Some of us were just raised to be entrepreneurs.  I think that is definitely true for me.  And yet, not all of my brothers who were raised in the same environment chose the entrepreneurial career path in life.

There is a good story about how the entrepreneurial spirit gets instilled in our children at the NY Times (via NFIB Smartbrief).  It is a reflection by a small business owner, Barbara Taylor, about raising kids in an entrepreneurial environment:

People love to argue about whether entrepreneurs are born or made, with many
feeling that success in small business is somehow genetic. My husband has five
siblings. An entrepreneur raised all six kids, yet only one became a
small-business owner. I had no exposure to business growing up, yet here I am on
my second venture. Rather than calling it genetics, I think it has more to do
with children of entrepreneurs being the beneficiaries of an early education in
business.

One of my MBA students here at Belmont, Shawn Sweeney, is certainly exposing his young son Gunner to small business at an early age:

(Video is from theeastsidestory.com)

Thanks to Cassie Schreiner for passing this along.

“In the end, we are always doomed to repeat history because there aren’t enough people who know it well enough to see when repetition is imminent, mostly because it will always be cloaked in the terminology and propaganda of the modern age instead of the plain and clear language describing what factually occurred in the past.”

From a post at The Natural Aristocrat blog sent along by blogger and Belmont alum Dan Oliver.

Given the tenor of the comments here at the blog this week, I could not resist a second quote of the week before the long weekend:

“So let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof”  (John F. Kennedy). 

With a growing number of people seeking entrepreneurship as an alternative path in this rough economy, there is increasing competition for the key resources that can make or break the startup venture.

New entrepreneurs are competing for essential resources, such as the funding, the customers and the staff they need to build a successful business. Attracting these resources often relies on how well the entrepreneur can deliver “the pitch” for his new business.

An effective pitch starts with a hook — something that grabs the attention of the person one is talking to about a business. The most effective hook lays the groundwork to show the underlying need in the market for what the new business aims to offer.

A common mistake we see in pitches is that the entrepreneur waits much too long to tell what the business does. I had my students watch some examples of pitches the other night in class. You can find lots of good ones and bad ones on YouTube.

We were amazed that some of the people making a pitch waited more than halfway through their pitch to tell what their product or service is and what it does.
Answer key questions

Remember this: Early in a pitch the entrepreneur should present a clear mission statement. Who are you? What do you offer? Who is it for? What makes you unique?

The pitch must also show that there is “pain in the market” — that there are people who are in need of what you are offering and are willing to give you their hard-earned money to pay for it.

Who needs your product? Why do they need it? How many of them need it? What are you doing differently from your competitors?

The pitch needs to be presented clearly. It should be an unambiguous answer to some key questions that a skeptical listener is likely to have about the business. How will you make money?

The presentation of the pitch needs to be compelling. The entrepreneur should show his enthusiasm. Make it a personal message to those listening, and make eye contact. Never use note cards — this tells the world that you are not confident and that you don’t know what you are talking about.

While it is important to be enthusiastic, you still must be authentic. Putting on an act rarely gets an entrepreneur very far. Be yourself in how you talk, in how you dress and in how you interact with others.

Finally, a strong pitch always ends with a clear message. What is the one thing that you want them to remember? What do you need from them? What do you want your target audience to do for you?

In this economy, entrepreneurs face competition on every front as they launch a new business. An effective pitch can help distinguish you from all the others trying to grab the attention of investors and customers.

Those who side with Scott Shane’s view that entrepreneurship is generally an economically irrational act (i.e., why start a business when you could make more money working for someone else) really don’t understand what makes entrepreneurs tick.

One of my undergraduate students sent along this video that sheds some light on why entrepreneurs do what we do.  While profits matter, there is something much stronger that drives us to start new ventures….

Well, summer classes are over and August graduation has come and gone.  Time for a short break before the start of the fall semester.  I plan to spend the week getting caught up on some chores around the house and playing lots of golf.  See you next week!