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Article Review: Theory into Practice - Investors as Entrepreneurs (Financial Times)



This is a review of a short but useful article about why investors typically may have problems to evolve their efforts into more full-blown businesses, while, in contrast, entrepreneurs typically often fare better at creating organic growth.


Many investors thus have problems turning their investments in innovations into business. They typically are not able to scale up the business. Entrepreneurs seem to be better able to create organic growth, on the other hand. Why? The author identifies three factors:

  1. Investors may lack the sufficient respect for the skills needed to build a business. Creativity is not only technical, but also commercial!

  2. Control. The investors may have a hard time to give this up, so as to allow others to co-design on commercialization, marketing plan, etc., as well as failing to bring in top people with complementary capabilities, such as a member, who might eventually run the engines.

  3. Seeing the limits of the invention itself. The entrepreneur may be better at identifying people, customers as well as employees who may adopt a bigger vision, think in more of an unconstrained way.

The author points towards such legends as Steve jobs (Apple) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) as entrepreneurs who took their companies to new enormous heights, without having actually invented the smart phone or the personal computer operating system.


All in all, this small article is highly recommendable. The central message here is that we as investors must push ourselves to have more entrepreneurial strategies!

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