Customer Reviews

Finding Fertile Ground: Identifying Extraordinary Opportunities for New Ventures

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Well if you have the guts to start a new business then this author makes the case that high tech is the field to be in. Forget fast food franchises, dry cleaners or video stores, the more knowledge intensive the better. To back this claim up the author gives you the highlights of the last 20 years in America and points to facts that would lead one to believe the economy is doing very well thank you. To put some reality into the conversation he does detail out the very difficult task it is to start a business and make it successful, as a matter of fact the odds are so long it would convince all but the most confident to stay put in the 9 to 5 grind.

So the author tries to identify the keys to what makes people successful entrepreneurs. He helps the reader determine the right business concept to exploit within the high tech arena. Even though he details out that it is a very tough road to make a successful business, he gives the reader enough sound advice and basic business strategy that it makes even a cautious fellow like myself believe I could do it. Overall I found the book interesting and easy to read. I am a bit too much of a doubting Thomas to try it myself, but if you are looking to venture out on your own I think this book would pay for itself many times over.

Scott A. Shane's excellent book focuses on technology entrepreneurs - no discussions of starting your own hair salon or sushi restaurant here. In fact, he notes that the original title specified "technology entrepreneurship" rather than entrepreneurship in general, though this is a valuable contribution to entrepreneurship literature. Most works on entrepreneurialism emphasize the personality characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, common wisdom says, are hard driving, charismatic and visionary. Shane turns sharply away from this "entrepreneurial cult of personality," and presents a strong case that what really counts is picking the right industry to enter in the first place, and then proceeding correctly. We strongly recommend this to entrepreneurs because it guides them to the industries, strategies and perspectives that are likeliest to work. It indeed plows fertile ground.

As an entrepreneur with six years of experience, I found this book to be the most accurate writing on the subject. "Finding Fertile Ground: Identifying Extraordinary Opportunities for New Ventures" is written in a concise manner that is simple to understand. This book is loaded with priceless nuggets of practical tools and it is impossible to due it justice in a one paragraph review here. Scott Shane has achieved the complex objective of combining thorough academic research with practical applications to the real problems of an entrepreneur and finally presenting the whole package in a highly entertaining book. This is a must read guide for every business person not just entrepreneurs since it shows how to leverage the growth opportunities that exist in the corporate world.

This is a book that all potential entrepreneurs should read. As a group, they have to be extremely optimistic people, with an overwhelming confidence in their ideas and beliefs. However, there is a downside to this, namely that it is so easy to fall into the trap of self-delusion. Lacking grounding in reality, most people who start new businesses fail, their optimism is simply not backed up by the facts on the ground.
Ten fundamental rules to creating and nurturing a new business are given. They are:

*) Select the right industry.
*) Identify valuable opportunities.
*) Manage technological transitions.
*) Identify and satisfy real market needs.
*) Understand customer adoption and market dynamics.
*) Exploit established company weaknesses.
*) Manage intellectual property effectively.
*) Create barriers to imitation.
*) Choose the right organizational form.
*) Manage risk and uncertainty effectively.

The value of this book is not based on the rules in this list, but in the explanations of why they are given and how one should implement them. One chapter is devoted to a thorough explanation of each of the rules and several examples are given. These examples clearly demonstrate circumstances where a new business can succeed, but even more importantly, situations where it is most unlikely that a new business could succeed.
There are several sidebar boxes scattered throughout the book. Some are titled "Stop! Don't Do It!", and contain a short list of actions that are almost certainly doomed to failure. Near the end of each chapter, there is a box entitled, "Questions to Ask Yourself", which as the name implies, is a list of questions that should be completely examined and answered before any new business venture is launched. If you can honestly answer those questions, and the key is of course satisfying the "honestly" criteria, then you can maximize the chances that you will select a business that can succeed.
The book package also includes a CD containing an audio summary and interview. I strongly recommend this book for anyone contemplating, starting, or running any business. Even people who are managing successful businesses will find information of value here. After all, most entrepreneurs succeed by exploiting the failures of established businesses rather than by creating business value that others have not considered.

At the outset, please bear with me as I defer to Shane to explain why Finding Fertile Ground may be of interest and value: "This book is different from most books on entrepreneurship in three important ways: First, the book focuses on what matters the most for successful entrepreneurship -- picking a good opportunity for starting a new business -- rather than what most people write about -- the attributes of successful entrepreneurs....This book is also different from most books on entrepreneurship, which focus on [begin italics] how [end italics] to get a new company started rather than on what kind of business is a good one to start....Moreover, this book takes the idea of explaining how to pick the right business seriously by developing a framework of rules for success that are based on academic research which shows the things that makes companies successful....[and also] focuses on how to identify a business concept that can support the development of a successful technology-based company."

