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So, what are the keys to success for an
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entrepreneur these days? A new book by
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Wharton's Lori Rosenov delves deeper
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into this. The book is titled
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Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: Seven Paths
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for Unleashing Successful Startups and
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Getting Value Through Innovation. And
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she joins us right now. Lori, great to
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talk to you again. How are you doing?
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Fine, Dan. It's great to be here. Thanks
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for having me. Thank you very much. Uh,
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what had you researching this idea in
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the first place? Well, I just believed
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that role models matter for
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entrepreneurship. And there's a media
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stereotype that's so pervasive. That's
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one way of being an entrepreneur. Drop
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out of college, get venture funding,
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build a unicorn. But I was seeing so
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many different pathways that our
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students as well as our alumni were
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following and wanted to provide some new
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role models and new ideas and show that
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there's no one-sizefits-all path. So
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with all that's going on right now, how
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do you define entrepreneurship at this
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moment?
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Take a very broad definition. I define
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entrepreneurship as value creation
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through innovation. There are so many
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ways to create value. And of course,
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financial value is very prominent, but
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there's also social value. Are you
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impacting society in a healthy way?
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Emotional value. How does it make you
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feel to do this sort of innovation and
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the like. So entrepreneurs are creating
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value and they're doing it by
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innovating. That innovation might be
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product, process, business models,
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service. Uh but it might also be
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something as simple as figuring out a
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new routine in your home life or family
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life. All of those things create value
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for us. And that starts to make us
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realize that everyone can be innovative
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and entrepreneurial. And I hope it'll
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inspire people to be all the more
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entrepreneurial.
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What's interesting is that uh obviously
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a lot of the attention goes to the
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bigname well-known and probably in many
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cases well-funded entrepreneurs who have
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had you know incredible levels of
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success but as you kind of alluded to
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and you can expand on a little bit more
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there are so many other avenues for
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people to create success through
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entrepreneurship social being one so
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many other things going on in one's
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community I mean it is just not narrow
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uh narrowed down to just the successful
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these days.
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Absolutely. Do you know there are 31
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million enterprises in the US? 29
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million are sole proprietorship. So this
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might be the person who mows your lawn
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or who does your nails. But there are
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many many people who are doing small
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business entrepreneurship. We tend to
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focus on high growth entrepreneurship
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which is in many cases funded by venture
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or uh by any sort of debt. Um but those
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are less than 20% of all of the
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entrepreneurial activity. Most activity
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is actually bootstrapped. So each of
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these the disruptor, the bootstrapper,
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the social entrepreneur, these are all
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pathways in the book. For the longest
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time in doing the shows that I have
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talking about entrepreneurship, the one
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thing that obviously still comes up is,
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you know, it's a challenge. There is a
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level of of failure uh that is in there.
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It might not be the first idea that you
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are end up being successful with. It
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might be the second or third. Is there
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enough recognition of that right now
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that that is kind of part of the
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process? Well, that's why my book is
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called unstoppable entrepreneurs. I talk
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about an entrepreneurial mindset which
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has six Rs and one of them is
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resilience. Each of the entrepreneurs
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that are profiled in my book had many
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many obstacles and challenges. And part
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of their ability to succeed was having
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some people call it growth mindset, some
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people call it grit, but an a mindset
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that allows you to say, "I'm going to
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need to try a lot of things in order to
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get to the finish line. I'm going to
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hear negative feedback and I'm going to
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treat that as a learning experience and
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then uh adapt my efforts in order to do
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better with that. I'm going to deal with
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crises like COVID or the current
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economic conditions and there are many
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many ways to solve these sorts of
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problems. And so each of my
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entrepreneurs are incredibly resilient
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and that's something that everybody can
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work on understanding that feedback is
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always a gift. How many of the group are
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the so-called disruptor? And in in
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general, is there a ratio of disruptors
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that you expect to see uh coming from
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the role of of being an entrepreneur? I
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love that question because disruptors
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are of course the the people who we we
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see all the time in the media, these
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celebrity entrepreneurs in many cases.
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It turns out that disruptors are
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typically venturebacked because they're
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trying to overturn an entire market.
