The Entrepreneurial
Code is a case story about a group of students from an Ivy League university that
enjoy grassroots success with their start-up, but face unanticipated
challenges expanding their business. The Company's main product begins as
an off-campus meal plan for students utilizing local restaurants and
ultimately expands to a national scale offering a restaurant meal plan,
discount card, and online bookstore for college students. It takes the
reader through all of the stages of an entrepreneurial venture from its
inception, through the unforeseen problems, right to the company’s
spectacular demise and the lessons learned. At each stage, the founders
reinvent their business, while always struggling with whether or not to stay
the course. In its essence, the Entrepreneurial Code explores the never
ending question, “Is my thesis still intact or am I blinded?”
The Entrepreneurial
Code was written to help students who are thinking about taking the plunge
into self-employment. The story goes beyond the rigid limitations of the
10-page “case study” used in business programs across the country. Its flow
is meant to demonstrate how erratically events unfold. It also fulfills a
niche because it’s about a group of college students managing a small
company. While it may sound impressive to read about the founder of
Staples, it’s just as important for students to hear from the experiences of
younger entrepreneurs.
The story fulfills a
need in classrooms, where students are often given an imbalanced portrayal
of entrepreneurship. Since most failed entrepreneurs choose to lick their
wounds out of the spotlight, lectures are mostly given by the few who
succeeded. It would be unheard of for a business program to invite 19 failed
entrepreneurs to speak for every one success, but it would be more
reflective of the true odds.
This case story was
written by someone who lived through the experiences, so it adds insight
that can’t be found in a generic case study by an independent researcher.
Although based on real events, the Entrepreneurial Code is not the author's
memoirs. By telling the story in the third person with fictional
characters, he is more able to present an unbiased account of what
happened. The final chapter is a summary of his lessons learned after years
of reflection.
The
author is not trying to preach to anyone about
entrepreneurship. He made his mistakes, and you’ll make yours. This story
is meant to be a learning tool to help students think more deeply about what
it means to be a business owner. By no means is he trying to discourage
entrepreneurs from taking calculated risks. Rather, it is his hope that the
Entrepreneurial Code will help young people develop the frame of mind
necessary to build long term value for their stakeholders.
The
author has reviewed notes, records, and newspaper
stories, interviewed some of the participants, and relied heavily on his own
recollections. If you talk to other people involved with the events
described, they may recount the story differently, and, ultimately, may have
been affected in completely different ways. He is just recounting the story
as he remembers it through the eyes of the characters he has created.