Changing the Game

William A. Sahlman, Harvard Business School

After discussing the four key elements of any entrepreneurial venture (people, opportunity, context and deal), William Sahlman, professor at Harvard Business School,
argues that the greatest value can be achieved by “changing the game,” that is changing the relationship of the core elements to one another. Sahlman illustrates this strategy with
the example of John Osher and the spin toothbrush. To change the game, Osher brought in the most relevant people for the job, experimented to find a great opportunity, and reshaped the context in which he, his team and his partner operated to quickly capture the new market.