Assignment 1

You have been chosen to represent the university at a conference for entrepreneurs in the
world. You are just about to interview Bill Gates for your university newsletter. What are
the important questions to ask him, from an entrepreneurial and administrative point of
view, about managing entrepreneurial growth? What advice do you think that Bill Gates
will give to upcoming entrepreneurs about building a new company in the 21st Century?

Entrepreneurs are the drivers of innovation and every day their determination touches billions of
lives and creates employment opportunities needed for economic growth. They’re focused on a
material, economic problem. Their platform is pre-emptive, proprietary, pivotal and scalable.
They carefully craft a brand, culture and a talent-management approach which supports the
mission. They focus on a rigorously defined set of value-creating metrics to guide which have
direct and immediate influence on entrepreneurship.

I got the opportunity to interview Bill Gates Bill Gates one of the most popular entrepreneurs of
all time and the prodigy who started the technology revolution by launching a software company
after dropping out of Harvard in 1974. The man is a magnate, philanthropist, investor, and co-
founder of Microsoft. His success at Microsoft has earned him the title of one of the richest man
in the world. Young entrepreneurs can look up to him and learn some important business lessons
along the way that will help them become successful. Here are some interview questions about
entrepreneurship growth and his response:

1. How can one determine what type of entrepreneurship to venture on?

Find a product or service that is compatible your skill set, and then develop a business model
that will bring in enough money to meet your needs. Give plenty of thought to what kind of
business you want to start and how you will get it off the ground. Laying careful plans can set
you up for success and save you some of the stress and expense of making costly mistakes.
Choose a business structure, such as a sole proprietorship or limited liability company. Your
choice of business structure will depend on whether you're starting your business alone or
with partners, and whether you have assets that may be at risk due to your business activities.
Calculate your startup costs and make sure you have enough money to cover them. Startup
capital can come from personal savings, personal loans, and investments from people who
believe in your idea or bank loans if you can offer collateral.

2. Does one have to go to College to become a successful entrepreneur?

In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard after just two years. He spent more time using
computers in the computer lab than studying for exams. Gates, along with his co-founder Paul
Allen, realized that the personal computer was going to need software to run it successfully.
After purchasing an Altair 8800 (an early home computer), he and Allen projected that a
computer would eventually make it into every home in the United States.
Bill Gates says there are no set requirements for becoming a business owner other than having
the resources and savvy to successfully run a business. You don't need to go to college, but
you should have a solid understanding of the field you choose. You should also have some
basic bookkeeping knowledge, although this certainly doesn't have to be on a college level.
There are online bookkeeping classes, and many university extensions offer short, stand -alone
classes geared specifically for startup small business owners. Even if you don't plan to do
your own bookkeeping, you should still be able to understand the numbers your bookkeeper
prepares for you. (Devra G, April 20, 2018)

3. What one tip can you say has helped you?

Bill Gates’ first tip for entrepreneurs is to have patience with your idea. He reminds people that it
took Microsoft over four years to experience the level of success they did with the Windows
operating system. Gates realizes the importance of patience and perseverance when it comes to a
great idea.

Applying this to your own business, you should think about how you could take your idea and
fine-tune it to meet the needs of your current customers. Think also about the technology that we
have today and consider how you could advance your idea in the future.

We live in “today” but it is important to also keep the future in mind and how the changing
technologies and customer needs will dictate the need for change. You always should try to
conform to the changes that the market requires to adjust to the needs of your customers.

4. What qualities should one have to be a successful entrepreneur?

Disciplined: Individuals are focused on making their businesses work, and eliminate any
hindrances or distractions to their goals. They have overarching strategies and outline the tactics
to accomplish them. Successful entrepreneurs are disciplined enough to take steps every day
toward the achievement of their objectives.
Confidence: The entrepreneur does not ask questions about whether they can succeed or whether
they are worthy of success. They are confident with the knowledge that they will make their
businesses succeed. They exude that confidence in everything they do.
Open Minded: Entrepreneurs realize that every event and situation is a business opportunity.
Ideas are constantly being generated about workflows and efficiency, people skills and potential
new businesses. They have the ability to look at everything around them and focus it toward their
goals.
Self Starter: Entrepreneurs know that if something needs to be done, they should start it
themselves. They set the parameters and make sure that projects follow that path. They are
proactive, not waiting for someone to give them permission.
Competitive: Many companies are formed because an entrepreneur knows that they can do a job
better than another. They need to win at the sports they play and need to win at the businesses
that they create. An entrepreneur will highlight their own company’s track record of success.
Creativity: One facet of creativity is being able to make connections between seemingly
unrelated events or situations. Entrepreneurs often come up with solutions which are the
synthesis of other items. They will repurpose products to market them to new industries.
Determination: Entrepreneurs are not thwarted by their defeats. They look at defeat as an
opportunity for success. They are determined to make all of their endeavors succeed, so will try
and try again until it does. Successful entrepreneurs do not believe that something cannot be
done.
Strong people skills: The entrepreneur has strong communication skills to sell the product and
motivate employees. Most successful entrepreneurs know how to motivate their employees so
the business grows overall. They are very good at highlighting the benefits of any situation and
coaching others to their success.
Strong work ethic: The successful entrepreneur will often be the first person to arrive at the
office and the last one to leave. They will come in on their days off to make sure that an outcome
meets their expectations. Their mind is constantly on their work, whether they are in or out of the
workplace.
Passion: Passion is the most important trait of the successful entrepreneur. They genuinely love
their work. They are willing to put in those extra hours to make the business succeed because
there is a joy their business gives which goes beyond the money. The successful entrepreneur
will always be reading and researching ways to make the business better.
(By Mat t / ⠀S t artup Advi ce / S ept em ber 27, 2010 )

