Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do

Schramm is University Professor at Syracuse University and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which was founded by a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and is the primary advocate for the promotion and support of entrepreneurship. He has written several books on entrepreneurship and capitalism (e.g., The Entrepreneurial Imperative) and is recognized as a tireless advocate. Here, the author's thesis is that each entrepreneurial effort is unique and difficult to categorize. He feels that a tool such as a business plan is often not the ideal solution for designing an entrepreneurial venture. The unpredictability of the various elements of a business start-up are examined in depth with examples in several diverse fields. Schramm believes that work experience and the knowledge of when to change or adapt are most important and difficult to plan for. He notes that years of business experience and practice is most often the key to successful start-ups.