The Intelligent Entrepreneur

I just finished The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy, Jr., which tells the stories of three Harvard Business School grads who started successful businesses. The book breaks down the stories into ten rules of entrepreneurship, including "manage risk" and "learn to sell". The stories were engaging, even though the rules sounded like the standard advice for entrepreneurs.

One thing I found interesting was that two of the profiled founders identified coming risks well before they happened and took drastic measures to mitigate those risks. In one case, the founder noticed some volatility in the sales data in her stores and predicted that this would increase in the next year because of a bad economy. She immediately curtailed her expansion strategy, angering her investors and having to cancel existing contracts in the process. In the other case, the founder of a subscription-based business noticed that the number of declined credit card payments had tripled, even though it was still in the single digits. He had been in the middle of hiring and the company was making record profits, but he instituted deep cuts and a major round of layoffs. Both turned out to be good decisions, even though they were extremely unpopular and came at a time when the companies appeared to be doing very well. And both came about because the founders were carefully monitoring and analyzing all sorts of information about their companies and their markets.

Another interesting point was a quote from Marc Cenedella, CEO and founder of TheLadders.com, who said that he considered himself a volunteer because he chose to stay with his company instead of cashing out. He said that if most his employees left the company, they would get a job somewhere else, but if he left he could spend his life lying on a beach somewhere. He stayed with the company purely because of his passionate commitment.

I've been reading a lot of articles and books lately that suggest that everyone should aspire to be an entrepreneur. Manage your own schedule, create your own environment, pursue your passion, choose to be committed every day.  But I just don't think I have that drive and that passionate commitment, and I'm not sure that most people do. I enjoy advising startups on legal matters because even though I don't see myself as the visionary type, I love being in a position to help the person with the passion and the vision. The idea of working for myself is appealing in theory, though. Maybe one day I'll find the right cause. Meanwhile, I'm happier on someone else's bandwagon.