5. What strategies have proved effective for your enterprise growth?

Resolve and experience alone won’t turn your company into a true success or give it much
staying-power. You need to devise and implement a well-thought-out growth strategy like

Hire People You Trust & Delegate Strategically; Once you get the right personnel in place, all
that will be left to do is train them and avoid micro-management. I personally feel that intensive,
hands-on instruction in the beginning of an employee’s tenure is effective in that it clearly
establishes your expectations and will help you either reinforce or see the error in your hiring
decision. If you decide to retain the employee, you’ll be confident they know what they’re
doing, which will allow you to focus on more strategic work. If you decide to let them go, well,
at least you found out they weren’t right for the job early on.

Be Careful with Raising Money; Raising capital is not the goal; building a fundamentally sound
company that is successful in the long term is the true objective. And in order to meet it, you
must think long and hard about your funding needs before accepting money from a professional
investor or leveraging expensive loans and lines of credit. Rashly jumping at financing
opportunities can lead to all sorts of unintended consequences, after all.

Market Penetration & Development; once you establish a good product and a solid customer
base, expanding into adjacent markets and figuring out how to maximize profits from existing
customers are natural next steps that come with relatively low risk, yet have the potential to
provide significant growth. The amount of market research and business planning that is required
to expand in this manner is inversely proportional to how easy it is to test your way into the
market. If testing is easy, don’t waste time trying to perfect every minor detail, as market
response will provide all the feedback you need.
Seek Strategic Partnerships & Acquisitions; while young companies typically don’t have the
capital needed to buy out the competition or purchase key cogs in their supply chain, you can use
strategic partnerships with higher-profile businesses in order to build brand awareness and
stature in the industry. Then, as your company matures and either reaps profits or goes through
another round of financing, you may be able to make acquisitions in order to bring your business
into a new space or reduce costs in the long term.

Don’t Get Comfortable; the best companies don’t get comfortable; they continually look for
ways to improve their product, become more efficient, and increase customer satisfaction. Just
look at the likes of Apple, Facebook, and even the NFL. All have extremely popular products,
yet they continue to take risks because that is the only way to avoid becoming
obsolete. (Odysseas P, 2013)

6. What are the drivers and inhibitors of your enterprise?

Capital is a key factor for the establishment of an enterprise. Increase in capital investment is
directly proportional to increase in profits helping in the process of capital formation. The most
important role is played by the market and marketing is key to the growth of entrepreneurship.
No entrepreneur can survive without a thorough and updated knowledge about market and
techniques. Raw Materials, is a basic necessity for establishing any industrial activity and it helps
in the emergence of entrepreneurship. The availability of labor determines the growth of
entrepreneurship. Expansion of entrepreneurship presupposes properly developed
communication and transportation facilities. It not only helps to enlarge the market, but expand
the horizons of business too. Social Factors such as family background, education, social
environment and even caste system, also play important roles. Psychological Factors, A very
interesting study on psychological theories of entrepreneurship was put forward by David
McClelland. He said ‘need achievement’ is social motive to excel a typical characteristic of
successful entrepreneurs. Other factors included loss of social respect/status and motives.

Insufficient infrastructure and high cost of production is one of the prime obstacles to growth of
entrepreneurship, there is also a high degree of risk involved in new enterprise. In several social
and cultural, there is a perceived low status of businessmen in the eyes of public in certain
societies and also effects of customs and tradition. Arbitrary administrative laws leading to
uncertainties among entrepreneurs also affect the proper growth of entrepreneurship. ( Arijit D,
Aug 2017)

7. What advice can you give young entrepreneurs to help them succeed in the 21st Century?

Move Fast and Keep Innovating. You should move at a faster speed and focus on continuous
innovation. This is what i did and succeeded, and I want young entrepreneurs to follow my
example. I thinks that “The most important speed issue is often not technical but cultural. It’s
convincing everyone that the company’s survival depends on moving as fast as possible.”
Think Ahead of the Times, In order to stay one step ahead of the competition, you need to
predict the future and prepare for it in advance. Success partially depends upon my futuristic
vision. Due to this, Microsoft has always been one-step ahead of the competition. Even upon
retiring, i was thinking ahead ofmy time. In his exit interview to PC magazine, he predicted that
mobile devices, internet TVs, and natural user interface will gain popularity in the years to come
and history proved that he was right.

