The

Entrepreneurial

Code

Lessons Learned from a Failed

Ivy League Entrepreneur

“Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.”  -- Cervantes

This is a "case story" about a group of students from an Ivy League school, who stumbled upon a good business idea, scratched and clawed to establish it, but inevitably failed. While we believed we had a solid business plan and a strong management team, our company’s downfall ultimately stemmed from critical entrepreneurship mistakes made by its founders.

I think this story fulfills a need in college business curriculums, whereby the plight of student entrepreneurs is often overlooked. At most schools, young entrepreneurs are seldom featured in case studies or invited as guest speakers. Instead, students are bombarded with tales of middle-aged CEOs.  While it may sound more impressive to introduce the founder of Staples, it’s just as important for students to hear from their peers who took the leap at running a small business.  After all, most college students don’t have a Rolodex of contacts, 20 years of industry experience, plus a wife, child, and mortgage to support.  On the contrary, they are inexperienced, rebellious, and driven to succeed.  Therefore, I think they should have the opportunity to learn from entrepreneurs who took the plunge at a similar age.

I am compelled to share my story because I think most failed entrepreneurs choose to lick their wounds out of the spotlight. Consequently, many business programs are left to present a lopsided view of entrepreneurship, whereby the victories get more attention than do the failures.  I think it’s critical for students also to hear from some of the failed entrepreneurs so they can benefit from their lessons learned.  In the end, it can only help create a more balanced portrayal of entrepreneurship.

Like a case study, I wrote The Entrepreneurial Code to present a series of entrepreneurship problems that occurred while running my business.  However, I chose to write this in a story format which has certain advantages.  Firstly, I hope students will find the writing to be more engaging than the typical case study which is usually pretty dry reading.  Secondly, real life problems are seldom presented clearly.  So, the natural flow of the story format is meant to help students appreciate how erratically events can sometimes unfold.  Also, by writing a case story, I was able to write as many pages as I needed instead of being limited to the typical 20-page format.  Finally, The Entrepreneurial Code is written by someone who actually lived through the experiences (as opposed to an independent researcher) and I hope this adds a level of personal insight that can’t be had from a generic case study. 

After years of reflection, I wrote The Entrepreneurial Code to help college students (like I was) to explore the idea of self-employment.  Entrepreneurship is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart and I hope this manuscript can be a way for others to learn from my experiences.

Copyright  2005 by Chris Cononico
All rights reserved. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.