The intelligent entrepreneur: How three Harvard Business School graduates learned the 10 rules of successful entrepreneurship

By Bill Murphy Jr.


Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.


Harvard Business School (HBS) teaches its business classes by having students read, analyze, and discuss case studies.  Bill Murphy is a Harvard graduate, and the reason you need to know this before diving into this book, is that basically, it is three extensive and well-described case studies (of Marla Malcolm Beck, Chris Michel, and Marc Cenedella) tied together with their experiences and how they demonstrate (sometimes purposefully and at other times accidentally) the ten rules of successful entrepreneurship:
    1.    Make the commitment.
    2.    Find a problem, then solve it.
    3.    Think big, think new, think again.
    4.    You can’t do it alone.
    5.    You must do it alone.
    6.    Manage risk.
    7.    Learn to lead.
    8.     Learn to sell.
    9.    Persist, persevere, prevail.
  10.    Play the game for life.


In each case, you get a beautifully presented explanation of the real life challenges and triumphs of the three entrepreneurs in the eleven odd-numbered chapters, and in the even-numbered chapters, you get Murphy’s key rules of entrepreneurial success that Marla, Chris, and Marc learned along the way (p. 7).  It’s an interesting format, but it works well.


Once you meet Marla, Chris, and Marc in Chapter 1 and hear their stories (which sets the stage for the entire book), you will not just become interested in how their lives work out, but their stories, too, will captivate you, and you will quickly become absorbed in this well-written, interesting, and enlightening book.


Whether you are a hopeful entrepreneur, one just starting out, or one who has already plunged forward into entrepreneurship and is fully ensconced, I think you will find this book worthwhile.  Having recently established a small publishing company, And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C., I found his information accurate, insightful, and valuable.


This book is available at Amazon.com: The intelligent entrepreneur: How three Harvard Business School graduates learned the 10 rules of successful entrepreneurship