Your Time Is Valuable, I always teache young entrepreneurs the value of time so that they
refrain from whiling away their precious work hours. That is why I advise entrepreneurs to pick
their battles carefully. Even the richest men in the world cannot buy time as one of his quotes
suggests, “No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy more time.” This reflects how
valuable time is. Identify the biggest time-wasting activities in your schedule and cut them
down. Avoid distractions to stay as productive as possible to achieve better results.

Learn from Your Mistakes, when it comes to failure, i suggest that you should accept failure,
learn from your mistakes, and move on instead of moaning about it and giving up. One of my
famous quotes, “Its fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of
failure.” reflect my approach regarding dealing with failures in my life. Failure is just as
important as success, because it takes you back to the drawing board and helps you analyze the
loopholes and causes of failure. As a result, you can fix these issues and avoid making the same
mistakes again but this is not possible when you succeed. Consider failure as a learning
opportunity instead of a demoralizing factor that forces you to quit.

Persistence and Perseverance is a quality that has helped me succeed. Paul Allen, co-founder of
Microsoft who founded the software company with me, wrote about my persistence and
perseverance in an article, “Bill craved closure and he would hammer away until he got
there.”Entrepreneurs looking to achieve overnight success should read this quote. I said, “There
is nothing that was overnight.” The initial versions of the Windows operating system
(Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0) were not that successful but my persistence made Windows, the
most popular operating system in the world.

Take Risks: Young entrepreneurs should not shy away from thinking out of the box and
choosing an unexplored path. Success lies in unchartered territories so entrepreneurs should
always be willing to explore untapped areas. My conviction and risk-taking propensity made
Microsoft such a hit even when no one knew much about computer software. “If you want to win
big, you sometimes have to take big risks.”

Never give up: No matter how difficult the circumstances seem, you should have a “never say
die” attitude if you want to succeed. Failure is part of entrepreneurial life and it even affected the
greatest entrepreneur in the world. Before the inception of Microsoft, Paul Allen and i
started Traf-O-Data, a company responsible for analyzing traffic data. Unfortunately, it failed
miserably and left me under a lot of debt. I learned important lessons from this failure and moved
on to launch Microsoft. Even with Microsoft, I have faced initial failure but my unflinching
attitude helped me dredge on. Finally, success knocked at my door and i got the reward for not
giving up on my dreams..he smiles. (Sarmad, H 2017)

The business world is constantly changing and the reason Bill Gates has stayed at the top of his
field is his willingness to embrace change. Change is resisted by most people out of fear of the
unknown but it is important that businesses utilise changes in business, in technology and other
such areas. Be ahead of the curve.
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the
change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction."
--The Road Ahead, Viking Penguin, 1995

8. What is the best way of treating disgruntled customers?

Most entrepreneurs treat their disgruntled customers rudely. They think that they are right in
doing so but the greatest visionary of our time has a different opinion. He considers dissatisfied
customers a huge asset since they can impart lessons you hitherto didn’t know. He said, “Your
most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. If you want to be successful in
business, you should listen and value what your disappointed customers are saying. Take action
and improve in the light of their feedback.

In review
Bill gate from administrative point of view says failure is as important as success as it
takes one back to the drawing board and helps them analyze the loopholes and causes of
failure This helps in fixing the issues and avoiding making the same mistakes. Failure
thus should be considered as a learning opportunity instead of a demoralizing factor that
forces one to quit
According to Bill Gates, unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning for a
successful venture Listen and value what unhappy customers are saying then take action
and improve in the light of their feedback and you will experience entrepreneurial
growth.

Reference
1. https://bizfluent.com/13712089/how-to-become-a-business-owner
2. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/298983
3. https://blog.taskque.com/entrepreneur-lessons-bill-gates/
4. https://www.businesschief.com/finance/4156/Five-effective-growth-strategies-for-
entrepreneurs, Oct 8 2013.
5. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/3027355 Traits That Made Bill Gates, Elon Musk
and Jeff Bezos Wildly Successful, 18 October 2017.
6. https://www.joe.ie/business/6-top-entrepreneurial-tips-from-multi-billionaire-bill-gates-
457684
7. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240853
8. https://under30ceo.com/10-qualities-of-a-successful-entrepreneur/

Use Harvard styles of referencing, 2500-3500 words, At least 6 books of references