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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
An expanded & updated version of the award winning & bestselling one-stop entrepreneurial book used by hundreds of schools globally that has helped create or make better hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs
Disciplined Entrepreneurship Expanded and Updated starts by combining the timeless and insightful principles of Disciplined Entrepreneurship with the practical tools found in the Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook into a single, comprehensive package. The book also has been updated with recent developments in the field and examples as well as a robust new library of additional resources. Author, entrepreneur, professor, and Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet systematically walks readers through exactly how to create a successful startup. This book presents a detailed, sequential—but not linear—integrated and proven 24-step framework that any entrepreneur can apply immediately to improve their chances of entrepreneurial success. Readers will also find:
- The number-one process reason that new ventures fail
- Entrepreneurship is not an art, but rather a craft that can be learned
- How the best idea or product is no assurance at all that you will win—there is much more
Perfect for aspiring founders and entrepreneurs within existing organizations, Disciplined Entrepreneurship Expanded & Updated is also an invaluable resource for anyone who has already begun their entrepreneurial journey and needs practical, hands-on tools to help them take their business to the next level.
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Seitenzahl: 607
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
PREFACE
Special Note on this Expanded and Enhanced 10th‐Anniversary Edition
Note
INTRODUCTION:
News Flash: Entrepreneurship Can Be Taught!
Ten Common Myths About Entrepreneurship That Must Go
Five Useful Mental Models About Entrepreneurship
Definition of Entrepreneurship
Distinguishing Two Distinct Types of Entrepreneurship
Moving from Introduction to Action and the 24 Steps
Notes
SIX THEMES OF THE 24 STEPS
TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS: THE DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP (DE) CANVAS
What Is the DE Canvas, and Why Is It Important?
Disciplined Entrepreneurship Canvas
Summary
Note
STEP 0: Getting Started
Three Most Common Ways to Start a New Venture
Raison d'Être: Internal Motivations Must Be at a Higher Level
How to Go From “I Have a Passion” to “I Have an Idea or Technology” Good Enough to Start the 24 Steps
Which Comes First, the Idea or the Team?
Finding a Founding Team: Entrepreneurship Is Not a Solo Sport
The Next Step
Notes
STEP 1: Market Segmentation
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
The First Commandment: The Single Necessary and Sufficient Condition for a Business
Three Key Criteria to Be Met If You Are to Create a New Market That You Will Dominate
Complex Paying Customers: Primary versus Secondary Customers and Multi‐Sided Markets
How to Do a Market Segmentation
How Long Should I Spend on Market Segmentation?
What Should I Come Out of Step 1 With?
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 1A: Primary Market Research (PMR)
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
A Practical Guide to PMR
What Is PMR?
Summary
Notes
STEP 2: Select a Beachhead Market
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
How to Choose Your Beachhead Market
Your Beachhead Market Still Needs to Be Segmented Further
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 3: Build an End User Profile
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Why Target a Specific Demographic?
How to Build an End User Profile
Does Your Founding Team Include Someone in the End User Profile?
EXAMPLES
Summary
Notes
STEP 4: Calculate the Total Addressable Market (TAM) Size for the Beachhead Market
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
What Should My TAM Be?
EXAMPLES
Worksheets
Summary
STEP 5: Profile the Persona for the Beachhead Market
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
How to Choose and Profile Your Persona
The Persona Is More Than Just a One‐Time Exercise
Should I Create Multiple Personas? If So, When?
The Persona Helps You Focus on What to Do—and What Not to Do
Mitigating the Downside Risks of a Persona
EXAMPLES
Worksheet
Summary
Note
STEP 6: Full Life Cycle Use Case
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
What to Include in a Full Life Cycle Use Case
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 7: High‐Level Product Specification
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Create a High‐Level Product Specification
Next, Make a Product Brochure and/or Landing Page
Concept of Spiraling Innovation
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 8: Quantify the Value Proposition
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Aligning Your Value Proposition with the Persona's Priorities
Keep It Simple: The “As‐Is” State Compared to the “Possible” State with Your Product
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 9: Identify Your Next 10 Customers
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Three Criteria to Make the List of Your Next 10 Customers
How to Find Your Next 10 Customers
Is the Current Persona Valid?
