New Venture Strategies

When I embarked on my private research into entrepreneurship education, as part of the design & development of an entrepreneurship program for kids, I narrowed down my personal selection of books written by excellent authors/academics. At the same time, I also wanted to learn from the personal - and professional - learning experiences of entrepreneurs, who had gone through the venture jungle, and widen my working knowledge, particularly on the subject of opportunity recognition.One author/academic I have selected is Jeffry Timmons, who wrote, among other excellent books, The Entrepreneurial Mind. I had already reviewed this title. The other author/academic I have selected is Karl Vesper. I have bought & also read practically all the books that have been written by him. I must add that I am very impressed by the work of this author.From time to time, I will share with readers all my hand-picked authors/academics as I write my other reviews.This is one of Vesper's earlier books. I am very glad to have bought & read it. The main topics include:- perspectives on entrepreneurship;- success & failure factors;- career departure points;- sequences in shartup;- sources of venture ideas;- evaluating venture ideas;- main competitive entry wedges;- other entry wedges;- acquisition finding;- acquisition dealing;In esssence, this book stresses the cultivation of learnable skills in the foregoing areas that can raise the odds of venturing successfully.When compared with Timmons, Vesper's books are more scholarly in content approach. So, Vesper's books are often a bit heavy going.In this book, there are a lot of real-world examples of how entrepreneurs enter the venture jungle, how they select their ventures, how they explore lines of action, and how they build their businesses. The book explores the various strategies of these entrepreneurs, from both personal as well as commercial perspectives.I particularly enjoyed chapter 2, which touches on the success & failure factors (wannabes, please pay attention here!); chapter 3, on career departure points; chapter 4, on sequences in startup (this is a real gem to read!); chapter 5, on sources of venture ideas (another gem!); chapter 6, on evaluating venture ideas (another gem!). From the commercial persepctive, the remaining chapters provide many interesting insights.In terms of writing style, I am more comfortable with Timmons' books, but I am not saying Vesper does not write well.At the end of each chapter, there is a summary. I like books written in this way. It makes reading & review easy & fast.For entrepreneur wannabes, this is a superbly researched book for your learning pursuit!