In this introductory section of the Entrepreneurship course, among other issues, we look at what it means to be an entrepreneur, as well as the common characteristics of entrepreneurs.

This voice narrated slideshow provides an introduction to Entrepreneurship.

In this video, the concept of "Entrepreneurial DNA" is explained.

David Smith explains how SVBS and this podcast series are designed to help entrepreneurs build more successful startups and help more innovators profit from their ideas and inventions. David explains how he has formed more than a dozen startups, authored several books, graduated from law school as well as business school, raised finance from Bill Gates, venture funds and angel investors in China & Japan. Unfortunately, the vast majority of startups fail. Many fail due to lack of knowledge and experience by the entrepreneurs. The podcast series is designed to help entrepreneurs understand what they need to know to be successful. This episode discusses how this podcast series is supported with dozens of courses, thousands of videos and reading materials, and how Silicon Valley Business School provides online guidance and education to everyone, everywhere. Offering suggestions as to how entrepreneurs can be more successful, the topics range from patents to venture capital preferred stock investment terms.

How the Silicon Valley Business School MentorAccelerator Program educates and mentors entrepreneurs, helping them accelerate their startup ventures toward success.

Valuable insights on starting a successful new business from Steve Jobs.

Insights from successful entrepreneurs.

Merriam Webster defines an entrepreneur as "one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise".

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Entrepreneurship".

Research analyzes how confidence and over-confidence drive entrepreneurs, and how women differ from men.

Mastering many different skills is necessary if you wish to build a successful business from scratch. The entrepreneur is required to master skills in product development, business planning, finance, accounting, marketing, human resources, business law, and must be prepared to persevere through difficult times and hazardous terrain.

The average age of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have a successful exit is not as young as you might think.

Video provides introductory information regarding the pros and cons of becoming an entrepreneur.

Jack Ma may be one of China's biggest success stories now - but he started from humble beginnings.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Challenges & Potential Rewards of Entrepreneurship".

This article shares the story of Thuy Truong, a Vietnamese entrepreneur.

This article provides tips on how to deal with the challenges that startups face.

An article regarding the technology blog Gigaom, which shut down after running out of money.

The reality is that half of all new businesses are no longer around five years after being formed. That's why it's smart to fully think through how you plan to succeed in advance rather than winging it after launching the business. Here are 10 questions every entrepreneur should ask before starting a new business.

70% of companies end up either dead, or become self-sustaining.

Video explains how the founders of startup companies get to cash out following IPO. It discusses the lock-up period, insider trading regulation and other restrictions on selling stock following IPO.

When investing in a startup, investors never lay down any money until they have an exit strategy - here's a short video explaining what that means.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Alternative Routes & Destinations".

The startup journey and challenges facing technology entrepreneurs.

This portion of the book, Zero-to-IPO by David Smith, examines the life of a startup in the context of a journey. This journey terminates when the company reaches its destination, and ceases to exist as a private, independent organization—at IPO, Acquisition or Shutdown.

Forbes article on how the VC's earned more (on paper) than the CEO of Box at the IPO.

This article gives an account of how a startup dissolved overnight and laid off its 400 employees.

A New York Times article regarding the sale of a company and how it affected the employees.

Justin Kan talks about how he became an entrepreneur, got into the Y-Combinator program, started live streaming his whole life, created Twitch and sold it to Amazon for $970m. Justin talks about his new startup, Atrium, a tech-driven law firm servicing startups and high growth companies from its base in San Francisco.

Paul Kallmes discusses entrepreneurship, international expansion, managing risk, pitching investors, raising finance from venture capital investors, angel investing and even rock climbing in this interview from the Vault, an innovation ecosystem and global network of startup accelerators and collaborative workspaces with a facility in the heart of San Francisco.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ 10 Steps to Setting up Shop and Becoming a Successful Silicon Valley Entrepreneur".

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Seven Secrets of Silicon Valley".

The statistics presented in this article show how the Internet has grown. At the start of the dot.com boom, less than 1% of the world population had an Internet connection. Today, the 1% figure has grown to 40% and represents over 3 billion Internet users.

This video provides an introduction to the "Planning and Company Navigation" section of the Entrepreneurship course.

This voice narrated slideshow explains how you can build your startup company and make it appealing to Venture Investors.

In some industries, it is possible to build a minimum viable product, solicit customer feedback, undertake rapid prototyping and iterative product releases before a winning product is identified.

This video explains how to perform a SWOT Analysis.

This video provides information regarding how to determine the expenses that will be incurred in starting a new business.

