December 9, 2009, Zurich

Topic:   Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model

Speaker: John Mullins, Professor at London Business School

About the Seminar:
Most entrepreneurs don't find success on their first, second or even third business plans. For PayPal, success came on Plan G. Entrepreneurs starting out in the current economic climate need to be prepared to adapt their plans until they find a winning formula.

In his new book, Getting to Plan B, John Mullins and his co-author, noted venture capitalist Randy Komisar of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, take a systematic approach to understanding the process of reaching a successful business model. John suggests that successful businesses look at the best and worst of what has gone before them, picking out elements of success and avoiding repeating other people's mistakes, identifying a few crucial leaps of faith that can be tested in the marketplace, and then testing hypotheses to find a business model that will really work.

About John Mullins:
John W. Mullins is Associate Professor of Management Practice and Chair of the Entrepreneurship group at London Business School.  He earned his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Ph.D in marketing from the University of Minnesota.  An award-winning teacher, John brings to his teaching and research 20 years of executive experience in high-growth firms, including two ventures he founded, one of which he took public.

Since becoming a business school professor in 1992, John has published three books and more than 30 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Business Venturing, and the Journal of Product Innovation Management.  His research has won national and international awards from Marketing Science Institute, the American Marketing Association, and the Richard D. Irwin Foundation.

John has consulted with and done executive education on three continents for a variety of organisations both large and small, including Roche Diagnostics, Time Warner Communications, the Eastman Kodak Company, Pumpkin Ltd., The Musicland Group, Montgomery Watson, Inc., the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and others.

His new book Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model has been published in September 2009 by the Harvard Business Press: "...it is both a handbook for those already on the way to building a successful business as well as encouraging others to think they could do it." wrote the Financial Times in its review.

Profile: click here
Podcast: click here 
Book Website: click here

Time:
07:00 p.m. reception
07:15 p.m. keynote address, followed by drinks

Location:
Hotel Glockenhof, Sihlstrasse 31, 8001 Zurich (map) 

Registration:
Ticket: CHF 50.-, click here to buy tickets