An Important Canadian Initiative – Rotman’s CD Lab

ByF.C. Dawkins

Did you know that more than 350,000 Canadians live and work in Silicon Valley. That’s right more than one percent of our population and a much higher portion of our intellectual capital have left us for the world’s most prestigious and most productive ecosystem. This is both a problem and an opportunity but not one that government can solve or even try to solve. So how do we stem the tide?

It’s not a quick fix. When we are producing world class talent they are inevitably attracted to the epicentre of success, achievement but most of all opportunity. It is the opportunity that we need to focus on. The Creative Destruction Lab does that. It creates opportunity here in Canada. The leader Professor Ajay Agrawal is a dynamo. He is the living evidence that entrepreneurship can be taught, an academic with the drive and mindset that can match anyone in the business community. The stated goal of the Lab is to generate equity – specifically to create $ 1 billion in equity in the first ten years. After the first two years approximately $ 130 million has been achieved. However the real goal is to keep the best and most brilliant we produce here in Canada, helping to build our own world class ecosystem and offering a valuable example to others that “Canada’s Got Talent” and I don’t mean the variety acts we see on the American TV show.

Ventures receive the very best of mentorship. It is amazing to see how they evolve in less than one year. Watch for results – they have already started but many more will follow in the years to come

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  • How do we prepare aspiring entrepreneurs?

    ByF.C. Dawkins

    There are many people who believe that you can’t teach entrepreneurship. They believe it is either inherent or a skill that has to evolve from experience. There is no doubt that as in any other skillset there are people who are naturals. Also experience is a tough taskmaster and the school of hard knocks leading to rejection and failure has produced some great success stories. Opportunity and determination are the cornerstones of entrepreneurship. Recognizing achievable opportunities and the commitment to find solutions and implement then are absolute prerequisites. There is a teachable philosophy involved that enhances both of these attributes. But there is something else we can do for our aspiring entrepreneurs. We can do a much better job of preparing them. We can help them understand the basic philosophy, the many personal challenges they will face and all of the fundamental business issues from team building to funding that are common to every business. The failure rate for entrepreneurs is too high. Some would have you think that this is merely the nature of the beast-part of the mystique. We must add a new word to opportunity and determination and that word is preparation. With preparation we can turn reckless risk into managed risk and greatly improve the success rate. Working with the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto I see many brilliant innovators anxious to start a business and get their project to market who lack this basic preparation. This lack extends much further to those entrepreneurs of necessity who will be trying to create and manage their own careers in our fast paced global economy.

    Everyday Entrepreneur is written in a format that is relatable for anyone considering a career in entrepreneurship at any level. The focus is to use real anecdotes to put the reader in a business situation so he or she will recognize a similar issue when it develops. Preparation is an essential element of planning. The plan is not an outcome but rather a framework that allows us to anticipate and adjust as things evolve. Preparation and understanding are great assets for anticipation and adjustment. We need not build our businesses from the ground up. We can use the experience of others to prepare us. There are common bonds at every level of entrepreneurship. The goal of Everyday Entrepreneur’ which is coming out in December, is to convey as many ideas as possible that will make all our new entrepreneurs better prepared and help existing entrepreneurs put their challenges into prespective.

    Praise for Everyday Entrepreneur
    “Fred Dawkins has written a wonderful book about entrepreneurship unlike any other on the market. He brilliantly uses his storytelling skills to illuminate his subject in a way that makes the book a joy to read. You’re so wrapped up in the story that you may not realize how much you’re learning until you’ve turned that last page.”
    — TERRY FALLIS, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE BEST LAID PLANS AND UP AND DOWN.

  • Here’s a quiz that everyone needs to take.

    ByF.C. Dawkins
    1. Are you concerned about funding your retirement?
    2. Does the trend to precarious employment disturb you?
    3. Do you consider globalization to be a threat to you, your children and/or grandchildren?
    4. Are you having trouble getting your career underway?
    5. Do you have to extend your career?
    6. Are you struggling to find a succession plan for your business?
    7. Are you worse off financially than you were ten years ago?
    8. Do you have fewer opportunities than you expected at this stage of your life?
    9. Would you like more control over your financial future?
    10. Are your best years behind you?

    If you answered yes to any of these questions than you should read my series of three books The Entrepreneurial Edge. These books are The Wealthy Barber for anyone dealing with these issues and looking to embrace self-determination in a world conspiring against individual success

    Book 1: Everyday Entrepreneur – making it happen

    Book 2: Family Entrepreneur – easier said than done

    Book 3: Ageless Entrepreneur – never too early – never too late

    Don’t let the word entrepreneur scare you off. You don’t have to run a business to think like an entrepreneur and take charge of your life. Think entrepreneurially. Be resilient. Be adaptable. Make things happen. Embrace self-determination. Trade stability for agility!

