Strategy

Priceline co-founder Jesse Fink explains to entrepreneur Steve Blank how his early company was a technology-enhanced solution to a business model - and not a real technology play - that succeeded in providing for both business and consumer. Fink brings these same solutions to his current investment firm, MissionPoint, who believes it will be business models and capital markets that find environmental solutions, and not the technology itself.

Serial entrepreneur Mitch Kapor encourages start-ups not to compete with giants. Instead, the young upstart should consider how it could benefit by working in concert with their giant's footsteps. He cites as an example his own young enterprise, Foxmarks, which tracks search trends through the amalgamation of Firefox bookmarks.

Ping Li, Partner at Accel, talks about how they evaluated Bit Torrent as a potential venture capital investment. Li suggests that Bit Torrent possessed three things which led to the eventual investment: 1) Deep, distinctive technology and a really meaningful problem, 2) A strong team that had proved a legitimate business model and 3) Shared vision about the future potential of the company.

Tarun Khanna, Professor at Harvard Business School, summarizes insights from one of his books by comparing private and public rights in India and China. Khanna argues that in India, private rights are favored over the public interest whereas in China the opposite is true. These tradeoffs affect the nature of doing business in each country and development. Elsewhere in his presentation, Khanna also suggests that India and China differ in that India has weak hard infrastructure (roads, etc.) but strong soft infrastructure (human assets, etc.) whereas in China the opposite is true, a duality that is clearly related to the public and private rights distinction discussed in this video segment.

Tarun Khanna, Professor at Harvard Business School, argues that the old equation that government = inefficient does not hold unilaterally but depends on the context. To illustrate, Khanna describes the evolution of the Communist Party of China and its efforts to co-opt entrepreneurs so that now the government and entrepreneurship is very closely integrated. In contrast, Khanna suggests that in India entrepreneurs keep their distance from the government.

In 1989, following the year when Dell, Inc. went public, Dell explains how the company had a large problem with inventory management. As a result, the company failed to transition properly in the industry from one technology to the other. However, because of this critical mistake, the company learned how to correctly manage their inventory, and according to Dell, became the best in the world at it. Later on, Dell also notes the company did not have the systems and processes to deal with rapid growth. This experience, however, proved to be another learning lesson for the company, as it installed a much better set of processes that helped further its growth.

William Sahlman, professor at Harvard Business School, asserts that entrepreneurship is about being opportunity driven: recognizing opportunity in all types of circumstances. Specifically, being opportunity-driven is about looking at a bad situation and turning it around to see the opportunity.

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.

William Sahlman, professor at Harvard Business School, provides an example of opportunity recognition by relating the story of how John Osher, the creator of the Spin Pop, leveraged his experience into a new market--spin toothbrushes. Sahlman highlights how Osher and his team took their experience and applied it in a new setting by proactively searching to identify a gap in the current market that had potential for high profit.

Bronfman argues that the problem with America is that while values of integrity, hard-work, the rule of law and meritocracy are exported, the advancement of opportunities is not. This is why Endeavor is such a powerful role model; it provides economic opportunities in countries where democracy cannot flourish. With the growing availability of opportunities he says, cultures change, countries evolve, and the world becomes a better and more peaceful place.

Edgar Bronfman, Jr., CEO of Warner Music Group, believes business is a circular concept that can be described using three words: believe, listen, and act. First, he says, you have to believe in your vision, your opportunity, and most importantly yourself. Secondly, you have to listen to the market and properly assimilate the facts surrounding your vision. Lastly, it is critical to take action, although it may be difficult for some to change what they have been used to do doing.

Pedro Aspe, Former Secretary of Finance, Mexico and CEO of Protego, discusses two central conditions for an entrepreneurial society: 1) education and 2) reliable institutions. Aspe emphasizes the importance of removing discretionary power, in matters of trade and finance, from the hands of public officials in order to increase the reliability of an economic system. Aspe associates the remaining discretionary power on these matters with the existing economic struggles of Latin America.

Jack Leslie, Chairman of Weber Shandwick, discusses the lessons he learned regarding emerging economies and entrepreneurship. First, Leslie argues that the creation of freedom and prosperity comes from a nation's internal entrepreneurial spirit, not imposed from above or abroad. Second, Leslie suggests that an entrepreneurial society is at the foundation of a free political society by allowing individuals to be reliant on themselves rather than an authoritarian regime. He illustrates these principles with two brief stories.

This interactive exercise is designed to give participants the experience of identifying opportunities, understanding customer point of view, rapid prototyping, and giving a pitch. In this exercise, participants interview one another about what they like/hate about their wallets. Based upon what they learn, they build new wallets for their customer.

One of Juniper Networks's biggest challenges is efficiently operating a global company. CEO Scott Kriens challenges the audience to obtain the skill set necessary to work in a global team environment.

Scott explains that it is important to "do the thing that makes the most sense". He uses JFK's lesson from the Bay of Pigs to illustrate this point.

Larsen and Breyer explain the lessons learned during the bubble. They suggest that it is important to spend frugally and get the maximum value for every dollar spent, regardless of the amount of money present in the bank.

Eisenhardt shares her work on managing at the edge of chaos. She defines the edge of chaos as the perfect balance between being too structured and not having enough structure. In particular, she compares optimal strategies for the highly regulated and structured biotech market and the ambiguous mobile gaming market.

This five minute video captures the essence of a two hour workshop in which student teams must reconstruct a jigsaw puzzle. Several puzzles are mixed together and the pieces distributed randomly to teams. The teams are urged to challenge assumptions, leverage resources, seize opportunities, pay attention to the market, and to create value. Every ten minutes the "market" changes. The video shows the set-up of the game, the action, and several minutes of debriefing with the teams. In this two hour exercise, students must develop a strategy, they need to collaborate and compete, they must negotiate and barter, they need to be creative, and they must divide the tasks at hand in order to create the most value.

Repackage, rejuvenate, re-market, and re-examine those products or practices you thought would fly, and craft them a new set of wings. Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, Marissa Mayer lives by the old adage that if at first you don't succeed, try again. She pushes aspiring business thinkers to breathe new life into failed ventures, as opposed to cutting the cord.

Google has proven that if you build it, they will come, and their mass of tools to keep users logged in has been the crux of their success. Vice President of Search Products & User Experience Marissa Mayer elaborates on this strategy, pointing out that money - and advertisers - will always follow consumers. Focus on building sticky media that draws in a wide audience, and the method to its monetization will follow.

Marrone describes the impact of AgraQuest on the global bio-pesticide market.

Wikia CEO Gil Penchina discusses the steps that entrepreneurs should take when entering a new and unfamiliar global market.