William Sahlman, professor at Harvard Business School, asserts that entrepreneurship is about being opportunity driven: recognizing opportunity in all types of circumstances. Specifically, being opportunity-driven is about looking at a bad situation and turning it around to see the opportunity.

Transcript



I also think it's a state of mind. It's a state of mind in which crisis and opportunity are the same. So on the one hand, you see situations in which everything looks horrible, the economy, the people default on the debt, and all of a sudden, you say, "Well, I could view that as the end of my business career and something that's horrible and why did this happen to me?" Or you could say, "Where is the opportunity there? And how can I create products or services or take advantage of temporary insanity in the capital markets?" So every disgruntled customer is an opportunity. So if you find situations in which people hate the relationship they have with a company, you can organize to take advantage of that. So I think it's turning things around and viewing opportunity everywhere and then trying to figure out what resources you need to meet that need.

1. The Best Money Comes from Customers
2. Choose Venture Investors Carefully
3. Opportunity Recognition and Leveraging One's Experience
4. Four Key Elements of an Entrepreneurial Venture
5. Changing the Game
6. Three Factors to Improve Entrepreneurial Success
7. Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
8. Opportunity Driven Entrepreneurship
9. New Ventures Must Adapt
10. Managing the Risk / Reward Tradeoff
11. Four Qualities to Look for When Hiring
12. Challenges of Hiring Good People
13. Three Most Critical Elements of Venture Success: People, Customers and Sales
14. Teams Are More Important than Individuals

William A. Sahlman lectures on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students, May 1, 2007. William A. Sahlman is the Dimitri V. d'Arbeloff - Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on the investment and financing decisions made in entrepreneurial ventures at all stages in their development. In this Stanford lecture, he talks about how the best money comes from customers, four key elements of an entrepreneurial venture and how teams are more important than individuals.



Course Details:

- Endeavor's Entrepreneurs' Summit

- Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner (ecorner)



Original Course Name: Endeavor's Entrepreneurs' Summit.