Entrepreneurship and New Ventures

Watch

• Why VCs and Angel Investors Say "No" to entrepreneurs | Alicia Syrett | TEDxFultonStreet ↗TEDx Talks
• 6 Tips on Being a Successful Entrepreneur | John Mullins | TED ↗TED
• How I became an entrepreneur at 66 | Paul Tasner ↗TED
• The Business Strategies Behind McDonald’s, Aldi, 7-Eleven and More | WSJ The Economics Of ↗The Wall Street Journal

Read

• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses ↗This seminal work champions an agile approach to venture creation, advocating rapid experimentation and validated learning to minimise risk and maximise impact.Eric Ries
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future ↗A contrarian manifesto urging entrepreneurs to pursue genuine innovation and create monopolies rather than merely competing in existing markets.Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
• The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail ↗Essential reading for understanding how disruptive innovations can upend established industries, offering crucial lessons for both new entrants and incumbents.Clayton M. Christensen
• Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers ↗An indispensable guide for technology ventures navigating the perilous transition from early adopters to the broader, more pragmatic mainstream market.Geoffrey A. Moore
• What is Strategy?A foundational essay that redefines the essence of competitive strategy, providing a critical framework for any new venture seeking sustainable advantage.Michael E. Porter
• The Founder's DilemmaThis insightful article dissects the critical early-stage decisions founders face, particularly the inherent tension between wealth and control.Noam Wasserman

Voices to follow

• Reid Hoffman ↗A Silicon Valley titan whose insights on network effects, scaling, and venture capital offer a masterclass in building and funding disruptive enterprises.Co-founder of LinkedIn, Partner at Greylock Partners, author
• Eric Ries ↗Championed the 'lean startup' methodology, providing a rigorous framework for entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses through validated learning and iterative product development.Entrepreneur, author of 'The Lean Startup'
• Steve Blank ↗A foundational figure in modern entrepreneurship education, he pioneered the 'customer development' process, urging startups to test hypotheses outside the building.Serial entrepreneur, academic, author
• Peter Thiel ↗Known for his contrarian views on innovation and competition, he challenges conventional wisdom, advocating for unique value creation and the pursuit of defensible monopolies.Co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, venture capitalist, author

Glossary

• Business IdeaA business idea is a concept for a product or service that can be offered to customers to make money. It's the initial thought or plan for what a business will do. For example, the idea to create a subscription box service for healthy snacks is a business idea.
• CustomerA customer is a person or organization that buys goods or services from a business. They are the people who pay for what you offer. For example, if you sell handmade greeting cards, anyone who buys one of your cards is a customer.
• EntrepreneurAn entrepreneur is someone who creates a new business, taking on most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. They often come up with new ideas or find new ways to solve problems. For example, a student who starts a small business selling custom-designed t-shirts online is an entrepreneur.
• InnovationInnovation means introducing something new and improved, whether it's a new product, a new way of doing things, or a new business model. It's about creating value through novelty. For example, developing a smartphone app that helps students learn a new language using virtual reality is an innovation.
• MarketThe market refers to all the potential customers who might be interested in buying a particular product or service. It's the group of people or organizations you are trying to sell to. For example, the market for school supplies includes students, parents, and teachers.
• Product/ServiceA product is a physical item you sell, like a book or a phone, while a service is something you do for others, like tutoring or cutting hair. Both are what a business offers to meet a customer's needs. For example, a bakery's product is bread and cakes, while a dog walker offers a service.
• ProfitProfit is the money left over after a business has paid all its expenses, like the cost of materials and salaries, from its revenue. It's the actual gain a business makes. For example, if the lemonade stand's revenue is 500 rupees and its costs (lemons, sugar, cups) are 200 rupees, its profit is 300 rupees.
• RevenueRevenue is the total amount of money a business earns from selling its products or services before any costs are taken out. It's the gross income generated from sales. For example, if a lemonade stand sells 50 glasses at 10 rupees each, its revenue is 500 rupees.
• StartupA startup is a newly formed company, usually with a unique product or service, that aims to grow quickly. It often begins with a small team and limited resources. For example, a new app development company that creates a game for mobile phones is a startup.
• Value PropositionA value proposition explains why a customer should choose your product or service over others. It highlights the unique benefits and value you offer that solve a customer's problem or improve their situation. For example, a tiffin service's value proposition might be "healthy, home-cooked meals delivered fresh to your doorstep daily, saving you time and effort."

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Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Philosophy of Science Philosophy

  A philosopher named Popper said real science means making a claim you could prove wrong, then testing it hard. The 'lean startup' does exactly that with a business: your plan is just a guess, and a flopped product is your guess getting proven wrong. Founders are even told to celebrate that failure, because now they know the truth.

• The Scientific Method Science

  A scientist has a hunch, builds a test, checks the result, and changes their mind if they're wrong. A startup does the identical thing: the rough first product is the experiment, the sales numbers are the test, and 'pivoting' just means the results proved the founder's guess wrong. Building a company is doing science on your own idea.

• Complexity & Emergence Science

  You can't invent the smartphone in the year 1700, because none of the pieces exist yet. New ideas can only reach the 'adjacent possible': one step beyond what's already here. That's why big inventions often pop up in several places at once, the moment the world is finally ready for them.

• Space Exploration & the New Space Age Science

  NASA’s Commercial Crew Program pairs agency requirements and purchasing with spacecraft developed and operated by commercial providers. It gives entrepreneurship a concrete institutional setting: a new venture’s technology, financing and business model can depend on a public customer and demanding safety requirements.

  Sources: NASA — Commercial Crew Program overview ↗