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venture-backed entrepreneurship is far
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less than 1% of all of that enterprise
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that's out there. So it's actually very
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very uncommon but when done well the
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returns are enormous. So they are
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getting most of the attention but most
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efforts toward disruption fail. There
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were many many car sharing services that
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were attempted. We we had one that
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students were working on at Wharton way
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back when and now of course Uber
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dominates that market. Lyft is a a very
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serious second and now of course Whimo
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is automating it completely. But there
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were hundreds of attempts at car
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sharing. So most disruptors are not
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successful but all the attention goes to
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the small percentage that are. So you
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mentioned social a little while ago and
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obviously we're in a time where social
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issues have become very very important
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kind of across the board of of of how we
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live our lives right now. So then are
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are we seeing a sharp rise in social
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entrepreneur entrepreneurism as well?
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Well, I've been at Wharton for over 30
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years and certainly 30 years ago we
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weren't seeing a lot of students saying
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I want to be social entrepreneurs. These
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days in our efforts at Venture Lab, we
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see about one in seven of our students
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who are doing something entrepreneurial
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will raise their hand and say, "I'm a
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social entrepreneur." Now, that doesn't
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sound like a ton, but if you ask the
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students a different question, and this
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is so fascinating to me, if you ask
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them, do you have impact goals in your
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company? So, meaning do you have other
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goals beyond your financial ones? then
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70% of them will say, "Well, of course I
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have impact goals." So more and more
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with the emphasis on of course the the
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UN sustainable development goals and
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goals and all the interest in in climate
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um and and other sorts of of uh
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community issues. We're seeing more and
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more students and more and more alumni
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build those sorts of aims into their
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ventures, but they're a little bit
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reluctant to claim the label. And I
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think that's because some people hear
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that label and say, "Oh, it's a
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nonprofit or it's not really uh
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intending to be as big." But the social
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entrepreneur I profile in my book is
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doing incredibly well. One, I mean, we
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talk so much about entrepreneurs, but
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you also bring up the component of the
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entrepreneur, which maybe doesn't get as
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much conversation, but the component of
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somebody working at a company who comes
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up with a great idea and maybe works
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with their company to develop this new
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idea. How how frequent how common is
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that these days? I'm so glad you asked,
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Dan. 70% of all innovations that are
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developed are developed in established
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companies. So there are tons of
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opportunities for people to be
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entrepreneurial in their companies on
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their employers resources and devoting
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their time to the development of new
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businesses. How does the company then
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react to that? Because I think it's a
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uni unique dynamic where a company
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probably has their normal process in so
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many areas, but has an an employee maybe
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come up with something that could be
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transformative.
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Well, some companies try to embrace that
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in their culture and will devise all
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sorts of structures and processes to
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encourage that. the the example that
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gets thrown around these days, Google
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gives 20% time to employees to work on
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something of their own choosing. That of
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course is an outgrowth of 3M's 15% time
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that's been around for decades. Many
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companies that have enough resources
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will create a separate part of the
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organization where people can experiment
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in ways that might conflict with what's
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going on in the core business. And that
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separation is incredibly important until
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something new happens. Other companies
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use hackathons and the like to get
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people exploring ideas. But there are
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quite a few people who come up with a
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new idea in an organization and find
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that they can't get enough support and
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wind up leaving and developing it
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somewhere else. Is the I is the
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entrepreneurial mindset is it organic or
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is it something that can be developed?
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It can definitely be developed. I while
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there are some people who will tell you
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the story and this is about half the
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entrepreneurs in my book will say I
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always knew I wanted to be an
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entrepreneur. I was selling candy in
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middle school and the principal
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suspended me and tell those kinds of
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stories. The other half are people who
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were doing the more standard path and
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started to see over time opportunities
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to create value and then went on their
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own uh to do it. And these these people
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can can be trained to do that. Uh among
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the Rs in my entrepreneurial mindset is
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recombination. And what I mean by that
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is taking your knowledge and experience
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from different places. You've worked in
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different companies. You've taken
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different courses in school and
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certifications. You've lived in
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different places. Everyone has a unique
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set of experiences. and mixing and
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matching all of that knowledge is what
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gives you the opportunity to identify a
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unique uh opportunity. And when you can
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do that, that's the root of innovation.