Throughout the narrative, Shane focuses his reader's attention on "the key actions that you should take to come up with an opportunity that will support, and even foster, the creation of a new high technology company [which achieves and then sustains profitability]." He identifies ten "Key Lessons" and devotes a separate chapter to each. The "lessons" are arranged in a sequence of "key actions" which begin with selecting the right industry (Chapter 1) and conclude with managing risk and uncertainty (Chapter 10). It is noteworthy that, unlike so most other business books, this one does not provide a series of "To Do" lists; rather, a series of "Stop! Don't Do It!" lists. Shane also strategically places clusters of "Questions to Ask Yourself" so that the reader is challenged, at each step of the way, to address key issues. For example, it is in Chapter 6 that Shane explains how to exploit established company weaknesses. One of the questions asks "How can I take advantage of the way large established firms reward people when I found my new firm?"

At one point, Shane suggests that "being a successful entrepreneur is much like being as good professional gambler. If you know the games where the odds are least stacked in favor of the house, and you understand the rules of the game you are playing, you can greatly improve your chances of winning. Following the rules outlined in this book will help you identify the fertile ground -- a truly extraordinary business opportunity that will foster the development of a new high-technology company."

Eileen C. Shapiro and Howard H. Stevenson wrote a recently published book, Make Your Own Luck, in which they identify and then discuss 12 practical steps to taking smarter risks in business. They obviously agree with Shane that the success rate of one's business gambles can be improved -- sometimes substantially -- once understanding what the "rules" of the given "game" are as well as when and where there are the best "odds" to play it.

Presumably this will be true of at least some readers: After reading this book and completing the self-audit exercises, they conclude that they should not proceed with plans to launch a new firm. Other readers who do proceed should keep in mind the chilling statistics which Michael Gerber cites in his recently published book, E-Myth Mastery: "Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year [2005], more than 80% of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday."

Shane's advice will certainly be of substantial value to those thinking about launching a new firm but it can also be of substantial value to others who are thinking about expanding into (what is for them) an entirely new market and/or thinking about introducing (what is for them) an entirely new product or service. Whatever the "game" may be, whatever the nature of the "gamble," it is important to keep in mind that -- more often than not -- what seems to be "fertile ground" for opportunity proves to be a graveyard for inept entrepreneurship.

Obviously, I hold this volume in high regard and appreciate the CD which Wharton School Publishing provides with it, a value-added benefit indeed. Those who share that regard are urged to check out the aforementioned Make Your Own Luck and E-Myth Mastery as well as Evan I. Schwartz' Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, and Steven S. Little's The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth.

If you're starting a new business or restructuring a current one, this is THE BIBLE that will guide you through every inicial aspect.

THERE are thousands of people wanting to break free from their jobs and start afresh and anew with their own business.

Unfortunately the daunting task of setting up your own company can be made all the worse by the fear of the venture failing.

Scott Shane"s book argues that rather than a lack of any entrepreneurial skill, money or effort the biggest problem that many starting out pick the wrong business.

Finding Fertile Ground shows that, statistically, technology based opportunities in ceramics, software or medical devices are more likely to succeed than low-tech ventures.

Drawing from his own experience Dr Shane identifies the important parts of a business that are needed to make the business work, including intellectual property, increasing returns and design. These points are vital to the formation of a high technology business and not normally associated with more traditional ventures The author identifies 10 important rules for success and dedicates a chapter to each one of them.

In the discussion on selecting the right industry, for example, he identifies the industries that are most favourable for starting new ventures and explains why. The book works as an excellent introduction into a specialised field and, while it may not be for those hell bent on following a particular dream, it works well for those trying to keep their options open.

For anyone wanting the freedom of starting their own enterprise while looking for the ideal venture for them, this works well as a less than gentle nudge towards a booming industry.

If you are already looking at high technology industries or want to know more this will ease you in gently.

This is a superb book for figuring out what to do to start a high tech company. I have found something in every chapter that is helpful to me with my new company. This is definitely the most useful book I have ever read for high tech entrepreneurs.

If you enjoy business reading, you will enjoy this book. A fun, flowing read with useful conversation material throughout. Learn change secrets from the best. This is simply one of the best business book on new venture development I have ever read. There are facts here that ring so true and many principles to apply. These are facts based on research, not just a fine theory.

If you are serious about starting your own company and you only have time to read one book this year, Finding Fertile Ground should be the one (I have read this book twice because I was impressed with the extensive research and the compelling information Dr. Shane presents). If you are a corporate executive, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, or an MBA student make sure you grab this book and knock it out over a weekend. It certainly belongs in your library.