Chris Kuenne ’85 and John Danner Examine the Skills Behind Business Success

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The book: In Built For Growth: How Builder Personality Shapes Your Business, Your Team, and Your Ability to Win, Chris Kuenne ’85 and John Danner examine the skills that each member of a business team bring to the table and how best to implement those skills in developing, building, and growing the business into a success.

Built for Growth has a quiz to take to find one of four entrepreneurial personality types. Read stories about best business practices and practical advice about the different personalities that shape a business and team to create a successful business.

The authors:

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Courtesy of Chris Kuenne

Kuenne is a successful business builder, growth capital investor, and member of Princeton’s entrepreneurship faculty. He is the founder of Rosetta, and the private-equity firm Rosemark Capital. He is a frequent speaker to business and entrepreneurial audiences, including the Young Presidents’ Organization, CFO Roundtable, Association for Corporate Growth, and numerous venture capital and industry conferences.

Danner is a senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Institute for Business Innovation and serves on the faculty at UC Berkeley and Princeton University. He speaks widely on innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurship, keynoting corporate events and premier international conferences, and his work is frequently cited in major business media. He is the coauthor of The Other “F” Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work.

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Courtesy of John Danner

Opening page: “Building and growing a business is the top priority for every manager, leader, and entrepreneur today. New business is the lifeblood of every company, and growth its raison d’être.

“If you’re a builder of a new business — whether you’re running an independent startup, a new venture inside and existing company, or a new product line — you face a unique set of challenges. You must convert your idea into product, galvanized an inspired team, transform buyers into partners, align financial backers, and elevate your business to meaningful scale. And all the while, you’re fighting the status quo — often meeting powerful resistance to your new idea from people who don’t get it.

“We’ve been intrigued with these challenges — as advisers and consultants to organizations and startups, as investors in new businesses, as professors, and as business builders ourselves. Over our careers, we have shared with hundreds of management teams and thousands of Princeton and Berkeley students the principles of starting and growing new businesses, and we have made investment decisions on dozens of fast-growing startups across the market landscape. Through each of these vantage points, we are constantly amazed by the variety of paths leaders and entrepreneurs take to build successful, growing ventures.”

Review: Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson says, “In order to achieve long-term growth, large corporations must foster the entrepreneurial spirit. Built for Growth provides a practical framework on how corporate leaders can foster, deploy, and support entrepreneurs inside their companies to unleash innovation and growth.”