While the discussion thus far has tried to give you some observations we have made over the years of working with entrepreneurs, we must admit that what we know about the entrepreneurial process is just the surface level. So, a word of caution, these observations are a small collation. It is not a set of procedural inputs – say a codebook that can take you from point A to point B.
Given this understanding, we must look at entrepreneurship as being closer to an art, and our observations are attempts at making it into a craft. But we are far away from making it a science. We must still pay attention to each idea and study its course or growth. Each ideas’ journey is unique – the entrepreneurs come in with a unique bundle of resources and capabilities.
Their social networks and the way these networks are leveraged are often very contextually focused. They differ substantially as the entrepreneur engages in the venture development process. The venture building process, in addition to being path-dependent, also involves a lot of social complexity, which makes it extremely unique to the venture. The abstractions from these individual stories to make them generic is a continuing effort.
Useful companions in these journeys are experienced entrepreneurs often acting as mentors and other people who have gone through similar journeys. Discussions with these people would provide more likely a heuristic input on your venture journey and not a specific procedural knowledge which can be blindly applied. It is left to your ingenuity to stitch these heuristic guidelines and chart your journey.
Ask yourself:
Am I looking for very specific information about charting the course of the venture all the time?
What generic yet relevant information could be gathered through conversations? Do I know someone who can help with getting the relevant information? If not, how could you bridge this network gap?