Another rule for survival is to be willing to take some smart, calculated risks and make them work for you. These include responding to trends and getting there first, and finding an under-served niche and exploiting your competitor's weaknesses. The challenge is recognizing these opportunities before others and providing solutions first. This section will discuss many of these smart risks, how to build a team that can be most responsive, and how to achieve the leverage you need for ultimate success.
Much of the early part of this chapter has focused primarily on bad risks and ways to avoid or contain losses. Here is the other side of the picture. If you want growth and sustainability, you need to create and capitalize on smart risks; this means you intentionally take a risk to grow your business or gain competitive advantage.
In fact, winning technical entrepreneurship is all about taking calculated risks while minimizing...