Presents an overview of empirical and conceptual developments in the study of high-tech entrepreneurs from an interdisciplinary and multinational perspective. This book explores various conceptual frameworks and definitions of high-tech entrepreneurs and of the entrepreneurial process based on studies in different settings and contexts.

Techno-entrepreneurship is defined as the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities of both existing companies and new businesses operating in technology-intensive environments. This is an ideal text for advancing an understanding of the theory and practice of research in this area.

Turn your high-tech idea into a high-profit business The High-Tech Entrepreneur's Handbook is a practical, hands-on guide designed specifically for people with a business idea, but little managerial experience. It takes you step-by-step through the key stages of setting up and running a high-tech enterprise, whether that's starting your own company or taking control of a project or department within a larger company. Based on a highly successful Cambridge University business studies course, from a Department that has generated at least one self-made millionaire a year, the book is a straight-talking, jargon-free guide that delivers the core background information necessary to create and run a successful enterprise. Technology, regardless of how good it is, forms only a small part of bringing a project to a successful and profitable conclusion. This is the book that explains the rest of the equation.Key areas discussed include:- getting started - developing and protecting your idea- writing the business plan- money and legal issues- managing projects, people and products- marketing and selling- growth and exit.

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.

This revised and updated edition of Nesheim's underground Silicon Valley bestseller incorporates twenty-three case studies of successful start-ups, including tables of wealth showing how much money founders and investors realized from each venture. The phenomenal success of the initial public offerings (IPOs) of many new internet companies obscures the fact that fewer than six out of 1 million business plans submitted to venture capital firms will ever reach the IPO stage. Many fail, according to start-up expert John Nesheim, because the entrepreneurs did not have access to the invaluable lessons that come from studying the real-world venture experiences of successful companies. Now they do. Acclaimed by entrepreneurs the world over, this practical handbook is filled with hard-to-find information and guidance covering every key phase of a start-up, from idea to IPO: how to create a winning business plan, how to value the firm, how venture capitalists work, how they make their money, where to find alternative sources of funding, how to select a good lawyer, and how to protect intellectual property. Nesheim aims to improve the odds of success for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and offers an insider's perspective from firsthand experience on one of the toughest challenges they face -- convincing venture capitalists or investment banks to provide financing. This complete, classic reference tool is essential reading for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs already involved in a start-up who want to increase their chances of success to rise to the top.

øCurrently, very little academic research exists on the intersection of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. This unique Handbook fills that gap, exploring how and why entrepreneurs who drive success in the for-profit world become engaged in philanthropy

"This book explores the culture of modern high-tech workplaces and the different challenges and opportunities that new technologies present for modern workers and employers, reviewing various management practices throughout the world"--Provided by publisher.