Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses, and Crucial Lessons on Building Great Companies - Hardcover

by N. Louis Shipley (Author), Patricia Favreau (Author)

Is Your Idea Big Enough to Build a Business That Will Last? Learn from Unlikely Entrepreneurs

What does the USA's number one online casket company, a nationally distributed sustainable sausage brand, and the company behind the editing system used by The Matrix have in common? These thriving ventures were founded by unlikely entrepreneurs whose journeys reveal what it takes to succeed in launching and growing a startup.

In Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses and Crucial Advice in Building Great Companies, the authors--who hail from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management--combine expert insights, elements of the case study method, and an engaging story-telling style to take a deep dive into the key challenges that founders face. They set the stage for each profile---including those of entrepreneurs helming billion dollar companies to mom-and-pop businesses--whose colorful, unlikely stories showcase entrepreneurial best practices that readers can adopt to succeed.

Throughout the book, the authors weave in lessons from the classrooms of top-ranked business schools and expert insights from venture capitalists, investors, CEOs, business authors, and Ivy league researchers--on what it takes for startups to scale in a competitive marketplace. Topics include, among others:

• How to attain crucial second-hand knowledge of your target audiences' needs
• Building your Go To Market Playbook
• Why founders must become their company's 'Chief Salesperson'
• Fundraising best practices
• The crucial differences between managing and leading
• Leveraging AI to build your marketing campaigns
• Mastering the art of the pivot to ward off failure

We live in a time of rapid change, and entrepreneurial innovation is needed more now than ever before. Unlikely Entrepreneurs is a must-read for anyone considering launching a business and for those looking to scale their company and expand their offerings.

Front Jacket

Do you question whether your business idea is truly viable or if you have what it takes to build a company from scratch? Are you struggling to scale your company or expand your product line?

You're not alone.

In Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses, and Crucial Lessons for Building Great Companies, Lou Shipley, a veteran entrepreneurship educator and mentor from Harvard Business School, and Patricia Favreau, an award-winning writer and longtime publicist at MIT Sloan School of Management, profile unlikely entrepreneurs from every walk of life and multiple industries who faced similar doubts or fears about launching companies that are now thriving ventures. Weaving together lessons on entrepreneurship from Harvard classrooms and rigorous research from MIT Sloan with colorful profiles, the authors reveal winning formulas and the role of failure in achieving success.

From the quirky story behind the launch of the USA's number one online casket company to an entrepreneur who innovated on pizza in the city where it was born, from a celebrity's startup launched in a competitive and fractured industry to the inspiring story of a founder who created the editing system used in blockbuster films, the entrepreneurs behind these thriving ventures share a common thread: they possessed a solid business idea big enough to build a company that would last.

Expert insights from venture capitalists, CEOs, serial entrepreneurs and technology pros offer even more practical strategies for building go-to-market playbooks, fundraising, leading through crises, creating a cyber-savvy culture, and using AI to enhance marketing campaigns.

This book delivers the skills and strategies needed to launch and grow your company--regardless of your starting point. Unlikely Entrepreneurs is essential reading for anyone contemplating the launch of a startup, entrepreneurs looking to scale their ventures, business owners, and those in leadership roles who want to foster innovation.

Back Jacket

Praise for UNLIKELY ENTREPRENEURS

"In Unlikely Entrepreneurs, Shipley and Favreau provide formulas that have worked for winning entrepreneurs--challenges and all--told through compelling stories, academic analysis, and life lessons learned."
--Danny Meyer, Founder, Union Square Hospitality Group; author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

"My husband John and I shared our story of Katie Couric Media's 'first client' with Lou's class at Harvard, and now we're happy to have our story appear in Unlikely Entrepreneurs, a fun and insightful book. Anyone who's ever dreamed of starting their own business should sign up for Lou's class. But if you don't have time for that or can't get into Harvard, Unlikely Entrepreneurs is the next best thing!"
--Award-winning journalist Katie Couric and John Molner, Co-Founders of Katie Couric Media

"Unlikely Entrepreneurs captures what founders need to know right now."
--Bill Aulet, Managing Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship; author of the bestselling Disciplined Entrepreneurship

"With practical lessons from Lou's Harvard Business School classroom and research from MIT Sloan, Unlikely Entrepreneurs is a must-read for anyone starting or running a business. It's 'What They DO Teach You at Harvard Business School.'"
--Hughes Norton, HBS alumnus; New York Times bestselling author of Rainmaker: Superagent Hughes Norton and the Money-Grab Explosion of Golf from Tiger to LIV and Beyond

"Shipley and Favreau prove that entrepreneurial success isn't reserved for the privileged few. Whether you're a first-time founder or seasoned entrepreneur, this book delivers the practical guidance and inspiration needed to turn great ideas into lasting businesses."
--Tom Eisenmann, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School; author of Why Startups Fail

"Unlikely Entrepreneurs offers what most startup advice misses: real stories about how relatable founders wrestle with problems, make mistakes, and adapt. Shipley and Favreau show that entrepreneurship isn't about flashy pitches--it's about getting close to the problem and rigorously evaluating if it's worth solving in the first place."
--Jeff Bussgang, General Partner and Co-Founder, Flybridge Capital Partners; author of The Experimentation Machine

"I built my sales playbook in Prof. Shipley's class, and it worked! Unlikely Entrepreneurs is a must-read for anyone starting a company."
--Ilana Borkenstein, Harvard Business School MBA '22; Co-Founder and CEO, M7 Health

Author Biography

N. Louis Shipley is a former three-time software CEO and Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management unit at Harvard Business School. He previously lectured at MIT Sloan School of Management. Shipley serves as a Board Director at Wasabi Technologies, Fairmarkit and CustomerGauge. Lou made the founding gift to the Trinity College Entrepreneurship Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Patricia Favreau joined the Media Relations Department at MIT Sloan School of Management in 2005. For more than 20 years she has broken down complex academic research to make it accessible to business audiences around the globe. She began her career as a news correspondent and holds an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University.