Entrepreneurs in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Hardcover)

by Edward B. Roberts (Author) "An upper floor in an old factory building or a converted warehouse somewhere in Cambridge, Massachusetts, housing a new technical company founded by several people..." (more)
Key Phrases: multifounder teams, overall product focus, electronic systems firm, Greater Boston, Babson College, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A masterpiece in covering the complex aspects of entrepreneurship....Takes the concept out of the theoretical and into the real world of firm creation and growth."--James M. Howell, President, The Howell Group

"Entrepreneurs in High Technology provides insight into new enterprise development--the founders, their companies, and the environments from which they were born. Whether engineer, executive, or economist, there is much to learn from this rich compendium of findings assembled by a lucid writer who is both participant and observer of new enterprise development."--David J. Teece, Director, Center for Research in Management, University of California, Berkeley

"There's more knowledge about high technology entrepreneurship between Ed Roberts's ears than anywhere else in the world. His new book glistens with the insights of the grand, not so old, man of the field. It will become an instant classic."--Modesto A. (Mitch) Maidique, President, Florida International University

"A mine of useful material for industrial historians interested in the role of entrepreneurship, especially where this is considered in a regional or high-technology setting."--Business History

"The book's life's work approach and highly visible subject base virtually guarantees it classic status....It is an achievement that justifiably took an academic lifetime to build, and the result is worth it."--Journal of Management

Product Description
The ingredients for success in starting and developing a technology-based company aren't obvious. Why, for example, did Digital Equipment Corporation succeed--and indeed become one of the most successful high-tech corporations in the world--while dozens of other companies with similar beginnings fail? It is a question that demands careful consideration by anyone setting up a new company or who is interested in starting one. In Entrepreneurs in High Technology, Edward Roberts, a Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, offers entrepreneurs a goldmine of information on starting, financing, and expanding a high-tech firm. His book reveals the results of research conducted over twenty-five years on several hundred high-tech firms, and it reflects the insights of the author's own first-hand experience as a company founder, director, and venture capitalist.

Focusing on firms in the Greater Boston area--many of which have had technological links with MIT--Roberts traces the origins and the evolution of the high-technology failures and successes. He examines the work experience and family backgrounds of successful technical entrepreneurs, their sources of funding, and the ways they respond to the challenge of business growth. He compares the track records of firms with multi-founder teams and firms with individual founders, contrasts the performance of consulting firms and research-and-development contractors against companies that start out with a product, identifies the factors that limit an enterprise's ability to raise outside capital, and explores the critical influence of marketing orientation on successful companies. In a penetrating analysis of highly successful ventures, the author reveals the importance of strategically transforming the company to a market-oriented focus, and he examines the widespread tendency, even among the most successful high-tech firms, to displace the founder before the company achieves "super-success."

For anyone planning to start a technology-based enterprise, Entrepreneurs in High Technology is essential reading--an invaluable preview of the financial, organizational, and marketing issues that confront every new high-tech venture. For business and technology watchers, it is an informative account of the promise and the perils entailed in bringing innovative ideas to the marketplace.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 22, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195067045
• ISBN-13: 978-0195067040
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #764,648 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Planning and Organizing a High Tech Startup, June 22, 2000

By	Ali Alwattari (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked this book because it helped me be better at my work which uses technological innovation to develop new products. The book is also helpful in planning a successful high tech startup company or project inside a company because it outlines the factors that contribute to success and failure of new companies and new ideas. For example, having a specific product in mind versus "I have a cool technology so lets start a company". Also, it emphasizes thinking about the whole enterprise, not just technology, but how to make a company "tick" such as having formal marketing/financing part as well as innovation development part.