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 10: Define Your Core
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
General and Specific Examples of Core
Core Is Not Your Quantified Value Proposition Restated
How to Define Your Core
Do Not Disclose Your Core to the Public
What About Patents?
What About Culture?
Core Is Different Than Competitive Position
First‐Mover Advantage Is Not a Core Unless …
Locking Up Suppliers Is Typically a Moat, Not a Core
EXAMPLES
Summary
Notes
STEP 11: Chart Your Competitive Position
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
The Toughest Competitor of All: The Customer's Status Quo
How to Chart Your Competitive Position
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 12: Determine the Customer's Decision‐Making Unit (DMU)
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Primary Roles in the DMU
Additional Roles in the DMU
How to Determine the DMU
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 13: Map the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Budgeting/Purchasing Authority
Time Is of the Essence
Optimizing Your Process Map
Operationalizing Your Process: First‐Draft Sales Funnel
EXAMPLES
Description of the Acquisition Process
Summary
Notes
STEP 13A: Windows of Opportunity and Triggers
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 14: Calculate the Total Addressable Market Size for Follow‐on Markets
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Two Directions to Expand—and One Not To
How to Calculate Broader TAM
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 15: Design a Business Model
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
A Business Model Is Not Pricing
Key Factors When Designing a Business Model
Generalized Categories of Business Models
Don't Be Afraid to Think Outside the Existing Categories
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 16: Set Your Pricing Framework
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Basic Pricing Concepts
Avoid Analysis Paralysis—Make Your Best Guess and Keep Moving
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 17: Calculate the Lifetime Value (LTV) of an Acquired Customer
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
LTV and Unit Economics in Full Perspective
Key Inputs to Calculate the LTV
How to Calculate Lifetime Value
LTV Sample Calculation: “Widget” Plus Yearly Maintenance Fee
Important Considerations
EXAMPLES
Summary
Notes
STEP 18: Design a Scalable Revenue Engine
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
What Are the Different Sales Motions
Your LTV Will Dictate What Sales Motion Options Are Available
Your Sales Process Will Change Over Time
Design a GTM Plan Based on a Mix of Revenue‐Generating Motions That Evolve
Updating Your Sales Funnel
EXAMPLES
Summary
Note
STEP 19: Calculate the Cost of Customer Acquisition (CoCA)
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Four Factors Entrepreneurs Often Overlook About Customer Acquisition Costs
How Not to Calculate CoCA: A Bottom‐Up Perspective
The Right Way to Calculate CoCA: A Top‐Down Perspective
How to Reduce CoCA
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 20: Identify Key Assumptions
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
How to Identify Your Key Assumptions
Five Conditions That Make for a Good Key Assumption
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 21: Test Key Assumptions
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Now That You Have Identified the Assumptions, Test Them
EXAMPLES
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 22: Define the Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP)
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
Three Conditions of an MVBP
The First Part of an MVBP Is That It Must Be Minimal
“Concierge” Anything You Can
Examples
EXAMPLES
Summary
STEP 23: Show That “The Dogs Will Eat the Dog Food”
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
How to Measure Adoption
EXAMPLES
Summary
Notes
STEP 24: Develop a Product Plan
In This Step, You Will:
Why This Step, and Why Now?
Let's Get Started
EXAMPLES
Summary
WHAT ELSE?: Beyond the 24 Steps
It Never Ends
Notes
GLOSSARY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 0
Figure 0.1:
Three most common catalysts for a new venture.
Figure 0.2:
You need a raison d'être for starting a new company that is more
...
Figure 0.3:
Gut check and setting expectations questions before starting a c
...
Figure 0.4:
The Holy Grail of specificity.
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1:
The first commandment of entrepreneurship.
Figure 1.2:
You need to directly interact with real live customers before ma
...
Figure 1.3:
Filters for prioritizing and filtering out Market Segments.
Figure 1.4:
Market Segmentation Matrix with definitions.
Figure 1.5:
Bloom's initial PMR summary.
Figure 1.6:
Secondary market research to complement the initial PMR the Bloo
...
Figure 1.7:
Market Segmentation results for Bloom.
(Note: A more robust vers
...
Figure 1.8:
The SensAble PHANToM.
Figure 1.9:
SensAble Market Segmentation Matrix.
