The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship - Softcover

"An excellent, thought-provoking overview of entrepreneurship... that uses actual cases to describe the challenges of starting a business and realizing success." --Booklist

"An unusual hybrid work of self-help, business and narrative nonfiction... Murphy's explication of the [ten] rules is detailed and clear...and the narrative chapters are compelling... The degree of cooperation Murphy received from his subjects--as well as their classmates, professors, business partners and employees--is astounding and greatly enriches the book." --Kirkus Reviews

"Bill Murphy's book captures the reality of entrepreneurial endeavors by detailing how three graduates of HBS found opportunity, acquired the resources they needed, and committed heart and soul to their venture. Entrepreneurship is messy, an emotional and financial rollercoaster. This book serves as an invaluable guide to those who might follow in the footsteps of these remarkable young entrepreneurs." --William Sahlman, Professor, Harvard Business School

"The Intelligent Entrepreneur is full of invaluable advice, and it highlights the ways that thoughtful people actually go about learning the ideas and developing skills required to be successful entrepreneurs. Bill Murphy's book shows that entrepreneurs who take an informed and intelligent approach to launching new companies can vastly improve their chances of ultimate success." --Joseph Lassiter, Professor, Harvard Business School

"An invaluable guide to those who might follow in the footsteps of these remarkable young entrepreneurs."—William Sahlman, Professor, Harvard Business School

In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates—two men and one woman—turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their ten-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs—and left their mark on the world.

Based on dozens of interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs, Harvard Business School professors and alumni, The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders developed ideas, assembled teams, built ventures, and achieved their dreams. Their hard-won insights—distilled into ten key rules—will help anyone become a successful entrepreneur.

What they teach you at Harvard Business School is that intelligent entrepreneurship can be learned. In that spirit, Bill Murphy Jr. uses a unique combination of vivid storytelling and lucid instruction to show would-be entrepreneurs how to improve their odds of creating dynamic, lasting businesses.