When I first considered entrepreneurship I had lots of questions: What personal qualities does it take to found a successful business and do I have them? What education and experience is the best preparation for becoming an entrepreneur? How do I find a good product idea? How do I obtain the money to start a company? Can I run a successful business, raise children, and still have a normal family life?

Each of those questions, it turns out, has many correct answers. My answers may not be the best for everyone, nor may they work in every situation, but collectively they worked for me.

Personal Thoughts About Entrepreneurship

Starting a company is an intensely creative activity. Beyond the creation of new products, the entrepreneur creates new rules rather than following those already existing-he creates wealth and power rather than taking it from someone else.

The process was fun for me because it let me do the things I enjoy doing (analyzing, creating, and building) and it was a natural fit with my personality (I know what I want, I want it done right, and I wanted it yesterday). The potential risk never bothered me because I always played the odds, and the responsibility never burdened me because I had learned to carry it as a youth. Whether these things are true for any other individual, only he or she can answer.

It is interesting that one of my primary motives for starting a company was the thought of accumulating wealth. Yet, the final impetus to actually found the company was a desire for control and freedom. Then after running the company for many years, I once again thought about the wealth issue and decided that I had enough, only to confront the issue of control once more during the time I worked for Broderbund. Now having had time to reflect on the entire situation, I find that I miss running a company. All I can conclude is that wealth does not have much to do with my happiness-creating things and controlling their development does. Certainly for me happiness comes from accomplishment, and thinking about past accomplishments is not nearly as satisfying as achieving new ones. I suspect these things are true of most people.

Can another person do what I have done? Absolutely. The technology, distribution channels, and markets have all changed substantially, but the principles of founding a successful business are essentially the same. The technology, distribution channels, and markets also changed while I was running Banner Blue, but my business principles successfully adapted the company each time. I have no doubt about the validity of the principles looking forward. Founding a company today might require the entrepreneur to address a different market, but that is what business principles help evaluate.

Looking back, there are a few things I would change if I had the opportunity to start Banner Blue all over again. In the heat of battle, it was too easy to forget the principles that initially made the company a success. Consequently, I based some of our new product decisions on limited market analysis-an embarrassing admission because I consider such analysis one of my strengths. I would be vigilant to avoid making that mistake again.

Of less importance, I would give more thought to a potential exit strategy at the time I founded a company. Inevitably, circumstances would change before the time to exit came, but I had not even considered it when I founded Banner Blue, so I had to start from zero when it was time for me to leave. If the actual exit involved selling the company, I would be very cautious about agreeing to stay with the acquiring company beyond a short transition period. If the transaction required longer tenure, I would want to have a position of reasonable power in the acquiring company, such as a board seat.

This list of things I would change is short, not because I think I everything I did was perfect, but because my results were better than I ever expected. I just hope I can obtain the same results again.