Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Learning to run a business

Dear Roger,

I am a cognitive science student at Rutgers and a big fan of your work in the learning sciences. I'm also interested in entrepreneurship. I have a question for you that may be appropriate to post in your "advice column" - how did you get involved in business, and how did you learn to succeed there? What do you think are the best ways to learn how to run a business?

Sincerely,

Daniel Greene

Daniel,

Let's start with the simple idea that you will not learn to run a business in school. Of course, there are entrepreneurship programs  that are part of MBA programs. In fact, I was involved in building one for Trump University and am now building one as part of new kind of MBA for La Salle in Spain. That having been said, a course can open your eyes to some things but it will not teach you what you need to know. The first lesson I learned when I opened an AI company in 1980 was that the purpose of a business was to sell it. I had no idea. I thought the goal was to build something good that made money. But, investors were worried about getting out before they got in. Selling is on their minds. You need to know this in a deep way and new entrepreneurs, especially those with a "do good" bent never get this. The second thing to know is that your customers are not likely to be imaginative or appreciate your creativity. People who start new businesses expect others to appreciate what they have created. They will need patience for the long wait that follows.

What should you do? Work for someone else who has started a new business. Help them by working very hard. Don't worry about what is in it for you. Most new businesses fail so there is probably nothing in it for you anyhow. Except the knowledge that can only be gained through failure. Fail many times, hopefully on other people's money. Then you will be ready to succeed.

Roger