The Intelligent Entrepreneur

In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates—two men and one woman—turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their ten-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They had made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs, leaving their mark on the world. 

Based on dozens of interviews with successful entrepreneurs, Harvard Business School professors, and HBS alumni, The Intelligent Entrepreneur examines how these three young founders developed ideas, assembled teams, and built ventures. Moreover, they distilled their hard-won insights into ten key rules that will help ensure success. Intelligent entrepreneurship, as they discovered at Harvard Business School, can be learned. Through lucid instruction and vivid storytelling, Bill Murphy Jr. shows would-be entrepreneurs how to improve their odds of creating dynamic, lasting businesses.

Praise

“Bill Murphy’s book captures the reality of entrepreneurial endeavors by detailing how three graduates of HBS found opportunity, acquired the resources they needed, and committed heart and soul to their venture.  Entrepreneurship is messy, an emotional and financial roller coaster.  This book serves as an invaluable guide to those who might follow in the footsteps of these remarkable young entrepreneurs.”—William Sahlman, Professor, Harvard Business School

 

“The Intelligent Entrepreneur is full of invaluable advice, and it highlights the ways that thoughtful people actually go about learning the ideas and developing skills required to be successful entrepreneurs.  Bill Murphy’s book shows that entrepreneurs who take an informed and intelligent approach to launching new companies can vastly improve their chances of ultimate success.”—Joseph Lassiter, Professor, Harvard Business School 

 

“An unusual hybrid work of self-help, business and narrative nonfiction . . . Murphy’s explication of the [ten] rules is detailed and clear . . . and the narrative chapters are compelling . . . The degree of cooperation Murphy received from his subjects—as well as their classmates, professors, business partners and employees—is astounding and greatly enriches the book.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

“An excellent, thought-provoking overview of entrepreneurship . . . that uses actual cases to describe the challenges of starting a business and realizing success.”—Booklist

 

 

 

About the Author(s)

Bill Murphy Jr.

Bill Murphy Jr. is the author of The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship and In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002. Previously, he worked as Bob Woodward's research assistant on the bestselling State of Denial. An inveterate entrepreneur who was on the founding teams of three separate start-ups, he is also a former military officer, lawyer, and Washington Post reporter.

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Excerpt

Introduction

Wonderful News:
Most New Businesses Fail

Let me guess. If you're reading this book, it's probably because you hope to become a truly successful entrepreneur. You want to build something dynamic, useful, and great, and maybe even get rich in the process. If that's the case, then allow me to give you the good news right up front:

Most new ventures fail—usually for good reasons.

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