Entrepreneurship

“The role of the entrepreneur is to stand up to all…to stand up to ridicule.”

Tom Peters

The Entrepreneurial Task

• Capacity to perceive and act upon opportunities in the environment

• Ability to create and build something from practically nothing

• Successful pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled

Opportunity

• Favorable set of circumstances creating a need or opening for a new business concept

• A situation where something can be improved at a profit

• The existence of “pain” that can be removed—something is unsatisfactory

• But you can have opportunity without something being wrong

Opportunity versus Concept/Idea

• Opportunity:– Labor shortage in fast food industry– High employee turnover in fast food restaurants– Bad/inconsistent service

Business Concept:

Hire and train high school students; act as outsourced labor supply to local fast food franchisees

Finding Opportunity

• Look for pattern of trends (in markets, demographics, social behaviors, customer buying behavior, competitive practices, etc.

• Monitor changes in rules, laws, regulations• Conduct ‘needs’ research, focus on

problems• Look for under-utilized resources

Social Entrepreneurship

• A social entrepreneur:– Identifies and solves social problems on a

large scale– They act as change agents for society, seizing

opportunities others miss in order to:• Improve systems• Invent and disseminate new approaches• Advance sustainable solutions that create social

value

Some vexing questions

• Are entrepreneurs born?• Is there a prototype of the entrepreneur?• Are all small business owners entrepreneurs?• Are entrepreneurs different from managers?• Can people be taught to be entrepreneurs?• Is there a right time to be an entrepreneur?• What makes for a successful entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship as a Process

Identifying an Opportunity

Develop the Concept

Determine the Required Resources

Acquire the Necessary Resources

Implement and Manage

Harvest the Venture

So what is an entrepreneurial mindset?

• Healthy dissatisfaction• Passionate pursuit of new opportunities• Enormous discipline and tenacity• Prioritizing opportunities and not exhausting

oneself or resources by pursuing every one• Focus• Building a team of zealots

Small Business-10 Factors to Success

• Prepare a business plan• Gain experience• Know the competition• Master marketing• Location• Family support• Tenacity• Be entertaining• Have an internet presence• Use the SBDC

Entrepreneurship

• The reasonable man (or woman) adapts himself (herself) to the world. The unreasonable man (or woman) persists in adapting the world to himself (herself). Therefore, all progress depends on unreasonable men (and women).

• George Bernard Shaw

Resources

• Youngentrepreneurfoundation.wordpress.com

• www.sba.gov

• www.nyssbdc.org