Figure 1.10:
Market Segmentation options for a market pull example, Gradeabl
...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1: Bloom's Beachhead Market selection, and prioritized list of subs...
Figure 2.2:
After further segmentation, the toy designer market was our
...
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1:
Bloom End User Profile (part 1).
Figure 3.2:
Bloom End User Profile (part 2).
Figure 3.3:
SensAble End User Profile's key components.
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1:
Bloom Beachhead Market TAM estimation.
Figure 4.2:
Beachhead Market TAM sizing example: OnDemandKorea.
Worksheet 4.1
Top‐Down Analysis: Visual Beachhead Market TAM Estimation.
...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1:
Making the Persona visual means everyone on your team will be mo
...
Figure 5.2:
The Persona is the best representative of the broader target mar
...
Figure 5.3:
Bloom's Persona.
Figure 5.4:
Ed Champ Persona for SensAble.
Figure 5.5:
Persona for Mechanical Water Filtration Company (Chuck Karroll).
Worksheet 5.1
Details on Beachhead Market Persona.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1:
Bloom Full Life Cycle Use Case.
Figure 6.2:
Satisfier use case.
Figure 6.3:
FillBee's nightmare on Decor Street (example of Full Life Cycle
...
Figure 6.4:
FillBee's Amanda Phillips Use Case: good but still missing some
...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1:
Put a first‐draft brochure in front of your Persona. It will def
...
Figure 7.2:
Bloom High‐Level Product Specification storyboard.
Figure 7.3:
Altaeros High‐Level Product Specification.
Figure 7.4:
SensAble replaces and expands the current tool set.
Figure 7.5:
SensAble drop‐down menu for user selections.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1:
How to visually represent your Quantified Value Proposition.
Figure 8.2:
Bloom initial value proposition example.
Figure 8.3:
Refined Bloom Value Proposition after more PMR and iterations.
Figure 8.4:
SensAble Quantified Value Proposition.
Figure 8.5:
InTouch value proposition example.
Figure 8.6:
Meater loss‐to‐disease comparison.
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1:
Bloom's Next 10 Customers.
Figure 9.2:
Methane capture Next 10 Customers.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1:
Identifying and prioritizing Bloom's assets.
Figure 10.2:
Bloom first‐draft plan for a Core.
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1:
Avoid the feature war matrices; focus on benefits, not features
...
Figure 11.2:
The Competitive Position shows your customer how you are differ
...
Figure 11.3:
Competitive Positioning chart (assume on this chart that “Alt #
...
Figure 11.4:
Bloom's Competitive Position.
Figure 11.5:
SensAble's Competitive Position.
Figure 11.6:
SunSpring's Competitive Position.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1: Bloom DMU first draft.
Figure 12.2: DMU for B2B Mechanical Water Filtration Systems example.
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1:
First‐draft sales funnel.
Figure 13.2:
Bloom end user and economic buyer decision‐making process.
...
Figure 13.3:
Bloom's first‐draft sales funnel.
Figure 13.4:
Bloom sales cycle summarized and quantified for length of time.
Figure 13.5:
Mechanical Water Filtration Systems sales cycle analysis.
Chapter 13a
Figure 13A.1:
When you start, your customer is like an object at rest. Getti
...
Figure 13A.2:
Triggers are specific actions you take within the Window of Op
...
Figure 13A.3:
Understanding and utilizing Windows of Opportunity and Trigger
...
Figure 13A.4:
First draft of Windows of Opportunity Options and Selection as
...
Figure 13A.5:
Summary of multiple examples of Windows of Opportunities and T
...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1:
Follow‐on market strategies, two of which are good and one whic
...
Figure 14.2:
Summary of Bloom growth strategy.
Figure 14.3:
Bloom follow‐on TAM calculations.
Figure 14.4:
Broader TAM sizing for Smart Skin Care.
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1:
There are multiple considerations when designing a business mod
...
Figure 15.2:
Bloom key considerations in choosing a Business Model.
Figure 15.3:
Bloom summary of top six Business Model candidates.
Figure 15.4:
Details and deeper dive on Bloom's chosen Business Model.
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1:
Increasing pricing by even 1% can have a disproportionately hig
...
Figure 16.2:
Kinova's Jaco assistive robotic arm.
Figure 16.3:
Considerations for Bloom's Pricing Framework.
