The Smart Entrepreneur

The ideal companion for anyone starting out on a new venture. Successful entrepreneurs are smart. They take small steps, use their judgement astutely and reassess their assumptions at every opportunity. In today's fast-moving and technology-driven business environment, they collect the tools and the knowledge they need to manage uncertainty and stay ahead of the competition. Above all they strive to understand their market and business environment - as a result, they may even end up selling a different but commercially smarter idea than the one they first started with. But how does the aspiring entrepreneur get to this point? Imperial College Business School is ranked number one throughout Europe for its teaching on entrepreneurship. Here entrepreneur and professor Bart Clarysse and venture coach Sabrina Kiefer set out their hands-on approach to coaching novice entrepreneurs in this comprehensive guide, distilling academic wisdom into practical principles. 'The Smart Entrepreneur' features real-life case studies as well as in-depth analysis by authors with direct experience of developing start-ups and venture coaching. Divided into twelve chapters that can also be read separately as mini-manuals, each section offers practical advice and guidance to cover all aspects of your new venture, from building a smart business proposition to assembling a dynamic team, carrying out affordable yet effective market research and seeking investment. Whether you've been nurturing an idea for some time but haven't yet worked out how to launch it or you're in the early stages of a venture and in need of detailed advice and coaching, it will guide you through your decision-making process and show you how to turn your initial idea into a comprehensive, credible and investable proposition.

Autorentext

Bart Clarysse

Inhalt

Contents Introduction 1 I Idea creation and evaluation 1. Understanding the fit between opportunities and ideas 9 2. Fine-tuning demand-driven ideas and solutions 20 3. Shaping applications from knowledge-driven ideas 33 II From idea to business proposition 4. Segmenting your market and using preferred witnesses 44 5. Carving out a place in your business environment 72 6. Protecting your business ideas from imitation 87 7.Choosing entrepreneurial strategies for entering new markets 119 III Proof of concept 8. Using prototyping 141 9. Testing the market 153 IV Marshalling resources 10. Setting up venture teams 171 11. Seeking sources of capital 186 12. Introducing the venture roadmap and basic financials 216 Epilogue: the entrepreneurial business case 237 Notes 240 Index 245