The Effective Entrepreneur: Fifty-Nine Rules to Create Value throughout the Life Cycle of Your Company

Entrepreneurs experience the highest highs and the lowest lows (sometimes in the same day); events reverse themselves at such speeds that they can easily shred a person’s psyche. The issues range across customers, products, technical programs, competitors, employees, and investors …” (see Rule No. 58) There is a fine line between self confidence and arrogance; an entrepreneur must walk that fine line, falling on neither side but right in the middle …” (see Rule No.3) I wish I had had this book as I started and built companies over the years. It would have been an invaluable resource. It is wisdom, concisely and accurately presented, that takes years to accumulate and should be required reading for every entrepreneur.” Rodney Perkins, MD, Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur: Cohesion, Collagen, DFine, Earlens, Laserscope, Novacept, Pulmonics, Resound, Sound ID, and Surgerex. The Effective Entrepreneuris the first compendium of value-building principles specifically designed for entrepreneurs and sequenced according to the company’s growth cycle. The 59 rules are organized around the four chronological stages of emerging enterprise evolution in the order a manager might experience them. Inception—recognizing successful start-up alchemy; looking in the mirror for strengths, self-confidence, and leadership; developing business plans and models; leading innovation; and establishing a culture of excellence and integrity. Development—selecting and organizing managers, teams and boards; creating strategy with vitality; building barriers to entry; and succeeding in negotiations. Growth—managing through economic cycles with a global outlook; financing with debt, equity, or corporate partners; and understanding communications basics. Maturity—supervising service providers; determining valuation as a function of timing; and formulating efficacious acquisition integration plans and realistic post acquisition commitments. A small, well organized team with clear objectives can always defeat a large, poorly organized or contentious army. The more senior the manager, the more time he/she should spend being proactive on human resources issues …” (see Rule No.12) The Effective Entrepreneurshould be required reading for all entrepreneurs.” Ken Wilcox,Ph.D., CEO and President of SVB Financial Group.Von Gehr, George is the author of 'The Effective Entrepreneur: Fifty-Nine Rules to Create Value throughout the Life Cycle of Your Company', published 2006 under ISBN 9780595418541 and ISBN 0595418546.