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1:
Example of effect on NPV calculation with 50% discount rate.
Figure 17.2:
Detailed widget LTV calculation.
Figure 17.3:
Bloom initial LTV calculation.
Figure 17.4:
Bloom summary of LTV.
Figure 17.5:
LTV calculation for Helios.
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1:
Sales motions pros and cons.
Figure 18.2:
Sales motions you can consider based on your LTV.
Figure 18.3:
Example map of Scalable Revenue Engine.
Figure 18.4:
Bloom initial go‐to‐market plan over time.
Figure 18.5:
Bloom second‐draft sales funnel with a lot of more actionable d
...
Figure 18.6:
Capturing lessons learned in Bloom GTM plan development.
Figure 18.7:
LARK's display.
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1:
To accurately calculate the cost of customer acquisition, you h
...
Figure 19.2:
Be careful with bottom‐up CoCA calculations as they tend to be
...
Figure 19.3:
In a sustainable business, the Cost of Customer Acquisition (Co
...
Figure 19.4:
Graph of Typical CoCA over time.
Figure 19.5:
Bloom's general description of marketing and sales expenses nee
...
Figure 19.6:
Bloom's assumptions and calculations to estimate CoCA.
Figure 19.7:
Reflecting on the CoCA estimate.
Figure 19.8:
Comparing LTV and CoCA for Bloom.
Chapter 20
Figure 20.1:
Bloom's identification of Key Assumptions.
Figure 20.2:
Sasa customer assumptions about the producers.
Figure 20.3:
Sasa customer assumptions about the web consumers.
Chapter 21
Figure 21.1:
Second‐generation advertisement for Herman Cain.
Figure 21.2:
The Inspired coffee truck.
Figure 21.3:
The blackboard with “___________makes me Smile” prompt at 8:00
...
Figure 21.4:
The blackboard with “___________makes me Smile” prompt at noon.
...
Figure 21.5:
The blackboard with “Before I Die” prompt at 8 a.m.
Figure 21.6:
The blackboard with “Before I Die” prompt at noon.
...
Figure 21.7:
Bloom's plans to test Key Assumptions.
Chapter 22
Figure 22.1:
Home Team Therapy's stick figure wireframe.
Figure 22.2:
Home Team Therapy's therapy video wireframe.
Figure 22.3:
StyleUp e‐mail.
Figure 22.4:
StyleUp sign‐up page.
Figure 22.5:
Analysis of what platform to use for Bloom MVBP.
Figure 22.6:
Analyzing the concierge opportunities for Bloom and the impact.
Figure 22.7:
Bloom detailed description of MVBP.
Figure 22.8:
Bloom validating that it meets the three essential criteria for
...
Chapter 23
Figure 23.1:
Bloom's first‐draft success metrics.
Figure 23.2:
StyleUp e‐mail open rates.
Chapter 24
Figure 24.1:
Bloom setting milestones they believe will indicate success in
...
Figure 24.2:
Bloom's initial work on Step 14, which they used as an input to
...
Figure 24.3:
Bloom integrates new knowledge and product development perspect
...
Figure 24.4:
Bloom first‐draft five‐year Product Plan to expand business and
...
Figure 24.5:
SensAble's version 1 Product Plan.
Figure 24.6:
SensAble's version 2 Product Plan.
Figure 24.7:
SensAble's version 3 Product Plan.
Figure 24.8:
SensAble's version 4 Product Plan.
Figure 24.9:
SensAble's version 5 Product Plan.
Chapter 25
Figure 25.1:
Success always has an expiration date, so you must keep innovat
...
Figure 25.2:
An entrepreneurial venture is more than a product or a way to m
...
Figure 25.3:
To get even more value out of this book, I highly recommend com
...
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION: News Flash: Entrepreneurship Can Be Taught!
