By: Mike Chitty

Mike Chitty — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:26:36 +0000

I think that the answer to this question lies in an exploration of the ‘demand side’ for information rather than thinking about how we can develop the information ’supply side’.
Most of the information is already available it is just a question of getting the demand for it fired up.
If entrepreneurs want to succeed (rather than look and feel good for a while) they must get the right team in place before they start.
A team that is as obsessed about financial management and marketing and sales as it is about saving the world. With a balanced team seeking information and better practice in each of these domains it is much less likely to fail as a business and the demand side of the information market place will be more robust. So less encouragement to individual entrepreneurs to change the world single handed and more encouragement to them to build powerful and balanced teams would be my first suggestion.
There is much in your comment that says the realisation that they are ‘not very good’ at business comes ‘just too late’. This is true for nearly all entrepreneurs – social or otherwise. They nearly always get a massive shock at some point. They run out of money. Customers are angry. Products and services don’t work as well as was planned.
The question is how do they respond?
Are they prepared for the shock?
Did they know it was likely to come along?
Do they have the networks and resources to work through the shock and to learn from it?
How do we as ’support agencies’ make sure that they are ready to face the traumas when they almost inevitably come?
I am often criticised for consistently focussing clients on the possible downsides of their business. On the things that might go wrong – and of the devastating impact that they could have on finances, relationships and reputations. People say to me ‘Mike, they will never start a business if you keep pointing out all of the downsides…’
Well I make no apologies.
If someone is put off starting a business by a good exploration of the possible downsides then they are probably making exactly the right decision. You see it is not more businesses that we need, but better businesses. Businesses that have a pragmatic understanding of the risks that they face (bankruptcy, debt, damaged relationships etc) – and are still prepared to take them.
Not dozens of ‘would be’ hopefuls buoyed up by a raft of interventions to promote enterprise on a sea of support agencies whose criteria for success is based on counting start-ups rather than survival rates.
Mike Chitty

Comments on: Open source social business

By: Mike Chitty