Roberts’ New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur, 6e stands out as a text designed to guide tomorrow’s entrepreneurs down the difficult road ahead. Specifically, the Roberts team addresses the entrepreneur before, during and after the decision to create a new venture. Entrepreneurs need to realize that they are assuming a managerial role- both in a product and people sense. New Business Ventures, 6e will leave students with the skills needed to grasp and implement the general managerial responsibilities required to be a successful entrepreneur. The text provides an innovative approach to teaching the core general management skills via the lens of the entrepreneur. The course upon which this book I based is now the new core required course in general management at Harvard Business School.
Howard Stevenson has been a donor and a fundraiser for most of his life. He believes in "giving back" through financial and nonfinancial (expertise and experience) contributions to nonprofit organizations. He has served as vice provost of Harvard University, senior associate dean of Harvard Business School (HBS), chair of the Harvard Business School Press, chair of National Public Radio, chair of Sudbury Valley Trustees, a trustee of the Massachusetts Nature Conservancy, and a member of the board of both the Boston Ballet and Mount Auburn Hospital. In all of these organizations, fundraising was an important part of the strategy. He has personally touched gifts totaling many hundreds of million dollars, and has led the teams that secured some of the largest gifts in these organizations' histories. These significant gifts ranged from tens of thousands to more than $100 million.
In his other lives, Stevenson has been an entrepreneur, professor and author. He was the founder and first president of the Baupost Group, Inc., which manages partnerships investing in liquid securities for wealthy families. He now serves as co-chair of the Advisory Board of Baupost LLC, a $21 billion registered investment company. His HBS legacy, in addition to having touched the lives of thousands of students, is the establishment of its entrepreneurship program. Upon his recent retirement, a chair was named in his honor. Stevenson also is a prolific author, having published eleven books, and hundreds of articles and case studies.