    The most important skill to learn in the 21st century is the ability to create and manage your career!

    Each of us must be his or her own brand making good strategic decisions about life and career.

    Fred Dawkins

    Author

    fred@fcdawkins.com

    fcdawkins.com

    Everyday Entrepreneur dundurn.com/authors/fred_dawkins

    Follow me on twitter @dawkinsfred

    Follow My Blog The Entrepreneurial Edge https://fcdawkins.com/blog/

     

  • Is Entrepreneurship for you?

    ByF.C. Dawkins

    Most of what the average person reads about entrepreneurship sustains the mystique. We revere the outstanding successes achieved by extreme entrepreneurs from Edison to Jobs. Reading about these giants colors our perception of entrepreneurship. We admire their achievements but consider them beyond reach. Their stories sustain misleading myths about entrepreneurship that combine to keep capable people from embracing an entrepreneurial career. Here are some of the distortions that deceive us:
    – Entrepreneurs are born and cannot be made
    – Entrepreneurs are gamblers who take reckless risks to achieve high rewards
    – Entrepreneurs work 24/7 and have little or no personal life
    – Entrepreneurs need to fail in order to succeed
    These established stereotypes derive from two specific types of entrepreneurs. First are the misfits or rebels who either cannot or will not conform; the gamblers to whom few of us can relate. Second and even more prominent are the tech entrepreneurs immersed in the world of venture capital where risk is high, failure is frequent and the rewards for success are dramatic. However Silicon Valley is not the center of the universe and these are not the definitive entrepreneurs; they are but two types of many, both removed from the traditional economy and the rock solid problem solvers that collectively form the engine that drives the economy. Those are the achievers that make things happen especially creating jobs while big business is chasing lower costs around the globe.
    Let’s set the record straight
    Entrepreneurship can be taught. It should be taught and it is being taught
    Becoming an entrepreneur is all about the mindset not the skillset. Entrepreneurs find the way to make things happen they don’t always know the way. This is a teachable philosophy, entirely appropriate in a world dominated by change which generates knowledge and new problems at a phenomenal rate. Finally after fifty years of a flawed model focused on turning out executives for large corporations, colleges and universities have turned their attention to promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship is not about the risk you take but the results that you achieve
    It’s a startling paradox. Too many good opportunities die prematurely because so many potential entrepreneurs are risk averse. At the same time businesses are failing because of absurd risks fostered by the idea that being an entrepreneur is nothing more than a gamble. Entrepreneurs succeed through determination not by taking unwarranted risk. Managing your risk as you embrace it is critical. Not all ideas are opportunities and every opportunity is not viable.
    Entrepreneurs need to find balance and will make mistakes and have regrets if they don’t
    Having a work ethic is critical. During your startup phase and later when you encounter bumps in the road you will work long hours with great satisfaction. But as things progress and you don’t find balance you are missing something – failing to build your team, keeping too much control or limiting your own development. Both you and your business will suffer. Never forget: you are your most valuable human resource. Balance is a subjective decision but dividing your time does not preclude you from succeeding as an entrepreneur.
    Entrepreneurs do manage their risk and avoid failure – if they fail they learn and move on
    Describing failure as an essential part of success is pure rationalization. Admittedly many entrepreneurs are motivated by the fear of failure more than the rewards of success. Avoiding failure is a powerful source of determination. We do learn from failing because we take the time to analyze it. Success is elating and it masks our faults. Entrepreneurial infallibility is another myth that leads to bad decisions and setbacks that result from forgetting the basics.
    What is an entrepreneur?
    Most of us will never reach achievements like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. That does not demean what we do achieve. Society needs to recognize a broad definition of entrepreneurship at every level and value entrepreneurship of every type because in a world dominated by globalization and technology the one thing that we can count on is change across every element of our economy. Resilience and adaptability are important entrepreneurial qualities that allow us to embrace the ongoing pressure for change. In the simplest terms entrepreneurs are problem solvers who consistently make things happen. They are agents of change in an era of change. They are disruptors at a time when the status quo is a moving target. Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem? We can all become more entrepreneurial in our beliefs, break out of prison thinking and think outside the box. The alternative is personal stagnation and uncertainty evolving from lack of job stability, declining upward mobility and the shift in income distribution toward the rich. The most important skill you can develop is the ability to create and manage your own career,
    Do understand: we can’t all be innovators but for every innovation there will be thousands of entrepreneurs finding applications for it that solve everyday problems producing jobs and independence in the mainstream economy. Being first is over rated. Doing things better and different often brings greater opportunity. Remember that coffee shops existed in London in 1650 but Starbucks found a new appeal and a great market niche for this old product that resonates in today’s economy.
    Believe in your own ability. You can establish the mindset of an entrepreneur. You can eliminate the word ‘can’t’ from your vocabulary. You can approach problems by skipping right over the question “if” it can be solved and skip directly to the question “how” it will be solved. You can find opportunity and you can analyze to make sure that opportunity is viable. All of this can be done within the context of the traditional economy and you don’t have to be a tech genius to do it. Technology is not a threat but offers a great tool for you to use. We are entering a new era of entrepreneurship which means it really should be an option for almost anyone.

