Every technical entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. This strategy is called organic growth, yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergers_and_acquisitions).

Many entrepreneurs are paranoid about the partnership approach and think that M&A is only an alternative for large companies who are flush with cash. Both of these qualms are wrong and shortsighted. Laurence Capron and Will Mitchell explain why in Build, Borrow, or Buy: Solving the Growth Dilemma, Harvard Business Review Press (http://www.amazon.com/Build-Borrow-Buy-Solving-Dilemma/dp/1422143716), and I like their recommended framework for emerging firms to help build an optimal growth strategy for...