Healthcare Reform for Entrepreneurs

Healthcare reform has been covered by the media, both mainstream and "new," as largely a political issue - a horse race with "winners" and "losers." Some business publications have looked at its impact on small business, but again one gets conflicting information depending on who one decides to listen to. But this view largely ignores the impact of this legislation from an entrepreneurial perspective. Entrepreneurs are looking for opportunities, and one great source of opportunity is change. This legislation will make major changes to a large sector of the economy. Like my smart friends who have used the extended recession as a bargain hunting opportunity instead of crying about decreased sales, now is the time to figure out how to position yourself to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves.

What is Your "Net Promoter Score?"

Last week, my Entrepreneurial Consulting classes were lucky enough to have a visit from Bain & Co. Fellow Fred Reichheld. Fred has developed a simple but powerful metric of customer loyalty that he calls the "net promoter score" (NPS). The score is calculated by asking customers on a scale of one to ten how likely they would be to recommend the company to a friend. Subtract Detractors (scores of 1 - 6) from Promoters (9s and 10s), and you get your NPS. Fred's research has shown that high NPS companies grow much faster than low NPS companies. Thinking in terms of NPS leads firms to adopt a strategy of delighting customers at all times. The most common question from the classes is "this is so simple - why doesn't every company do it? A very good questions indeed. It occurred to me during the presentation that startup firms, who are desperate to differentiate themselves from their larger competitors, actually have an advantage in customer service because they are much closer to their customers. Startups would be wise to take customer loyalty very, very seriously as they develop their strategies.

Interesting Contest

As I said in my first post, I am always on the lookout for a good entrepreneurially-focused blog, and I might have found one thanks to Barry Ritholtz. It is called I, Cringely by tech veteran Bob Cringely. Seems pretty interesting. I was attracted to it because of Cringley's Not in Silicon Valley Startup Tour. Bob is teaming with the Kauffman Foundation to find the top 100 startups not located in Silicon Valley. A worthy goal, and I hope a number of South Florida Companies make the list. Plus, with a name like Cringely, he must be cool.

What is Entrepreneurship?

We have been redesigning the entry about the entrepreneurship major in the UM Bulletin this week, so it is a perfect time to start the discussion of what I mean when I say "Entrepreneurship." The old entry in the bulletin said "The ENT major is primarily designed for students who intend to start and/or manage their

own business." The rest of the faculty and I agreed that this was a limited and outdated view. Our new description is " The entrepreneurship major prepares students to engage in the process of value creation, regardless of organizational context. Students will develop a holistic view of organizational creation and change that is applicable to either starting a new venture (for profit or nonprofit), or working effectively within an existing organization."

Note that we feel strongly that entrepreneurship is context-independent. i.e. it doesn't relate to starting a business. Starting a business is just one instance of entrepreneurial activity.