The Intelligent Entrepreneur

By: Bill Murphy Jr.

Narrated by: Fred Berman, L. J. Ganser

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Written with the cooperation of Harvard Business School, here is an instructive and inspiring book for anyone who dreams of starting a highly profitable business.

In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates - two men and one woman - turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their 10-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs, and left their mark on the world.

The three entrepreneurs: Marc Cenedella (TheLadders.com), Marla Malcom Beck (Bluemercury.com), and Chris Michel (Military.com, Affinity Labs).

Based on dozens of interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs, Harvard Business School professors, and HBS alumni, The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders developed ideas, assembled teams, built ventures, and achieved their dreams. Along the way, they learned that starting great companies requires much more than a ferocious work ethic or good timing. Their hard-won insights distilled into 10 key rules that will help anyone become a successful entrepreneur. What they teach you at Harvard Business School is that intelligent entrepreneurship can be learned. In that spirit, Bill Murphy Jr. uses a unique combination of vivid storytelling and lucid instruction to tell would-be entrepreneurs how to improve their odds of creating dynamic, lasting businesses.

This audiobook includes an exclusive roundtable discussion with Marc Cenedella, Marla Malcom Beck, and Chris Michel.

©2010 Bill Murphy (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner - Best Business/Educational Audiobook, 2011

"This is an excellent, thought-provoking overview of entrepreneurship... that uses actual cases to describe the challenges of starting a business and realizing success." ( Booklist)

"Narrators Fred Berman and L.J. Ganser split the narration, chapter by chapter, with one delivering the true-life accounts of three entrepreneurs who attended HBS while the other delivers the theoretical lessons to be learned from attending HBS." ( AudioFile)

Great insights of entrepreneurship

I loved that this book was written from real events

Very relevant sets of ideas for an entrepreneur.

Highly recommended!

Great book: first-hand experience and a bonus talk

This book is really great because it brings real experience to the listener. Not the usual oh-how-marvelous-and-rosy sucess stories we find in business publications. In about 12 hours you can time travel and live about a decade along with a bunch of HBS teachers, VC people and, most importantly, three very different entrepreneurs going from zero, being at the brink of failure, surviving inumerous challenges to ultimately attain their definition of success. The Audible version has an inestimable round table with the author and his three main characters, which is not included in the print version.

I highly recommend this audio book

Would you listen to The Intelligent Entrepreneur again? Why?

Yes.to remind myself of some of the things said in the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I was very impressed by Mark and his passion to succeed.

Which scene was your favorite?

The one that described Mark working from home for months without pay

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book was very teaching and entertaining at the same time,

Great book, but...

The book is great! The stories it tells are really inspiring. But, as another reviewer pointed out, it does seem as if the book was sponsored by HBS. Although HBS is indeed a reference in entrepreneurship, other schools are too. It's something about the wording, maybe...

Apart from that, the book is really useful. And the extra round of talk is a great bonus.

Fantastic book

This is a must read if you are considering starting your own company, period. It takes you through the lives of some very successful people and provides what I would like to call a mini Harvard Business School Lesson in a box.

Interesting, informative, and inspiring

I completed this book in audio format much faster than I could have by reading it. I learned a ton, and had fun! I am not sure yet if it convinced me to start my business or that I should think otherwise. Time will tell. For now, I will pronder the problem I intend to solve.

Good Listen. Interesting perspective

Any additional comments?

I liked this book. I liked how it followed the story of different people from the beginning.

I also found it interesting to have the people interviewed at the end.

Not recommended

I don’t like to make negative comment on someone’s hard work. But I could not stop doing this time. This book is very rudimentary. Book’s title is misleading. It does not give much insight to make anybody intelligent entrepreneur. It simply narrates life-story of three HBS students and tries to summarize their efforts in some points to guide the reader to his entrepreneurial skills, but hopelessly fails to do so. I think the author simply wants to fool people and make money. I do not recommend this book unless you have no more educational exposure than to high school diploma…………..

Must read if you're serious about getting down to

What made the experience of listening to The Intelligent Entrepreneur the most enjoyable?

TONS of facts. The different stories between Mark, Chris and Marla where very good.

What did you like best about this story?

You can tell the author did his homework on all 3 of the characters in the books. And it sounds like he compiled more about themselves then they really knew was going on during the start of their businesses. I liked that each character showed range in their personal life and carrer story AND he told 3 different stories.

What does Fred Berman and L. J. Ganser bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The read was very fast. With the amount of content that was just in the first part I believe it would have taken me a lot longer to read this book. I do read hardcover books continually but this one I chose as an audio book and i'm glad.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

i did laugh out loud several times. i found myself truly listening to the different stories!

Any additional comments?

I'm looking foward to finishing the 2nd part of the book. I'm also looking to get in contact with Marla if you can point me in the right direction. She, is what I want in a mentor!

Practical & Inspirational Entrepreneurial Advice

The interaction between narrative and instruction was seamless, each supporting the other. The interview at the end pulled it all together and made the case study feel real.