CH1: Practicing Entrepreneurship

What is entrepreneurship?

Do you need to start from scratch to be an entrepreneur?

a way of thinking, acting, and being that combines the ability to find and create new opportunities with the courage to act on them.

No—entrepreneurship can involve starting new businesses, buying businesses, franchising, or innovating within organizations.

What is effectuation?

Starting small with what you have, not what you think you need.

Explore various pathways to participating in entrepreneurship/main types of entrepreneurship:

1. Corporate entrepreneurship

2. Entrepreneurship Inside/Intrapreneurship

3. Franchising

4. Buying a small business

5. Social entrepreneurship

6. Family enterprising

7. Serial entrepreneurship

1. Corporate entrepreneurship - When employees create new products, ventures, or processes within a corporation (includes corporate venturing and intrapreneurship).

2. Entrepreneurship Inside/Intrapreneurship - employees think and act entrepreneurially within
   organizations of any type or size

3. Franchising - A method of distributing products or services involving a franchisor and franchisee.

4. Buying a small business

5. Social entrepreneurship - sourcing innovative solutions to social and environmental problems.

   ex. Benefit Corporation, or B Corp

6. Family enterprising - Each generation has an opportunity to bring the organization forward.

7. Serial entrepreneurship - The process of starting several businesses, whether simultaneously or
   one after another.

Describe the six most important features of modern entrepreneurship.

(1) Entrepreneurship is a method that requires practice.

(2) entrepreneurs think differently.

(3) entrepreneurs act more than plan;

(4) profit is not the only motive;

(5) entrepreneurs collaborate more than they compete;

6) Entrepreneurship is a life skill.

What is the difference between managerial vs entrepreneurial thinking?

Managers rely on data and structure;

entrepreneurs face uncertainty, act with less information, and focus on ventures.

What are the two views of entrepreneurship and distinguish between them.

Process view: Linear, predictable, “analysis before action.”

Method view: Iterative, unpredictable, “action before analysis.”

A process is a series of well-defined steps that need to be followed in a particular order, with the assumption of entrepreneurial success at the end. Yet entrepreneurship is nonlinear and unpredictable, which is why the Method is a far more useful approach.

Viewing entrepreneurship as a method caters to its uncertain and unpredictable nature. The Method is an approach to doing something with no guarantee of a particular outcome, yet it does increase chances of success as it helps guide entrepreneurs through periods of chaos and increases their chances of success. Over time, the Method gets easier and more useful with practice.

What are the seven components of the entrepreneurship method?

1. Come up with a “why” statement
2. Start with means at hand
3. Describe the idea today
4. Identify first actions
5. Enroll stakeholders
6. Calculate affordable loss
7. Act, learn, build (build on what you learn)

Explore the role of deliberate practice in developing entrepreneurial expertise

Practice doesn’t make perfect; rather, deliberate practice makes perfect. Starting with specific goals, deliberate practice involves consistent, targeted efforts for improvement. Feedback and self-reflection are necessary for meaningful improvement, and repetition is required to achieve lasting results.