Entrepreneurship For Dummies
by Dr. Kathleen Allen
Entrepreneurship For Dummies
Published by
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Copyright 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 00-105667
ISBN: 978-0-7645-5262-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Kathleen R. Allen Ph.D.
Dr. Allen is an authority on entrepreneurship and small business technology and is the author of The Complete MBA For Dummies (with Peter Economy), eBusiness Technology Kit For Dummies (with Jon Weisner), Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management,Launching New Ventures, and Growing and Managing an Entrepreneurial Business, as well as several other books. She has also written for popular business magazines and newspapers (Inc., Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Business Journal, and The New York Times) and is called upon by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, and a variety of other media, for expert opinion in the field of entrepreneurship.
As a professor of entrepreneurship at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, she helps hundreds of young entrepreneurs start new ventures. Allen is actively involved in academic research, most recently in issues related to the unique environment of high tech start-up companies. She is also a founding member of the Entrepreneurship Research Consortium, a national research organization consisting of leading universities around the world, which is conducting groundbreaking research on nascent entrepreneurs.
At the University of Southern California, she is leading an initiative to form an alliance between the business and engineering schools to commercialize intellectual property developed at the university. She has developed a number of courses in the area of technology commercialization and serves on the universitys technology board.
As an entrepreneur, Allen has been involved in commercial real estate development for the past ten years, having cofounded a development firm specializing in apartment, office, and industrial space; and a brokerage American Pacific Investments which she sold. She is presently the cofounder and CFO of Gentech Corporation, a technology-based manufacturing company that recently launched a line of patented, intelligent, industrial power source machines. She is also consulting to a number of technology-based ventures, including three medical technology companies with patented products.
In the past three years, with the assistance of Microsoft Corporation, Allen has been working to educate small business owners and entrepreneurs on the value of technology as a competitive advantage, and to educate software manufacturers and resellers to the mindset and needs of small business owners.
Dedication
To my students at the Greif Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Southern California, who never cease to amaze me with their entrepreneurial efforts.
Authors Acknowledgments
I would like to give my sincere thanks and appreciation to the talented publishing team at Wiley, particularly Mark Butler, Norm Crampton, Neil Johnson, and Pam Mourouzis. I would also like to thank my family for their unconditional love and support during a time when I was doing two books at once.
Publishers Acknowledgments
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Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Norm Crampton
Acquisitions Editor: Mark Butler
Copy Editor: Neil Johnson
Acquisitions Coordinator: Tonia Morgan-Oden
Technical Editor: Robert L. Newhart II
Editorial Manager: Pam Mourouzis
Editorial Assistant: Carol Strickland
Production
Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis
Layout and Graphics: Beth Brooks, Tracy K. Oliver, LeAndra Johnson, Brian Torwelle, Jeremy Unger, Erin Zeltner
Proofreaders: Laura Albert, John Bitter, Laura L. Bowman, Susan Moritz, Carl Pierce, Charles Spencer
Indexer: Liz Cunningham
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