cover image Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do

Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do

Carl J. Schramm. Simon & Schuster, $28 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4767-9435-8

Schramm (Inside Real Innovation), a professor at Syracuse University and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, applies his experiences in the academy to this thoughtful study of “how businesses really start, grow, and prosper” and dispels quite a few business myths along the way. For one, he provides compelling evidence that strategic planning and the ubiquitous business plan “[make] no sense in the context of entrepreneurial startups.” Schramm also writes that, despite disproportionate media representation, youthful founders don’t represent the future for startups but rather represent “the unicorns or supernovas—beautiful to behold but rare.” A book about entrepreneurs wouldn’t be complete without some stories from high-profile founders, and here these include James Dyson, designer of the bagless vacuum cleaner, and Howard Head, inventor of the first successful aluminum ski. There is so much dense information in Schramm’s book that end-of-chapter summaries, as well as charts, graphs, or graphic call-outs, would help reinforce key information. Still, the book finishes big, with 10 encouraging reminders, including “Make Innovation Happen” and “Build Your Company As Your Life.” Addressed most directly to budding entrepreneurs, this guide drives home Schramm’s advice to “chart a different path to becoming an entrepreneur” by burning the business plan. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Jan.)