  • Why Entrepreneurs must have an end game

    ByF.C. Dawkins

    Much as we would like to, we never really love our parents as much as we do our children. Your business is exactly like a child. In the early or startup years it will depend completely upon you, looking to you for all the answers. You will always supply them with confidence, belying the uncertainty that you may feel as a first time owner just as you do as a first time parent. The child will look to you 24/7 in sickness and in health and as the parent you will always be there regardless of the problem, dropping everything else in the process. Your business and its components from customers to your team will do the same and like the parent you will be ready and willing to oblige. You cannot easily walkout on your children. Oh some due but for the majority it’s a non-starter. Same thing with your business. You are your business but try to remember your business is not you.

    The middle years are the best when you have become comfortable within your developing family and confident in the decisions that must be made. Neither your child or your business will question you during this peak period. Things do get into a groove on both fronts but then comes the maturing years, the transition from total dependence  to independence. Tough for the parent to admit it’s time to let go and let the child mature  developing all of it’s capabilities, finding new methods and learning new things that the parent doesn’t know or understand.  So difficult to do but you the parent do it willingly in the best interest of your child. And so you must with your business. At some point you will become the limitation in your business. The day will come when it has outgrown you. It will not mature and reach it’s potential unless you let go. Easier said than done but be ready.

    Like your first born that first business must move on to a new future. But then remember you can do it again. Maybe you already are. The second child is easier. There are tried and true practices that you know and understand. You can take that second child from gestation through birth to adolescence from startup to a thriving healthy entity. You can do this as many times as you can handle. And so you can with business. That’s what makes you a parent and that’s what makes you an entrepreneur. There are many mentors that can steward your child and your business into full maturity who cannot deal with the early years. You are the one who launches them from nothing and starts them along the path to maturity.

    So recognize the need for that end game- when it is time to move on and begin again. It’s what you do best. The child will ask for you opinion. The business may ask you to consult. You will learn to enjoy both, but you will find your happiness doing it all over again.

  • Creating a Culture of Entrepreneurial Success

    ByF.C. Dawkins

    One of the premises in the introduction of my new book Everyday Entrepreneur is that I wrote it to encourage entrepreneurs of every stripe across the spectrum. Since the high tech entrepreneurs have been getting the lion’s share of the attention and encouragement from the public and investors alike, they were far from my target market. Tech innovation was the creator of venture capital, setting a precedent for high rates of return that can’t be sustained in other areas. Virtually all other types of entrepreneurs have to struggle for funding because they simply don’t meet the criteria for venture capital. Those that have attracted VC funds often flounder to the detriment of the entrepreneur because the VC gets an agreed upon return which can sap a moderately successful business.

    The Creative Destructive Lab at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto (my alma mater) is focused on extreme success with a strong emphasis on taking tech developments from gestation to dynamic success on the international stage. On the surface this seems to be exactly the area that I previously suggested didn’t need my help or encouragement as people are lined up to help in almost every area to develop these type of businesses. So why did I choose to support these high achievers by becoming a partner of the CD Lab? Well here are my reasons:

    1. I strongly support that we need to keep our brightest and best talent here in Canada – we are in the midst of a world wide competition to attract talent – success starts with keeping our own
    2. Success at this level sets a terrific example for anyone in this country that wants to become an entrepreneur and start a business at any level
    3. Both of these factors are critical for us to build a culture of entrepreneurial success to maintain a strong economy and bring in the new talent that every country is striving to attract.
    4. If in the process I can influence some of the brilliant MBAs we are graduating to circumvent the conventional and lucrative path to becoming a business executive in favour of applying their abilities to becoming entrepreneurs who solve problems, make things happen, create jobs and provide the drive that leads to success, then my time and effort will have been well spent.
    5. The very talented people who apply to the Lab are brilliant in their innovation but still need nurturing on the personal issues involved in becoming an entrepreneur, the fundamental business issues they will encounter and the overall philosophy inherent in being an entrepreneur.

    My book will out at the end of November. In the meantime I am enjoying my involvement with the Lab targeting success in a global economy which I firmly believe will centre upon a New Age of Entrepreneurship.

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