The Entrepreneurs: The Relentless Quest for Value

Entrepreneurs are among the primary shapers of our culture, yet their role in driving progress and influencing society has often been overlooked. As far back as we can trace human history, there have been entrepreneurs. Almost five millennia ago, copper tool manufacturers set up a factory in what today is southwest Spain, profiting for hundreds of years from trade around the Mediterranean. Papyri document the diverse investments of an ancient Egyptian businessman, from grain-yielding land to flax for linen cloth. What do these figures have in common with renowned modern entrepreneurs, and how do their similarities help us achieve a deeper understanding of entrepreneurship as well as the potential for a healthier, wealthier, and more equitable and sustainable future?

Derek Lidow delves into the deep history of innovation to deliver essential new insights into how entrepreneurs create value and bring about change. Telling the captivating stories of people from many different cultures over thousands of years, he shows how entrepreneurs transform the world through relentless innovation. Lidow demonstrates that far from being heroic lone individuals, they copy and then add to the inventions of others. The cumulative innovations of swarms of entrepreneurs expand the scale, scope, and range of products and services. Lidow emphasizes how entrepreneurship can harm society as well as benefit it, and he underscores ways to mitigate its harmful side and harness its positive effects. By highlighting the fundamental qualities of innovation throughout history, this book provides indispensable new perspective on how it is shaping our present and future.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Stumped No Longer
Introduction: An Indispensable Problem
1. Emergence
2. The Core of Entrepreneurship
3. Outsiders
4. Fuel to Fire
5. Entrepreneur Versus Entrepreneur
6. Scaling Supply
7. Scaling Demand
8. Scaling Simplicity
9. Scaling Consequences
10. Attempts at Control
11. Value Beyond Money
12. The Possibilities of Our Entrepreneurial Future
Notes on the Definition of “Entrepreneur”
Bibliographic Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

About the Author :
Derek Lidow is a professor of the practice at the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education at Princeton University. He is the author of Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises (2014) and Building on Bedrock: What Sam Walton, Walt Disney, and Other Great Self-Made Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us About Building Valuable Companies (2018) as well as more than a hundred articles on innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Lidow also has practical experience as the founder of a leading market-research firm and CEO of a global semiconductor company, and was a Hertz Foundation Fellow.

Review :
Derek Lidow’s intellectual curiosity is infectious! I was dazzled by his ability to use deep-in-the-weeds historical research to illustrate fundamental principles of entrepreneurship through the ages. Not only did I learn about fascinating historical examples previously unknown to me, but I was also treated to great visual imagery as Lidow made the examples come alive. His skill in weaving incisive examples into solid empirical generalization is clearly a skill that stems from his practical business knowledge. He takes the reader around the world and through the centuries, using fascinating case material to document his argument that the principles of entrepreneurship are deeply embedded in the way civilization has evolved over the millennia. Entrepreneurship scholars and other interested readers are going to love this book. When asked to identify the single most important ingredient to economic success, I would say, “entrepreneurship”. This book not only shows, thankfully, that I was right but does so with what is probably the most comprehensive, rigorous and richly documented treatment of the subject. Derek Lidow carefully defines entrepreneurship and then describes the way entrepreneurs interact with society—the key to their importance. Every concept and paradigm is illustrated with fascinating, historical episodes—from the Han Dynasty in China to the Roman Empire to Silicon Valley. Lidow unpacks the subject (“scaling supply…scaling demand…scaling simplicity”) and then puts the pieces back together in the final chapters on the role of government in regulating entrepreneurs. The book is highly nuanced: the section on “scaling slavery” is disturbing reading. The historical anecdotes reveal delightful tidbits. Who knew that the first semiconductor company located in Palo Alto, California because the director wanted to be close to his mother? This book is three books in one. It is a history book, meticulously describing entrepreneurship through the ages. It is an economics book, analyzing the incentives and behavior of entrepreneurs, their consequences, and society’s reaction. And it is a management book for students and professors of entrepreneurship. That all three are delivered in an engaging and easygoing style bodes well for The Entrepreneurs becoming a classic. Our future success rests on our ability to harness the creative and innovative potential of all—a quest made possible only by understanding the evolution of entrepreneurship and the factors inherent in shaping the ecosystem in which founders operate. Derek Lidow’s work provides masterful insight into what has come before and how that should inform our efforts to create a more accessible, inclusive, and equitable path to entrepreneurship going forward. Lidow takes on the study of entrepreneurship with a long historical lens, revealing compelling macro-patterns across time. A very enjoyable read. Fascinating. Informative. Well organized. Impressively insightful. Will have a special appeal to readers with an interest in the history of entrepreneurship, economic history, and environmental economics. Unreservedly recommended. Prof. Lidow is well qualified not only to put forth a thorough history of entrepreneurs, but also to highlight the lessons to be learned from their successes and failures throughout the centuries. He leaves the reader with a much clearer picture of what constitutes an entrepreneur, and what can be done to continue reaping the benefits of entrepreneurialism while minimizing the unwanted consequences. More than just an entertaining read, The Entrepreneurs: The Relentless Quest for Value is the beginning of a plan for encouraging good entrepreneurial efforts in the future. Lidow has crafted a useful perspective on the 'quest for value' at the heart of most entrepreneurial adventures. The Entrepreneurs nudges us to appreciate those successful actors who have capitalized on broader change, created material improvements in how we work and live cooperatively, and left a legacy for others to build on.