Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcast
  • Managing the Future of Work Podcast
  • About Us
  • Book
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Podcasts
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • Archive

    The Intentional Entrepreneur: Bringing Technology and Engineering to the Real New Economy

     
    How technologists should think about entrepreneurship.
    6/28/2004

    David L. Bodde (HBS DBA '76) sees a "golden age of invention" building on the rubble of the dot-com era, a result of the convergence of information technology, the life sciences, the cognitive sciences, and nanotechnology. But invention is not enough to win the day, he says. "For humankind to reap full benefit from technology, entrepreneurs must recognize the economic value resident in that technology and create enterprises capable of bringing it to market."

    It's the bringing it to market phase that this book mainly deals with, defining what technologists need to know to turn invention into product. In particular, he says, such ventures must include market insight, a business model that combines both technology and market knowledge, and an effective organization.

    What's powerful about this book is its focus on the audience it intends to serve: people with great ideas but not necessarily great business sense. We've all seen the graveyard of great ideas ruined by bad business decisions. For example, the inventor who has a single great idea makes a popular product—and then is beaten by a competitor with an even better idea. So Bodde spends a fair amount of time discussing the service concept of technology—you're not just creating a better widget but a bundle of services that unlocks the true value of the widget and gives you a chance to evolve with the market.

    Other concepts explained through the lens of the technologist include first-mover advantage, disruptive technologies, continuous learning, and the differences between creating your own company and working for an established one.

    Throughout the book, the founding and development of two real-life enterprises are followed as case studies: EnerTech Environmental, which converts sewage into boiler fuel, and Nth Power Technologies, a VC firm specializing in energy opportunities.

    Bodde is the Charles N. Kimball Professor of Technology and Innovation at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. —Sean Silverthorne

    ǁ
    Campus Map
    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
    Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
    Soldiers Field
    Boston, MA 02163
    Email: Editor-in-Chief
    →Map & Directions
    →More Contact Information
    • Make a Gift
    • Site Map
    • Jobs
    • Harvard University
    • Trademarks
    • Policies
    • Accessibility
    • Digital Accessibility
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College