Entrepreneurship process should start with building a Moral Support Network –
Generally, entrepreneurship refers to the functions performed by an entrepreneur in establishing an enterprise. There are many ways to organize the effort of planning, launching and building a venture. But there are a set of fundamentals that must be covered in any approach. We offer the following as a way to break down the basic activities necessary. It is useful to break the entrepreneurial process into five phases: idea generation, opportunity evaluation, planning, company formation/launch, and growth. These phases are summarized in this table, and the Opportunity Evaluation and Planning steps are expanded in greater detail below.
- Idea Generation:
Every new venture begins with an idea. In our context, we take an idea to be a description of a need or problem of some constituency coupled with the concept of a possible solution. (A characterization of this phase is still Work in process on this site.)
- Opportunity Evaluation:
This is the step where you ask the question of whether there is an opportunity worth investing. Investment is principally capital, whether from individuals in the company or from outside investors, and the time and energy of a set of people. But you should also consider other assets such as intellectual property, personal relationships, physical property, etc.
- Planning:
Once you have decided that an opportunity, you need a plan for how to capitalize on that opportunity. A plan begins as a fairly simple set of ideas and then becomes more complex as the business takes shape. In the planning phase, you will need to create two things: strategy and operating plan.
- Company formation/launch:
Once there is a sufficiently compelling opportunity and a plan, the entrepreneurial team will go through the process of choosing the right form of corporate entity and actually creating the venture as a legal entity.
- Growth:
After launch, the company works toward creating its product or service, generating revenue and moving toward sustainable performance. The emphasis shifts from planning to execution. At this point, you continue to ask questions but spend more of your time carrying out your plans.
