PRAISE FOR WINNING AT ENTREPRENEURSHIP
As an entrepreneur in Hollywood, I help launch creative franchises in a global market year round, collaborating with the most talented directors, producers, and performing artists in show business. For over two decades, Rod has helped me provide strategic thinking and creative solutions across multiple platforms when I need it most. When DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Fox, and Sony call on me, they also benefit from the wisdom, skill set, and unique humor of Rod Robertson.
— Cabot McMullen,
Production Designer/Producer of TV/Film
Rod gave me a sneak preview of this book, and as a serial entrepreneur, I still found many insights and pointers that I refer to in my search for another business. Rod sold me a technology company that I recently exited, and this book would have made my buy-side process much easier to understand. It’s a great guide for me and sure should help the novice!
— Allen Tait
Past owner of three businesses)
I am in the process of bringing in investment dollars or selling my business, and Rod has been a fantastic coach through my experience. I reference Winning at Entrepreneurship all the time so I do not have to pester him and other people in the know.
— Mark Weinegge
Owner of CeComm Data Centers
I am a student at the MBA program for entrepreneurship at Babson College and just met Rod for the first time. I have a company I will be starting upon graduation, and in two hours, Rod walked me through the dos and don’ts of my start-up. His book will be a great how-to guide for my fellow students and me.
— Gisela Macedo
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Copyright © 2014
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Robertson, Rod
Winning at Entrepreneurship: Insider Tips on Buying, Building, and Selling Your Own Business
ISBN: 978-1-61339-721-3
1. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Entrepreneurship
2. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Small Business
3. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Mergers & Acquisitions
The word “entrepreneur”—one who undertakes, manages, and assumes the risk of a new enterprise—comes from the French, where it literally means “undertaker.” The word was borrowed into English in the mid-19th century—perhaps the golden age of the entrepreneur—when the number of new economic niches was exploding and the hand of government was at its lightest in history. The activity of entrepreneurship, of course, is much older, going back to ancient times. As for America, our nation was founded, quite literally, by entrepreneurs.
—John Steele Gordon
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Truth of It All!
Chapter 2 Do You Have What It Takes?
Chapter 3 Assessing Your Entrepreneurial Capability by Nancy Parsons
Chapter 4 Mergers and Acquisitions
Chapter 5 Start, Buy, or Franchise?
Chapter 7 Valuation: What Is It Really Worth?
Chapter 8 Start-ups … A Process by Glenn Hanson
Chapter 9 Buying an Existing Business
Chapter 10 The Four Ways to Pay for a Business
Chapter 11 What If the Seller Has Cooked the Books?
Chapter 12 Buying a Franchise by Alfred Naddoff
Chapter 13 Buying into a Partnership
Chapter 14 Buying a Business with No Money
Chapter 15 Buying a Job or Lifestyle Business
Chapter 16 Buying and Investing Internationally
Chapter 17 Creative Deal Structure
Chapter 18 How to Approach a Business to Buy