SIX THEMES OF THE 24 STEPS
TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS: THE DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP (DE) CANVAS
Begin Reading
GLOSSARY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
End User License Agreement
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DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP
24 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL STARTUP
BILL AULETEthernet Inventors Professor of the Practice of EntrepreneurshipMIT Sloan School of Management
Copyright © 2024 by William Aulet. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Aulet, Bill, 1958‐ author.Title: Disciplined entrepreneurship : 24 steps to a successful startup / Bill Aulet.Description: Expanded and updated. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2024] | Includes index.Identifiers: LCCN 2023048232 (print) | LCCN 2023048233 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394222513 (cloth) | ISBN 9781394222537 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781394222520 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises—Management. | Entrepreneurship.Classification: LCC HD62.5 .A935 2024 (print) | LCC HD62.5 (ebook) | DDC 658.1/1—dc23/eng/20240108LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023048232LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023048233
Cover Design and Illustration: Marius UrsacheAuthor Photo: Courtesy of the Author
To Lisa, my wife of over four decades. How she puts up with me, I have no idea, but I got so lucky and am eternally grateful.
To my deceased parents, Becky and Herb Aulet, who gave me everything.
And to my sons and their significant others, Kenny and Liz, Tommy and Zach, Kyle, and Chris and Sophia.
And to granddaughters, Caroline and Avery, the best gifts Happah could ever have hoped for.
Family is the foundation for everything else. And I hit the jackpot!
PREFACE
OVER 15 YEARS AGO, when I was asked to lead a core entrepreneurship course at MIT, I looked for a book that taught the basics of entrepreneurship that I had learned the hard way in over two decades as an entrepreneur in startups as well as a large organization. I was confident that there was a book out there that was rigorous, actionable, and accessible.
Turned out I was wrong. There was no such book.
Many of the books I came back to were excellent and had great material I had found helpful along my journey to entrepreneurship enlightenment, including Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy, Stefan Thomke's Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah's Inbound Marketing, Steve Blank's Four Steps to the Epiphany, Eric Ries's Lean Startup, Ash Maurya's Running Lean, Marc Randolph's That Will Never Work, and Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur's Business Model Generation. More recently, the books have gotten more comprehensive, like Zero to IPO by Frederic Kerrest and See, Solve, Scale by Danny Warshay. These are all great books that truly advance the field of entrepreneurship, and I will reference many of them in this book. I believe that each book, along with other material I've collected over the years (like the concepts of Design Thinking, Jobs To Be Done, Simon Sinek's talks, and lessons from IBM as well as Procter & Gamble, to name but a few more), provide valuable insights that are applicable at the right time and context of the product conception, development, and launch. But what I needed was a one‐stop concise guide summarizing key principles but also, equally importantly, directions about when and how to use them.
Since what I wanted wasn't out there, I did what so many instructors do—I started to construct a reader for the course. Disciplined Entrepreneurship is a direct descendant of that reader. It comes not only from my decades of experience as an entrepreneur but also from my experience teaching entrepreneurship at MIT, as well as from workshops I have taught around the world. Just as I teach in this book, I iterated and refined this approach with thousands of great entrepreneurs.
This book does not provide an algorithm that guarantees you success, because that is not possible. Every situation is different and, when successful, the outcome is something that never previously existed. Everyone's path is also unique. As such, as much as we might wish, there is not a singular surefire path to success.
As such, this book is designed as a rigorous but accessible guide for first‐time and repeat entrepreneurs. It provides a prescriptive framework and integrated toolbox of tools, which will achieve this goal of creating an economically sustainable organization. This process can be used for “for profit,” not‐for‐profits, and in fact almost any organization to increase their impact using the rules of a free market. It is an efficient and effective way to bring new products to market.
The 24‐step process as presented is sequential in that you know what you should be doing next, but it is definitely not linear because there will be constant iterating on the work you've done in previous steps. Insights gained in early steps give you critical knowledge for later steps. That being said, entrepreneurship is about speed, and you should err on the side of action; make a decision, keep moving, and go back and refine your answers later—but keep moving.
While there are other elements to consider, from culture and team to sales, financing, and leadership, the foundation of a successful innovative new venture is the product (which could be a replicable service) that is created and delivered to a customer who enthusiastically accepts and pays for it, and so that is the focus of this book.
To be clear, this is not the only path to success, and there are many successful entrepreneurs who have not read this book. But when you analyze their success, you will see the same principles described herein.
Some people tell me that entrepreneurship should not be disciplined, but chaotic and unpredictable—and it is. But it is just in such situations where a framework to attack the problem in a systematic manner will be most valuable. This is exactly the book I wish I had 30 years ago when I fully committed to be an entrepreneur.
