Pr. Benoit Leleux is responsible of the startup program at prestigious IMD business school. He hold this keynote at Rencontre Romande de Formation et Entrepreneuriat on September 4th 2014.

1. PROF. BENOIT LELEUX
Démystifier l’Entreprenariat pour le Promouvoir
© 2007-2013 IMD – International Institute for Management Development. Not to be used or reproduced without permission.
www.imd.org/gfbc
Dr Benoît Leleux
Stephan Schmidheiny Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance

2. La perception de l’entrepreneuriat
© IMD 2007-2013
Un petit génie
a l’inspiration
divine
Il lève une
fortune auprès
de VCs
qualifiés grâce
à un business
plan bien lèché
Croissance
exponentielle,
IPO et retraite
sur une ile
paradisiaque
2

3. © IMD 2007-2013
La réalité de l’entrepreneuriat
Un petit génie
a l’inspiration
divine
Il lève une
fortune auprès
de VCs
qualifiés grâce
à un business
plan bien lèché
Croissance
exponentielle,
IPO et retraite
sur une ile
paradisiaque
• L’âge moyen au
premier lancement
est de 40 ans.
• La startup évolue
rapidement et
dévie des plans
initiaux
• < 2% des startups
lèvent des fonds de
VC
• < 27% des sociétés
du Inc. 500 ont écrit
un business plan
• < 1% des startups
arrivent à l’IPO
3

4. 40 ans
© IMD 2007-2013
L’entrepreneur “moyen”
Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com
Marrié
Avec
enfants
Diplôme
Classe
moyenne
de
Bachelor
4

5. Mythe: l’entrepreneur travaille pour lui/elle-même
Investisseurs Clients Regulateurs
Employés
© IMD 2007-2013
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6. Mythe: l’entrepreneur gagne plus que son collègue employé
© IMD 2007-2013
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7. Mythe: l’entrepreneur a une aversion limitée au risque
© IMD 2007-2013
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8. Mythe: 80-90% des startups sont mortes après 5 ans
En réalité, c’est souvent une mauvaise interprétation
des statistiques officielles:
Disparition dans une grande partie des cas
ne veut pas dire échec!
Ventes / Arrêts sans dégâts / Liquidations ordonnées…
Le taux d’échec réel est inférieur à 50% sur 5 ans
La mortalité des start-up: Mythe ou réalité? Jonathan Levie, Gavin Don et Benoît
Leleux, L’Expansion Entreprenariat 2011
The new venture mortality myth, by Jonathan Levie and Gavin Don, University of
Strathclyde and Benoit Leleux, IMD, in New Venture Creation Handbook edited by
Kevin Hindle and Kim Klyver, Edward Elgar, 2009
© IMD 2007-2013
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Nurturing Science-based Start-ups –
Key Learning Points (1/2)
• It is all about markets and customers. Get your customers involved
early and frequently during the development of the new technology.
• Provide early proof of concept. Prototypes talk better than long
stories and also help you pinpoints major flaws rapidly.
• Get exposure quickly and repeatedly. Early warnings are better
than later ones.
• Adoption is a slow process, even more so in fields based on technical
sales. Your sales cycles will be very long, and you will have to
finance them.
• There is no such thing as over-focusing. Fine-tune your
product/market mix. Strategy is about choice.
• Greed kills with great certainty. Provide (monetary) recognition to
your partners, management as well as technologists.

11. © IMD 2007-2013
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Nurturing Science-based Start-ups –
Key Learning Points (2/2)
• In general, customers do not need your solution. They do not want to
deal with start-ups. They actually hate start-ups. It comes all back to
building trust and credibility.
• Your choice of financial partners (e.g. top-notch venture capitalist, a
specialist in your technology) can make the difference between
obscurity and a seat at the table. Financing is the ultimate
signaling device.
• In growth-oriented companies, financing is not a one-shot process.
You will be back at it repeatedly.
• Nothing is set in stone. Your competitors will wreck the best laid plans
rapidly. You will need to respond instantly and permanently to
evolving market conditions.
• You do not win because of the best plans, or because of the best
management team. You win because your competitors let you win.
Don’t expect this to happen too often. So luck is indeed important. But
luck tends to favor the prepared mind…

12. © IMD 2007-2013