Available for the First Time: The Complete Social Entrepreneur's
Playbook
Covers all three phases of the start-up to scale-up process, developed
with reader feedback from "one of the more unusual ebook...experiments
of the year" (ThinReads)
Wharton professor Ian C. MacMillan and Dr. James Thompson, director of
the Wharton Social Entrepreneurship Program, provide a tough-love
approach that significantly increases the likelihood of a successful
social enterprise launch in the face of the high-uncertainty conditions
typically encountered by social entrepreneurs.
MacMillan and Thompson used their own systematic framework to publish
The Social Entrepreneur's Playbook. To test the market, they offered
the first phase in their start-up method (step 1) as a free ebook.
Readers were invited to join The Social Entrepreneur's Advisory Group,
and nearly 300 aspiring and active social entrepreneurs shared feedback
that helped shape the complete edition of the book, which covers all
three steps in the start-up to scale-up process.
Based on this crowd-sourced feedback from readers of the free ebook and
drawing on the authors' more than 26 years' combined experience
developing and studying social enterprises in the field across Africa
and in the United States, this new edition provides guidance for each
phase:
Phase One: Pressure Test Your Start-Up Idea. Based on the free
ebook, this expanded section now includes advice on setting revenue and
social impact goals, how to navigate the sociopolitical landscape, and
how to develop a strong concept statement. In addition, MacMillan and
Thompson provide advice on how to identify and test a proposed
revenue-generating solution and define and segment your target
population.
Phase Two: Plan Your Social Enterprise. All new to this edition,
this critical phase shows you how to frame and scope the venture,
determine what it will take to actually deliver a sustainable
enterprise, identify the key assumptions that have been made, and design
checkpoints to test those assumptions before making major investments.
Phase Three: Launch and Scale Your Social Enterprise. Available for
the first time in this edition, you will learn how to effectively launch
your enterprise, manage upside potential and downside risk, and
strategically scale up.
Filled with accessible frameworks and tools, as well as inspiring
stories of social entrepreneurs, The Social Entrepreneur's Playbook is
a must-read for any aspiring or active social entrepreneur, as well as
philanthropists, foundations, and nonprofits interested in doing more
good with fewer resources.
Includes access to downloadable planning documents, including
user-friendly spreadsheets