Special Note on this Expanded and Enhanced 10th‐Anniversary Edition
Why a new version and what is different?
Well, looking back now, I am blown away by the success of this book.
When it was released, I joked that I hoped it was successful enough to get me on my favorite TV show at the time, The Colbert Report. Well, that never happened, but in every other way, it far exceeded my expectations of what impact it would have.
It has been translated into over two dozen languages, over 300,000 copies have been sold, it has been the basis for five online courses that have been taken by hundreds of thousands more on every continent and in most nations in the world, and is used in hundreds (probably thousands) of institutions today to teach entrepreneurship. Every week I have multiple interactions from people telling me how Disciplined Entrepreneurship really helped them. I will never forget the e‐mail I got from someone I had never met from Zimbabwe who said simply, “Thank you. For the first time in my life I see a path to economic freedom.”
How is this possible with a book where I tried to create the fewest new concepts I could? At the book's core were ideas and concepts that others had come up with that I had tested, determined that they worked, and summarized in an accessible way.1 My goal was not grandiose but rather simple: making entrepreneurship success accessible to all. Turns out there was a big demand for this.
I somewhat half truthfully say that if I had known this was going to happen, I could never have written it. I would have agonized about it much more before releasing it to the publisher. As the book was adopted by so many people, I began to see the imperfections and areas to improve it. Five years ago, I made an attempt to fill in the gaps and add what new things I had learned by writing an entirely new book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook, meant to complement the original book. Still, I knew that the original needed to be redone. So much was learned and had changed since it was released, but I also knew now it was a daunting task. I needed a push.
First, I had a new colleague full of energy who joined me over three years ago in teaching the foundational course at MIT, Paul Cheek. He is not just a tremendous instructor, but he extended the material and showed how it could be even more impactful by creating a follow‐on course. He kept pushing me to update the book. But that was not enough.
Secondly, it has been said there has never been a better invention to get things done than a deadline. Paul combined with a wonderful prodding publisher on the other side knew this. They got me to agree to set the tenth anniversary as a deadline to get this update of the original (or “OG” as my Wiley publisher Shannon Vargo calls it). This new edition is designed to cover the material in the OG but even more concisely. In addition, it integrates key parts of the Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook into a single book. Updated examples were in order as well. There were also new materials to be covered, especially with the rapid advances in go‐to‐market strategies and technologies. Generative AI, for example, has been a game changer. Finally, there is a treasure trove of additional materials that are now available online, fully coordinated with the book for those entrepreneurs or entrepreneurship educators who want more.
An important design point for this book was that it fit very well with Paul's book being released at the same time, Disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics: 15 Tactics to Turn Your Business Plan into a Business (Link to Disciplined Entrepreneurship Tactics website: startuptactics.net). As I mentioned about Paul earlier, he has been running a well‐received follow‐on course to the material in this book. The two books complement each other like peanut butter and jelly. Similar to how I tested the original Disciplined Entrepreneurship manuscript with hundreds of students before publishing, the pairing of these two books has also been tested with our students and the results have been fantastic. To say I am excited about these books coming out together is an understatement.
So, when I started and was asked to make my reader into a book, I honestly thought, does the world really need another entrepreneurship book? My initial answer was, probably not, but what the heck. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Today, I am in a totally different mindset. I know the corpus of books and materials out in the world for entrepreneurs and I am very confident that this book and Paul's book will be very meaningful contributions. I hope you agree after reading the book, and if you do, please share with others because there is no doubt that with the many seemingly intractable problems we face as humans, we need more high‐quality and better‐connected entrepreneurs. They are the ones who historically have been at the center of solving the world's greatest challenges—and they will be so in the future. Go forth and contribute to the solution. Read on.
Note on examples in this book: Many of the examples in this book come from student work done in the courses I teach at MIT and elsewhere. I have altered some of them to better illustrate best practices and pitfalls for various steps but kept the essence of the situation. The projects described by the examples might not have turned into full‐fledged companies, depending on the decisions the student teams make after completing their coursework, but their examples are valuable in an educational context nonetheless.
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1
Reminds me of the story about the great rock and roll musician George Thorogood. When asked why he didn't write more of his own songs, he said, “Because Chuck Berry already wrote all the good songs.” I can relate.