If you don't know where you're going, what chance do you have of getting there? This is the first in a series of episodes on the startup journey and today we’re talking about targeting your destination. Future episodes will deal with other aspects of your journey like generating momentum, gathering your provisions, setting and achieving milestones and selecting your travelling companions. In this series on the startup journey, you’ll learn that you’re most likely to reach your destination if you know exactly where you’re going, you have sufficient fuel to get there, you plan for contingencies, maintain momentum and assemble a winning team. This episode looks at some of the alternative destinations you might want to select for your startup.  We’re going to talk about independent survival, where you build a business independent of outside investment, with the goal of generating profitable revenues, for years to come. We’ll talk about IPO, where you build a company that has its shares traded on the public markets.  “IPO” stands for “initial public offering”. Then we’ll divide a sale of the company into two types. Cash flow sale is where you sell the company as a profitable going concern. The buyer is getting a cash-flow generating business. The term “asset sale” has a more specific meaning in legal jargon, but for the purpose of our startup journey, we’ll use this to refer to a situation where a buyer acquires your company for your product or technology.  In Silicon Valley, there are situations where unprofitable companies are acquired when they have a hot product, or some unique technology or asset that will enhance the buyer’s business. In this episode you get to learn the basics of how venture capital investment funds operate, how they select startups for investment and what types of companies are suitable for venture capital investment. This is an important episode as it provides a foundation for future discussions we will have on this podcast series.

Silicon Valley Business School provides affordable, real-world business education to everyone, everywhere and guides entrepreneurs toward success with their startup ventures. This podcast explains how the SVBS Milestone Progress system is combined with expert advice and mentoring to help entrepreneurs hit milestones, get their startups on track and drive them toward profitability or exit in the form of an IPO or acquisition.

How Silicon Valley Business School leverages its knowledgebase of educational materials together with its milestone progress tracking system to help entrepreneurs build successful startups one milestone at a time.

In this podcast you will learn why C-Corporations are the vehicle of choice for tech startups in Silicon Valley and the tech sector. You’ll learn why it doesn’t make sense to operate as an S-Corporation, or an LLC, and how you can escape paying taxes when you sell your C-Corporation shares.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Top 10 Tips for Forming a Fundable Startup".

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ The Business Plan".

Entrepreneurs and investors often have different interests when it comes to exits. Venture investors often need the billion dollar exit, whereas entrepreneurs do not.

Selling a company is usually cause for celebration, but for the founders of fantasy sports company FanDuel, the moment is likely to be bittersweet.

This video provides an introduction to the "Assembling a Winning Team" section of the Entrepreneurship course.

This video examines how founders of startups can be fired from the companies that they founded, and looks at the departure of Steve Jobs from Apple in 1985.

This video provides tips for successfully choosing the right board members.

This video discusses how to create orientation documents for your new board member(s).

How employees and independent contractors are distinguished in California.

This article provides information regarding how to determine whether individuals that are providing services to a business are Employees or Independent Contractors.

Story about the decision of the California Labor Commission regarding a case involving an Uber driver.

Story about the outcome of a pair of class-action lawsuits against Uber regarding how it classifies its drivers.

This video provides an introduction to the "Routes to Market" section of the Entrepreneurship course.

This voice narrated slideshow provides information regarding how to avoid terms in licensing, distribution and other agreements that could make a company unappealing to potential acquirers later on.

This documentary is an excellent example of how difficult it can be for new entrants to gain access to channels of distribution to reach consumers and win market share from established market leaders. The US beer industry is regulated, and dominated by 3 large players. In this documentary, you see how new brewers struggle to get access to retail shelves. Rhonda Kallman's efforts to raise finance and get her new caffeine beer Moonshot onto the market ultimately is unsuccessful. Studying Rhonda's challenge is an interesting exercise for all entrepreneurs raising finance, and all companies looking to establish channels of distribution.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Avoiding Unintentional Poison Pills".

This video provides an introduction to the "Business Momentum" section of the Entrepreneurship course.

This voice narrated slideshow discusses some of the maneuvers that are available, to help management generate and maintain momentum in a startup venture.

Momentum is critical for success in business, especially in the fast moving tech sector. Recognizing this and figuring out how to generate positive momentum can make the difference between your venture winding up in a painful shutdown or reaching a profitable IPO.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Momentum--The Invisible Force".

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Managing Momentum".

This video provides an introduction to the "Business Momentum ~ Radical Momentum Maneuvers" section of the Entrepreneurship course.

This video looks at five steps to turn things around when a business model is not quite working out.

This video provides tips on how to do a pivot and radically shift your business model when your product does not appeal to your market.

This video provides information regarding how to know the right time to reconsider your business strategy, and how it will affect your business.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Reinventing the Company".

Memo to staff from CEO of failing startup, with negative momentum.

This portion of the book, Zero-to-IPO, written by David Smith, provides information regarding how to restart a company. Topics covered include "Warm Restart", and 'Cold Restart".

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Restarting the Company".

Oftentimes, startup entrepreneurs are simply too close to their businesses to get a clear, non-biased look at what may be holding it back from ultimate success. Maybe they lack the required skills or business experience required to identify or correct problems inside their product, process or team.