Book excerpt: Whether you work for an established company and want to trailblaze new products (intrapreneurship), or want to establish your own new venture (entrepreneurship), The Guide to Entrepreneurship: How to Create Wealth for Your Company and Stakeholders supplies invaluable guidance along with concrete action plans. In contrast to academic publications that merely emphasize accounting methods, this guide to intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship focuses squarely on the entrepreneur.Demystifying the process of starting a company from scratch, the book provides aspiring entrepreneurs with detailed guidance that is written in plain English. It explores what constitutes entrepreneurial timber and the leadership skills required to raise all the needed capital. If you are thinking of starting your own company or have already decided to take the plunge, this book will help you determine: If you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur The value of your idea before funding If you and your team possess the skills required to gain a market advantage How to raise capital effectively Explaining the critical importance of intellectual property to investors, the book covers the fundamentals of business valuations. It also explains how to write winning business proposals. While each chapter is designed to stand on its own, the book chapters are arranged in a manner that makes it easy for experienced entrepreneurs to jump from chapter to chapter as they please. Identifying the unique set of characteristics that are shared by successful entrepreneurs, this guide will be especially helpful to anyone looking to start new ventures that require a high degree of scientific knowledge.