Previous edition: 9780764552625

Entrepreneurship For Dummies is the essential guide for anyone looking to be their own boss and become a successful entrepreneur. Every step of the process is covered, from creating a business plan, to learning your customers’ needs, testing and protecting your product, and finally launching your business. In classic Dummies style, Entrepreneurship For Dummies is packed with practical information, great advice, industry tips & tricks, all in an easy step-by-step format. Even if you’re confident and have the innate drive, executing it can be daunting or filled with unknowns. Entrepreneurship For Dummies takes away the fear by giving you the hows and whys for every step of your entrepreneurial journey to support you down the road to success.

Updates include:

• Updated examples, terminology, and statistics
• How to raise capital and more focus on investing
• Testing an opportunity (feasibility)
• Updated business models
• Creating opportunities over “finding” opportunities
• Digital updates

Kathleen Allen, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business, where she founded and led the USC Marshall Center for Technology Commercialization, a collaboration of science, engineering, ­medicine, and business. She has written more than 15 books, including the first edition of Entrepreneurship For Dummies and The Complete MBA For Dummies.

Introduction 1

Part 1: Getting Started in Entrepreneurship 5

Chapter 1: Understanding Entrepreneurship 7

Chapter 2: Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century 25

Chapter 3: Preparing to Seek Opportunity 45

Chapter 4: Testing an Opportunity Before You Leap 61

Part 2: Testing the Feasibility of Your Business Concept 77

Chapter 5: Understanding Your Industry 79

Chapter 6: What Your Customers Can Tell You 95

Chapter 7: Designing Solutions for a New Marketplace 117

Chapter 8: Protecting Your Products and Services 137

Chapter 9: Putting Together Your Founding Team 161

Chapter 10: Getting Solutions to Customers: The Supply Chain 181

Chapter 11: Developing and Testing Your Business Model 193

Chapter 12: Assessing Your Initial Financial Needs 209

Part 3: Designing a Company 231

Chapter 13: Preparing a Business Plan 233

Chapter 14: Finding Money to Start and Grow Your Venture 257

Chapter 15: Starting with the Right Legal Structure 279

Part 4: Growing a Company 297

Chapter 16: Planning for Growth 299

Chapter 17: Developing a Marketing Strategy 333

Chapter 18: Making and Using Money Wisely: The Financial Plan 357

Chapter 19: Planning for Things That Go Bump in the Night 381

Part 5: The Part of Tens 397

Chapter 20: Ten Reasons Not to Start a Business 399

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Spark Your Innovative Spirit 405

Index 411