I delivered this presentation to a group of 50+ entrepreneurship professors for the Coneeect program in Munich at the Strascheg Center for Entrerpeneuership. It was a good group of motivated and interested professors.

1. Educating
Entrepreneurship
Educators
Coneeect is an international network of universities that offers
training courses for academic entrepreneurship teachers to
improve the Entrepreneurship Education across Europe.
www.coneeect.eu

2. Coaching High Impact Entrepreneurs
(How to Deal with Failure)
Steven A. Gedeon, BSc, PEng, PE, MS, MBA, PhD
Director of Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute
Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy
Ted Rogers School of Management
Ryerson University, Toronto Canada

3. • Engineering Career
– PhD MIT, Licensed Professional Engineer
– Advanced Materials, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Systems
• Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist
– 12 companies: public, private, non-profits and VC firms
• Professor of Entrepreneurship
– Largest ENT Program in Canada
– Founded REI, DMZ, CUE, FZ, RAN, EPR, Venture Fund…
My Background

4. • In-Class Univeristy Coaching-Teaching
– Students have created $20M in new revenues in class (INT)
– Started around 20 companies in class (ENT)
• Extra-Curricular University Coaching
– Over 100 companies in DMZ - university incubator
– Over $5M invested in 10 companies in RAN
– 25 Regional & National Championships for SIFE Team
• Professional Coaching
– CEO Fusion has over 5,000 members
– Academy for Tech CEOs has 8 Roundtables (60 members)
My Coaching Experience

5. 1. Companies Come and Go… But People Live On!
– CEO Fusion Story of how Quickly the „Best“ CEOs Leave
– CEO Turnover is HIGH (1/3 per year)
– Very Few ENTs stay with company over 5 years
– „The Rise of the Serial Entrepreneur“
 Coach the PERSON – not the Company!
 Leaving the company you founded is part of the average
portfolio of experiences. It is part of the Journey!
Observations

6. 2. Major Trend to Grow Company to $5-20M Exit as
Quickly as Possible and Get Acquired
• Companies like Google do 100s of these deals a year
(mostly for talent acquisition)
• „The Rise of the Quick Flip“
 Grow or Fail Quickly and MOVE ON!
 A quick decision to wind up the company is a GOOD
THING. It leaves you free to Move On to Next Venture!
Observations

7. 3. Product and Company Lifecycles are Compressed
 Must Adapt and Learn Quickly!
Observations
$ Revenue
Time

8. 1. Most Founders are Forced to Leave their Company
2. Most Companies Fail
3. This is Happening Faster and Faster
Observations

9. • “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't
work.” - Thomas A. Edison
• Failure is Normal and Expected!
• Don„t Take Too Long to Fail. Don„t let it Destroy Your
Reputation or Lose Your House or Spouse
Failure is a Learning Opportunity

10. • Cognitive Understanding of the Benefits of Failure vs the
Emotional Resiliency Required in Real Life
• Need to Recast „Failure“ as 3 Key ENT Skills:
– Adaptive Experimentation and Learning
– Focus on Reality
– Emotional Resiliency
Teaching/Coaching ENTs

11. The Lie
Spot
Opportunity
Business Plan
Marshall
Resources &
Launch
Grow
Adapt
Change
SUCCEED
FAIL

12. The Reality
Spot
Opportunity
Design
Business
Model
Business Plan MVP &
Market Test
Talk to
Customers
STOP!
GO
Assemble
Team
Sell to Real
Customers
GO
Re-Write
Business Plan
Re-Design &
Market Test
Fire and Hire
New Staff
Sell to Real
Customers
…

13. • Homesteaders in California
• Window 3.1
• Steve Jobs
• Taylor Guitars
Stories of Third Attempt

14. • Adaptive Experimentation & Learning = Core ENT Skill
– Define go – no go points and emphasize that a no go decision is
a successful experient
– Learn how to minimize risk and maximize learning (e.g. MVP,
multiple marketing tests, multiple landing pages…)
• Focus on Reality = Core ENT Skill
– It does not matter what you „Want“ or „Believe“ > Reality is the
Final Arbitor
– Differentiate „what you want“ from „what do you KNOW to be
True“
• E.g. price points, employee quality, customer satisfaction…
– Professional ENTs use Hard Data and Validated Customers!
Teaching/Coaching ENTs

15. • Focus on Reality = Core ENT Skill
– Get Students „Out There“!
• Talk to Real Customers (not Google)
– Break Students of the Habit of Relying on Prof
• Student must become the expert at his/her subject!
– E.g. women„s clothing line, helping Afgan Women, new Router Core…
Teaching/Coaching ENTs

16. • Emotional Resiliency = Core ENT Skill
– Separate the Person from the Company
– Need to Manage Dialectic Behaviors & Emotions
• Passionate Involvement vs. Dispassionate Analysis
• Persistence vs. Fail Quickly and Move On
• „Skin in the Game“ vs. Need to have Thick Skin!
Teaching/Coaching ENTs

17. • Include Case Studies and Stories of ENTs who leave their jobs,
wind up their companies, or „Fail“ then go on to later success
• Include Assigments related to NO GO decisions (define „Failure“ in
advance and the experimentation required to prove „Failure“)
• Dissociate Personal Grades from Company Outcomes
• Use Analogies (e.g. ENT is like Playing the Guitar)
• Reinforce and Repeat Key Principles (e.g. „Gedeonisms“)
• As a Prof I care about you as a person, not about your company.
• Most companies fail, so your company will probably fail. Get over it.
• Don„t believe your own BS.
• All business plans are wrong (and most are just marketing documents).
• Any bozo can start a company. I want you to learn how to be a
professional entrepreneur.
• Never fall in love with your baby. You can„t tell if your own baby is ugly.
Teaching/Coaching ENTs

18. “Try Not!
DO or DO NOT,
There Is NO TRY!”

19. Steve Gedeon
sgedeon@gmail.com