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And all of us have the capacity to look
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back at what we've accomplished and try
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to think about those combinations. And
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then as I'm advising people to look
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forward, I always say, what can you do
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that will allow you to think
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differently? If you're a college
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student, can you take a minor in
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something different? or if you're you're
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further grown, should you take a
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certification or could you take some
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sort of a trip or could you take an art
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class, whatever it might be? That's what
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starts to give people the chance to see
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those unique opportunities. One of the
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other Rs that you bring up is
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relationships. And look, that's so
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important in business in general, but
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especially for somebody who's starting
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out trying a new idea. to be able to
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have the relationships that are going to
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help you build to success has to be
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vital especially today. Absolutely.
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Relationships are are giving you an
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opportunity to access knowledge and
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resources and talents. You need people
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to help you assess whether your um idea
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is addressing a big enough pain point,
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help you understand the bigger market.
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So you're not just solving your own
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problem and hoping people will come to
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you, but that the market is desperate
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for it. You need those relationships uh
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to to get funding in many cases once you
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get to that point and that gives you
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access and you need the talent that
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people can provide to you. You want to
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be working in the space that gives you
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the most joy, where your your genius
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zone, some people call it. You want to
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be able to attract talent that's going
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to complement your skill set as your
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organization grows. You you talk with a
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lot of great entrepreneurs in here and
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if I can highlight one who is somebody
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that I know and I've t and I've talked
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with her a few times over the years at
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Wharton doing interviews is Caitlyn
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Graasso with Jen Jen heration and the
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idea of networking but networking
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thinking about it through the process of
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what women are experiencing right now
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and and I I told Caitlyn that when my
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daughters get old enough they're going
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to go with her on a tour. talk a little
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bit about what she has done and what she
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has brought to the table.
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I'm so glad you asked me to do that
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rather than asking me to pick my
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favorite subject of all of them because
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I love them all equally. But but Caitlyn
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is a great example of so many of the
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things we've been talking about since a
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young age. She always wanted to do
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things for young girls and was doing it
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all throughout her Wharton career here.
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She graduated in 2015. She was one of
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the first people I met when I became
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vice dean of undergrad in 2013 because
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she came bounding into my very first
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office hours because she is a fabulous
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the best networker that I know. But she
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built out with the support of some pen
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awards after she graduated. She built
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out generation to take girls as you
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mentioned on bus tours to learn about uh
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opportunities that uh would help to
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further their careers. And this was
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chugging along nicely and then co
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happened. Talk about resilience. You
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can't take a bus tour. And she had to
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convert everything to virtual. This
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wound up being the seed that's led her
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business to explode because once she was
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virtual, she realized she was an edtech.
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And now she's building curriculum that
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she can sell to educational
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institutions. She can sell to
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corporations. Uh she has lots of girls
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that are subscribing. And the company is
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it's incredibly profitable. Also, she's
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calls herself a social entrepreneur, but
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she has a a very strong profit motive uh
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as well. She has 10 employees. She's
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doing fabulously. Having written this
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book now, what are you most excited for
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potentially for the future of being an
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entrepreneur? Well, I I think we're
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going to see all the more
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entrepreneurship right now. We're
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obviously in a period where there's a
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fair amount of job dislocation. So
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people are saying how can I apply my
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talents in a way where I have a little
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bit more control and and can uh take
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care of my my needs for for income and
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security and the like. So I think we're
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going to see a lot more people looking
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for ways to participate. I also think at
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this moment with all that's going on
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with AI, this is an important moment for
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everybody to be training themselves on
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the tools because they you want to
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operate as efficiently as possible, but
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there's also a lot of opportunity for
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those high growthoriented entrepreneurs
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to start building in this new AI
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ecosystem. So, I think it's it's a big
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moment for entrepreneurship. Lori,
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thanks very much for your time. All the
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best with the book. Thanks very much.
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Thanks, Dan. You got it. Lori Rosenoff
00:14:51
of the Wharton School. The book is
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titled Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: Seven
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Paths for Unleashing Successful Startups
00:14:58
and Creating Value Through Innovation.
