Entrepreneurship

The best way to learn about entrepreneurship is to learn from the experiences of people who have started businesses.

Your assignment is to interview an entrepreneur who has either succeeded or failed and find out the key lessons their experience can teach you.

You should select an entrepreneur who started a business and obtained some form of outside financing (not self-financed / bootstrapped). Ideally, select an entrepreneur that grew the business to at least $500k in annual revenue.

You may interview Georgia Tech alumni, but students and direct family members are not permitted.

You will prepare an article from your interview for upload. Use what you have learned in this class as a framework for perspectives and insights – and focus on the early years of the business.

Describe the entrepreneur and the business

Why did they start the business?

What made them think the business would be feasible / successful?

What personal tradeoffs did the entrepreneur have to make to start the business?

How was the business financed?

Describe the growth and scale of the business

What were the biggest obstacles the entrepreneur faced?

What was the outcome? What were the key factors for success or failure?

What would they have done differently?

Describe the key lessons you learned in the interview