Читать книгу Entrepreneurial Finance - Robert D. Hisrich - Страница 15

Interestingly, there seem to be two predominant attitudes in the world toward entrepreneurs. One view is that entrepreneurs are some kind of heroes who shape the course of history and achieve tremendous success. Steve Jobs with Apple, Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, Stelios Haji-Ioannou with easyJet, and Ratan Naval Tata with the Tata Group are inspirations who motivate others to follow their dreams and create their own ventures. Conversely, certain cultures may give merit to established entrepreneurs yet discourage nascent or new entrepreneurs to follow suit. In fact, nearly all graduates from college who visit their career centers in Europe will be offered advice on how to apply and seek a job, not advice on how to register a brand or form a company. Entrepreneurship still seems to be in most parts of the world a deviation from the norm and perceived as a risky career choice. For example, in Southern Europe, it is nearly impossible for banks to approve mortgage loans to self-employed entrepreneurs, even if their early stage venture income seems to justify a favorable decision (DaSilva, Janezic, & Hisrich, 2012). Banks prefer to give a loan to someone who has a lower salary but a “secure” job at a large corporation. This conventional position from banks and society does not seem to make sense nowadays, but still the practice prevails.

Given the mass layoffs of the past few years, is entrepreneurship riskier today than working at a big bank or law firm? A Harvard Business Review blog (Gibney & Howery, 2012) reveals that 215,417 jobs for attorneys will be available between 2008 and 2018, while over 430,000 new legal graduates will come out of universities during that same period. Those numbers indicate that only half will get a chance to get a job in their chosen field. There will be so many lawyers on the market for jobs that even those who get a job will probably have compensation packages that differ from the ones presently on the market. By contrast, the Kauffman Foundation did a survey of 5,000 entrepreneurial ventures started in 2004 in the United States (Robb & Reedy, 2012). Their results show that nearly 56% were still in business in the beginning of 2010 despite the world financial turmoil. Now if we consider financial rewards, entrepreneurs do have the possibility to make real money. Statistics from the venture capital industry reveal that 25% of first-time venture-backed firms are acquired for at least $50 million or file for an initial public offering (IPO) (Gompers, Kovner, Lerner, & Scharfstein, 2008).

Another positive feature of entrepreneurship is that motivated and happy people will usually perform better than individuals simply looking forward to their paycheck. In today's highly competitive market, only those who enjoy what they do and how they do it perform at a higher level.

This book will provide insights that will contribute to the success of any entrepreneur or investor seeking practical advice on how to measure performance and improve the financial state of an entrepreneurial venture in a global economy. Additionally, we will provide advice on how to reach and negotiate with investors to obtain the vital cash necessary for a venture to grow and eventually exit successfully.