THE NEW GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS: PARACHUTE NOT REQUIRED

Dr. Zhen Sullivan, Professor of Business Management and I talk the new generation of entrepreneurs. She teaches Entrepreneurship to students at Kean University in New Jersey. We talk about many things including:

• A new startup culture out there
• We are in an innovation driven economy
• Big ideas and why sometimes they are small
• The essentials of business are social media and the internet

Budding and aspiring entrepreneurs "expect the internet to be so fair, to be such an enabler and equalizer, and it's part of the ingredients; they are very essential."

She offers two nuggets of advice for budding entrepreneurs:

1. Know the industry before you start a business in it. Consider working for another company in the industry first before diving in. 
2. Be ready to eat cans of beans! And just beans! Entrepreneurs have to do it all, and give up a lot in the process, including time and food. 

We also dive into why she thinks writing a business plan is an essential part of planning a business.

1. If entrepreneurs are looking for funding, they need to back up why investors should invest.
2. Understand the planning process. Creating a business plan she says is like a "car inspection." It is a "comprehensive review which can expose blind spots and weaknesses."

Dr. Sullivan says, "entrepreneurs tend to be very brave and take risks; they jump into action." I can definitely relate to that one. Take a listen to see what scares and excites the new generation. 

Publications: 

• Zhen Z. Sullivan, Patricia J. Holahan, and Jing Ma. (2020) Adopting Technological Innovations in Work Organizations: The Role of Attitude, Subjective Norm, and Procedural Fairness, International Journal of Business Information Systems, forthcoming.
• Patricia J. Holahan, Zhen Z. Sullivan and Stephen K. Markham. (2014) Product Development as Core Competence, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(2), 329–345.
• Blake J. Lesselroth, Patricia J. Holahan, Kathleen Adams, Zhen Z. Sullivan, Victoria L. Church, Susan Woods, Robert Felder, Shawn Adams and David A. Dorr. (2011) Primary Care Provider Perceptions and Use of a Novel Medication Reconciliation Technology, Informatics in Primary Care, 2(19), 105-118.

Dr. Sullivan is an adjunct professor of Business Management at Kean University in New Jersey where she has been teaching entrepreneurship since 2014. Prior to her life in academia, Dr. Sullivan worked as a project manager at Lucent Technologies. In 2011, Dr. Sullivan received her PhD in Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology. She wishes to bring more "street smarts" to the higher education of entrepreneurship.