many resources provide practical information to guide the entrepreneur or small business owner through the challenges of establishing, managing, and growing their business, few tackle the more personal side of entrepreneurship in a rigorous fashion. According to a recent Gallup poll, seven out of ten high school students report that they want to start and run their own business. Every year, five million Americans launch their own ventures, according to the Small Business Administration. By any measure, the movement toward entrepreneurship is increasing each year. While many resources provide practical information to guide the entrepreneur or small business owner through the challenges of establishing, managing, and growing their business, few tackle the more personal side of entrepreneurship in a rigorous fashion. As Ted Sun argues, countless people are entering entrepreneurship in one form or another. Most have no clue how to be one.
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.
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.
Why work for someone else when you can call your own shots, pursue your dreams, and find success on your terms by starting your own business? So many people end up bored with their jobs, stuck in the corporate grind, never following their true passions. As wildly successful young entrepreneur Cameron Johnson shows, you don't have to live that way. We've entered a new age of entrepreneurship, with the Web making it easier than ever to start and run your own company. As Johnson's remarkable story reveals, the entrepreneurial way of life is a great way to make sure you love what you do -- and it offers the potential to achieve extraordinary success by following your gut instincts and going for what you really want. What about the risks? Don't you need lots of money? Don't most start-ups fail? Johnson shares his essential secrets to entrepreneurial success that show you how he got into the life at very low risk, and, with very little money, took an idea that excited him and ran with it, achieving great success and satisfaction with businesses he loved. He didn't have an MBA; he didn't even have a college degree. But he had learned the simple yet vital secrets he reveals. Cameron Johnson is a seriously happy entrepreneur who started his first business when he was nine with $50 and a home computer. Before he'd turned twenty-one he'd started twelve successful businesses and was offered $10 million in venture capital to grow his hot Web company CertificateSwap.com -- praised by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the Web businesses helping the tech industry get its groove back -- even bigger. He has never taken out a loan or racked up any debt, and every one of his businesses has been highly profitable -- so profitable that he made his first million before graduating from high school, and he's put away enough cash so that he could retire today. But that's the last thing on earth he'd want to do; he's much too happy starting up new companies. Through the story of his own impressive career so far, in You Call the Shots, Johnson takes you behind the scenes of entrepreneurial success and empowers you to hit the ground running with your own great business idea, no matter how young you are or how little money you have to invest.
A no-nonsense, implementable handbook for taking part in the Entrepreneur Revolution We are living in revolutionary times; times with an impact as significant and far-reaching as the previous Industrial Revolution was to the Agricultural Age. Technological shifts have allowed micro-businesses to compete with large corporations. Small business can now have a global footprint, can be structured in low tax environments, move products anywhere in the world, and access unprecedented levels of support. Entrepreneur Revolution means taking the initiative to do something that you love, something that you’re good at, and something that will make you money. This masterclass in gaining an entrepreneurial mindset will show how to change the way you think, the way you network, and the way you make a living. Includes new statistics, activities, case studies, and research Takes a look at how the brain can affect the entrepreneurial mindset Offers new ideas for entrepreneurs starting a new business Helps you shake off old ideas and make a great, independent leap forward This inspiring and practical book shows you how to break free from The Industrial Revolution mindset, quit working so hard, follow your dream—and make a fortune along the way.
Based on neuroscience research, this book presents and demonstrates a 'Ten Enablers' model as a framework to help change leaders successfully lead and manage change. It focuses on the execution of change processes within volatile and challenging emerging markets with high growth potential. The book first presents the organizational development and change research on which the model is based, and discusses the basic neuroscience principles. It then introduces a systematic model of the ten enablers, taking readers through the process of change, from considering the ethos prior to embarking on it, including engagement of stakeholders, up to the final phase, where change leaders exit the process or the organization. It highlights this circular process through several step-by-step illustrations, supported by examples from emerging markets. Further, it includes neuroscience research and principles to help leaders understand and manage change in themselves and others. This well-researched and practical book is a valuable resource for students and professionals alike.
