Monday, 11 June 2007

The Growth Entrepreneur

"The most valuable new firms tend to be those with high growth potential."
Kauffman Thoughtbook 2007 p 121
Most valuable to whom is the question.

Recently I have met three small business owners who are all resisting the pressure to grow. They have the potential - but not the aspiration. They are all small businesses employing people, paying mortgages and feeding families. And their owners are people doing beautifully what they love to do - and they want to keep it that way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The key point is that phrase" valuable to whom?".
It is a truism that the push to persuade people to grow their business comes not from fellow entrepreneurs but from desk bound bureaucrats and academic,yet if a business does not grow then it will shrink or die.
Perhaps a better focus would be adapt-we are now moving into Darwin territory here-businesses that do not adapt will die.But how many business advisors talk about the need to adapt?
Iain Scott
www.enterpriseisland.com

Sirolli Institute said...

I agree with you Iain.
Adaptation is not the same as growth.
Drucker used to say that the smart manager did not do what they loved to do, but did what the business required of them. He encouraged them to sub-ordinate their own preferences to the demands of the business.
Is this another difference between the manager and the entrepreneur?