Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship

I read this book published on 1999, I consider it gives very good ideas based on experience of authors of how to fulfill objectives when you start a business.

I consider the next ideas are the most important of the book:

• The first step you should do when you start a business is defining your personal goals and aspirations in life, your business has to be related with your dreams.

• Ask yourself if you have the right strategy and if is possible to achieve it, a new company's strategy must embody the founder's vision of where the company is going, not where it is.

• Can the strategy generate sufficient profits and growth? Is it sustainable?

• At the beginning the founders won't have a role defined, they will have to do many things in different areas. Till the enterprise grows roles will be defined.

• When you write a business plan you have to organize four areas: the people, the opportunity, the context and risk and reward, if one of them isn't well organized your entrepreneurship will fail.

• One of the greatest myths about entrepreneurs is that they are risk seekers. All sane people want to avoid risk.

• By the time an opportunity is investigated fully, it may no longer exist. Is important to promote your product in market in time, if you have a delay of six months you lose 31.5% of opportunities.

• Make a budget for two years, include an estimate of incomes and outcomes, so you will know how much cash is needed.

• Milestones for successful venture planning:

  • Completion of concept and product testing

  • Completion of prototype

  • First financing

  • Completion of initial plant tests

  • Market testing

  • Production start up

  • Bellwether sale

  • First competitive action

  • First redesign or redirection

  • First significant price change

• “Strategy is easy, but tactics are hard”. The key to turning a good idea into a good business comes in day-to-day management of the company. For that reason, Rock says, he doesn't evaluate financial projections in business plans. He looks at the people particularly the financial people involved with any business start up.

• Follow the next axioms drawn from successful entrepreneurs:

  • Get operational quickly

  • Look for quick break-even, cash-generating projects

  • Offer high-value products or services that can sustain direct personal selling

  • Forget about the crack team

  • Keep growth in check

  • Focus on cash, not on profits, market share, or anything else.

  • Cultivate banks before the business becomes credit worthy.

• Over the past year, we have examined the difference between leader and laggards in commercialization in the United States, Japan and Europe. Our study found that leading companies:

  • Commercialize two to three times the number of new products and processes as do their competitors of comparable size.

  • Incorporate two to three times as many technologies as their products.

  • Bring their products to market in less than half time.

  • Compete twice as many product and geographic markets.

• Your priority hast to be commercialization of your products, if you don't generate enough cash your enterprise will be broken soon.

• The commercialization process consists on the next steps:

  • Research, development, manufacturing, service.

  • Concept generation

  • Design and development

  • Manufacturing ramp-up and marketing launch

  • Ongoing improvement.

• Products have a life cycle you must understand, for example typewriters, they dominated the market for years and as you see, now they don't.

La antesala del cielo

Atko'la'! Les quiero contar una experiencia que viví en Edulibre, una de esas experiencias que te marcan la vida. Por primera vez realizamos un campamento de trabajo en el interior del país, fuimos a San Pablo La Laguna, uno de los municipios del país con mayor índice de desnutrición infantil en Guatemala, en dónde el idioma predominante es el tzutujil.

El objetivo era realizar instalaciones de EdulibreOS (sistema operativo usado por edulibre) en las computadoras del laboratorio del Colegio Parroquial; objetivo que casi logramos sino es porque se fue la luz.

Aparte del trabajo técnico que realizamos experimenté una sensación de desapego a las cosas materiales, fue un momento en que veía el paisaje y pensaba que no tenía más que una mochila con algo de ropa, dormí en el piso, comí lo que se pudo y vi la felicidad de los niños que reían todo el tiempo aunque no tuvieran nada material. La belleza del paisaje me hizo pensar el poder de Dios y mi pequeñez, me sentí una hormiga al ver tal maravilla, como dijo un amigo: "después de ver eso ya solo falta morirte".

Agradezco al profesor Francisco Leja por hacernos sentir en casa, también a Susely

(la maestra), Marvin, Omar, Luisa, Mauro y Robin por hacer de este viaje una experiencia increíble, estoy seguro que no nos daremos cuenta del gran bien que hicimos, en un futuro o en la otra vida sabremos del gran impacto de ir a ayudar al prójimo.

No me queda más que decir tiox y kibanna'.

Pueden ver aquí el set completo de fotos.

Una computadora por primera vez

Hoy tuve la oportunidad de vivir una experiencia de esas que te cambian la vida, después de mucho esfuerzo en Edulibre por terminar el laboratorio de computación en la escuela República de Brasil hemos empezado a ver los frutos.

Estábamos trabajando en instalaciones de computadoras y entró un niño al que le llamó la atención que estuviéramos en un salón desconocido para él, yo le dije que si quería jugar y ni dos veces dijo que sí, le puse el juego más sencillo de la suite educativa Gcompris y me dí cuenta que no podía usar el mouse. Entró la mamá buscando a su hijo y se emocionó mucho porque era la primera vez que "Samuelito" tocaba una computadora.

Es una de esas experiencias que ni el dinero ni nada pueden comprar.