“Disciplined Entrepreneurship” Synthesis

Donald Skull wrote the article “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” to describe the key steps to take when considering an entrepreneurial investment. He discusses the risks that a person needs to take when in these circumstances as well as the precautions that are necessary for success. Skull describes in detail about how an entrepreneur should “formulate a working hypothesis…assemble resources…and design and run experiments.”

I thought that Skull’s explanation of deal killers and big bets was really interesting. Sometimes peope forget that even though the bell-curve, which represents supply and demand, applies to all areas of business. However, entrepreneurship is a whole different ball game. It’s interesting how with this business approach it is really hit or miss, with great risks involved. He talks about deal killers and how sometimes they are obvious, in cases such as the real estate. There could be a nearby plant that releases a great deal of pollution into a nearby river, which can easily ruin an investment. But on the other hand, there are deal killers that an individual or even a group would never pick up on, as with the deep-pocketed rival. The Government is a good example of something that can create a deal killer without any warning of its involvement. Skull basically explains how an entrepreneur should be on the lookout for these. He also briefly advises about how someone should be aware of the “big bet” that they are putting on the line, so as to weigh out the opportunity cost of the risk.

One thing that the author talked about was to “stabilize the business odel before making key hires.” I agree that the person creating the company needs to get the business off and running before staffing the entire project, but I don’t agree with Skull’s theory that the company should postpone the employment of top