From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups by Fairbrothers, Gregg; Winter, Tessa;

Short description:

Founding a company on a promising idea is serious business. It’s risky, it takes hard work, and it can be a long time before you turn a profit. Entrepreneurship is also extraordinarily exciting, and the rewards—when they come—are many. But only if you do it right.

In From Idea to Success, Gregg Fairbrothers, Tuck School of Business professor and founder of the DEN, Dartmouth College’s Entrepreneurial Network, guides you through the process, so you can avoid common mistakes and seize opportunities many entrepreneurs miss. Learn how to:

• Focus your idea for a product or service
• Protect your idea
• Know your market
• Develop a business plan
• Identify your competition
• Avoid legal problems
• Sell your product
• Manager your finances

Make your vision a reality. Whatever your idea is—from major technology innovations to consumer products or services to social enterprises—learn here how to make the most of it.

Long description:

Turn Your Great Idea into a Thriving Business!

“A guide that sets first-time entrepreneurs’ feet in the right direction.”
Geoffrey Moore, author, Crossing the Chasm

“There are many books on entrepreneurship, but this is one of the few that will convert individuals to entrepreneurs.”
Desh Deshpande, founder, Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, MIT; chairman, A123 Systems; cochair, National Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

About the Book:

Are you among the many Americans who dream of starting a business but think you don’t know how? Help has arrived . . .

For generations, Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business have influenced and driven global entrepreneurship. Dartmouth firsts include the world petroleum industry, technological breakthroughs like artificial intelligence and BASIC computer language, as well as popular products, such as the Nerf football and the game Crainium.

Today a key resource for the Dartmouth Community is the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN), which helps anyone from undergraduates to faculty to alumni get their ideas off the ground and into the marketplace.

In From Idea to Success, entrepreneur, professor, and DEN founder Gregg Fairbrothers takes you step by proven step through the DEN approach, showing you how to apply the same principles to make your vision a reality. If you have an idea—any idea—from major technology innovations, to consumer products or services, to social enterprises, From Idea to Success shows you how to bring it to fruition.

This A to Z guide based on the startup experiences of literally hundreds of entrepreneurs makes the process simple as possible by breaking it down into three distinct parts:

Step 1: Focusing and Refining Your Idea
Define your goals, pinpoint your market, protect your idea, manage the risks in your undertaking
Step 2: Business Planning Best Practices Create a business plan, build your team, learn about the competition, raise finances, get the important legal issues right the first time
Step 3: Managing Your CompanyBuild your negotiating, selling, and decision-making skills; manage your finances; correct your course; manage the transition to a healthy, growing business

Building a vibrant company based on your own creativity and hard work is one of the most fulfilling human enterprises there is. With this book and your own experience you can think and act like a successful entrepreneur from the very start.

Turn Your Great Idea into a Thriving Business!

“A guide that sets first-time entrepreneurs’ feet in the right direction.”
Geoffrey Moore, author, Crossing the Chasm

“There are many books on entrepreneurship, but this is one of the few that will convert individuals to entrepreneurs.”
Desh Deshpande, founder, Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, MIT; chairman, A123 Systems; cochair, National Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

About the Book:

Are you among the many Americans who dream of starting a business but think you don’t know how? Help has arrived . . .

For generations, Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business have influenced and driven global entrepreneurship. Dartmouth firsts include the world petroleum industry, technological breakthroughs like artificial intelligence and BASIC computer language, as well as popular products, such as the Nerf football and the game Crainium.

Today a key resource for the Dartmouth Community is the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN), which helps anyone from undergraduates to faculty to alumni get their ideas off the ground and into the marketplace.

In From Idea to Success, entrepreneur, professor, and DEN founder Gregg Fairbrothers takes you step by proven step through the DEN approach, showing you how to apply the same principles to make your vision a reality. If you have an idea—any idea—from major technology innovations, to consumer products or services, to social enterprises, From Idea to Success shows you how to bring it to fruition.

This A to Z guide based on the startup experiences of literally hundreds of entrepreneurs makes the process simple as possible by breaking it down into three distinct parts:

Step 1: Focusing and Refining Your Idea
Define your goals, pinpoint your market, protect your idea, manage the risks in your undertaking
Step 2: Business Planning Best Practices Create a business plan, build your team, learn about the competition, raise finances, get the important legal issues right the first time
Step 3: Managing Your CompanyBuild your negotiating, selling, and decision-making skills; manage your finances; correct your course; manage the transition to a healthy, growing business

Building a vibrant company based on your own creativity and hard work is one of the most fulfilling human enterprises there is. With this book and your own experience you can think and act like a successful entrepreneur from the very start.

Table of Contents:

Introduction; SECTION 1- The Framework; Chapter 1: Who is the Entrepreneur?; Chapter 2: The Right Words to Say; Chapter 3: What's the Idea?; Chapter 4: Thinking About the Market; Chapter 5: Intellectual Property and Licensing; Chapter 6: Execution and Risk; SECTION 2- Building Your Idea; Chapter 7: Building a Business Plan; Chapter 8: The Founding Team/ Chapter 9: Building Boards; Chapter 10: Hiring People; Chapter 11: Your Competition; Chapter 12: On Money; SECTION 3- Managing the Company; Chapter 13: Keeping it Legal; Chapter 14: Non-profits and Social Entrepreneurship; Chapter 15: Everything's Negotiable; Chapter 16: On Sales and Selling; Chapter 17: Communication; Chapter 18: Making a Decision; Chapter 19: Accounting and Finance; Chapter 20: Correcting Your Course; Chapter 21: Growth, Incentives, and Change; Chapter 22: Liquidity; Conclusion