I just finished reading an interesting book on entrepreneurship, and I thought I would share it with the blog. It’s Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value, by Daniel Isenberg.

Isenberg uses case studies to explode three myths: (1) that entrepreneurs must be innovators; (2) that entrepreneurs must be experts; and (3) that entrepreneurs must be young. He argues that successful entrepreneurship has three elements: (1) perceiving extraordinary value; (2) creating extraordinary value; and (3) capturing extraordinary value. (He obviously likes to group things into triplets.) All three are necessary for success. I, for example, might be able to think of a value creation opportunity but, since I have spent most of my life in the classroom, it’s unlikely I could do much to create that value-turn the idea into reality.

But my favorite part of reading the book was seeing the many examples of successful entrepreneurs being told initially by venture capitalists and others that it just wouldn’t work–that the idea was worthless, impossible, or stupid.