The first hires in an entrepreneurial firm need to be people who make the business more capable. New firms are characterized by significant role ambiguity, so employees need to be comfortable doing a little bit of a lot of different jobs, but more importantly than that, the firms employees need to bring new knowledge, skills and/or abilities to the firm. Most entrepreneurs have something that they do really well, which is what allowed them to start the business, but acquiring this expertise has to have come at the cost of acquiring other expertise. When you hire people in, they should bring some useful expertise that doesn't mirror your own, but complements it.

When planning an exit strategy, the most important thing an entrepreneur can think about is the impact of their decisions on who will buy the business. There are generally two types of buyers of businesses, financial and strategic. Financial buyers are typically looking to buy a firm to operate it the way it is and its value is a function of financial performance. Strategic buyers, on the other hand, are buying some strategic option that allows the buying firm to grow. There are likely to be significant differences in the speed and returns of the sale with strategic buyers being much more desirable. Accordingly, entrepreneurs need to build an exit strategy around having capabilities and a market position in place to add value to other firms in the market which means growing the company all the way up to and through the exit.

YES! While there are many debates in entrepreneurship about start-up and operating new ventures, there is no debate that eventually all entrepreneurs exit their business. If an entrepreneur doesn't have a strategy, they are relying on luck to have a good outcome. Given that most of the value that is captured in a business for the entrepreneur is done so at exit, relying on luck is decidedly suboptimal as compared to having a strategy that drives exit outcomes.

I think the key is to encourage and support entrepreneurial ventures in all their many forms. There has been much written about the important impact of the high potential, high growth "gazelles" that are the basis for most new job creation, and we definitely need more of these firms in Maine. That said, there is an important role for small businesses in the state.   I believe that Maine benefits significantly from encouraging small businesses to strive to grow by providing support around increasing employment and building sales.

From a professional perspective, the entrepreneurs I work with every year through Top Gun inspire me with the hard work and willingness to reach out and leverage resources that can help them do better. Personally, my wife inspires me to want to be better and work harder to be a better husband, father and mentor.