The Iceberg and the Sustainable Entrepreneur

By Xenia Duffy and Maria Shubra Ovesen

The book is a fundamental book in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, which should facilitate the journey from idea to project, to potential company and at the same time guide your personal development towards becoming an entrepreneur. In simple and easily accessible language, we present a range of long-term, practice-oriented models that are relevant to your sustainable entrepreneurial journey.

 

We want to challenge the image of the entrepreneur as a hero figure with an ingenious idea working 100 hours a week and sleeping on a mattress in the basement until the company is successful, after which it is sold to the highest bidder investor.

 

We believe that there is a need to challenge the image of who can become an entrepreneur, what it takes to become an entrepreneur and what successful entrepreneurship is and can be.

 

We would like to call for entrepreneurship to be rethought as an essential personal and professional competence. Entrepreneurship is about getting started. It's about acting. About learning through experience and about failing in many different ways. It's about finding your own way. About being able to formulate his own definition of success.

 

The book is therefore both a guide to entrepreneurship as a competence, and a toolbox that helps you to relate to and actively develop yourself towards a sustainable business that balances all three bottom lines.

 

Why an iceberg?

 

There is a lot of focus on the visible in entrepreneurship, what is about the idea itself (the product or service) and what the entrepreneur shows of himself to the outside world. However, it is ours faring that it is all the invisible that is crucial to your success as an entrepreneur: your personal development, your team and everything that lies behind the execution of the idea, which rarely comes to the surface.

 

Therefore, it is obvious to visualize the book's narrative with an iceberg, which has also become a popular and easy-to-understand picture of the impact of climate change and thus the burning platform that drives many entrepreneurs' focus on sustainability.

 

That is why we have written this book.

 

First and foremost, we would like to share our experience as consultants in sustainable business models, entrepreneurship educators and entrepreneurship program facilitators. We would like to help you who have an idea you would like to test. You who go with an entrepreneur in the stomach. You who have already started your business but are looking for sparring on how to get on with it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: zeal - sustainable strategy - since 1980
• Release date: Jul 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9788794486026

Book preview

THE ICEBERG AND THE SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEUR

ISBN: 978-87-94486-02-6

© Maria Shubhra Ovesen & Xenia Duffy

Text: Xenia Duffy & Maria Shubhra Ovesen

Illustrations: Maria Shubhra Ovesen

First published by Fællestrykkeriet, Aarhus University in 2018

This is the 3rd edition published by zeal aps

Aarhus, 2023

All reproduction of material from this book must be done after approval by the authors with clear indication of the source.

https://isbjerget.net/

https://zeal.dk/

Content

Introduction

Chapter 1

A New World with a New Economy requires New Solutions.

The Difference between Problems and Solutions, Guessing and Knowing

The Mom Test

The Value of Your Product

Chapter 2

Know Yourself

Entrepreneurship Requires Action

Who am I?

What can I do? What do I want?

Who do I know?

Be Brave and Put Yourself Out There

Pitch Your Story

Chapter 3

The Early Stage

Lean Startup

Hypothesis Testing – Your Journey to Understanding

Chapter 4

Sustainable Business Models

What is Sustainability?

Linear versus Circular

The Sustainable Business Model

Competitors or Collab Opportunities?

Chapter 5

Test Your Solution

Pretotyping

Initial and Ongoing Interest

Chapter 6

A Sustainable Approach to Sales

The Good Sales Process

Sales Barriers

Chapter 7

The Next, Best Step

Begin at the End and End at the Beginning

Thank You

About Us

Bibliography

What Readers are saying...

Introduction

The Prerequisites for starting a Business have changed

What is required today to take your idea and turn it into a sustainable business, is no longer the same as it was ten years ago.

For starters, the definition of sustainable has changed dramatically over time. Only ten years ago, it solely referred to a business 'sustaining' itself financially. In short, earning more than you spend. Today, being sustainable goes far beyond the financial aspects of a company’s activities.

Another thing that is changing is the perception of the entrepreneur. More women than ever before are starting their own businesses. One in seven entrepreneurs is over the age of 55. The number of entrepreneurs with a higher educational background is increasing.

More and more people are becoming interested in entrepreneurship. Not only to start their own business, but as a way to realize their dreams and develop ideas. The increased focus on the climate crisis, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and the (im-)balance of the triple bottom line has led many to see entrepreneurship as a tool to develop solutions to the world's biggest problems and needs. At a time when many are challenged by stress, poor leadership, and balancing work and life, entrepreneurship can be a way to a work life that is a better match for your personal values and life mission.

Am I a Sustainable Entrepreneur?

You decide, whether you are a sustainable entrepreneur. It is not your product or your service that determines it. There are several pathways to sustainable entrepreneurship.

You can develop a solution that addresses a problem or need, where a sustainable alternative is needed.

You can work with a traditional product or service in a new and more sustainable way. (e.g. produced with more environmentally friendly materials, with renewable energy, delivered by bicycle, in plastic-free packaging, etc.)

You can run your business in a more sustainable way (by being socially responsible and employing people with disabilities, or people who have been out of the labour market for one reason or another)

And there are probably several other ways than we've uncovered here.

As we will elaborate in chapter four, sustainable development is a complex issue and as such there are many opportunities. However, in sustainable entrepreneurship there is room for everyone passionate about changing the world for the better for people and planet. No matter what type of sustainable entrepreneur you are (or plan to be), you are first and foremost an entrepreneur. It is therefore crucial that you know about the tools that are fundamental to all entrepreneurs and start there. This applies regardless of the type of company, cooperative, or organization you imagine your idea to develop into.

Fewer Hero Myths, more Nuances

We want to challenge the perception of the entrepreneur as a hero figure with a brilliant idea, who works 100 hours a week and sleeps on a mattress in the basement until the company becomes successful, and then sold off to the highest bidding investor.

We believe that it is necessary to challenge the idea of who can become an entrepreneur, what it takes to become an entrepreneur and what successful entrepreneurship is and could be.

We want to encourage everyone to rethink entrepreneurship as an essential personal and professional skill. Entrepreneurship is about putting things into motion. It is about doing something. About learning through experience and failing in several, different ways. It is about finding your own way. And about defining what success is to you.

This book is both a guide to entrepreneurship as a skill, and a toolkit that guide and help you to actively develop your business towards becoming a sustainable business that balances the triple bottom line.

Why an Iceberg?

There is a lot of focus on the visible aspects of entrepreneurship. The idea itself (the product or the service) and the characteristics that the entrepreneur chooses to display to the public. However, it is our experience that it is everything invisible that decide your success as an entrepreneur: your personal development, your team and everything behind the execution of the idea, which is rarely show on the surface.

We chose to illustrate the book's narrative with an iceberg. An image, which has also become a popular and easy-to-understand illustration of the impact of climate change and thus, the burning platform that drives many entrepreneurs' focus towards a more sustainable development of our world.

Why we wrote this book.

First of all, we want to share our insights as advisors in sustainable business models, educators, and facilitators of entrepreneurship programs. We want to help everyone; who has an idea that they want to test, those curious about what it means to be an entrepreneur, and those of you, who have already started your business and are looking for insights on how to develop it further.

This is a Sustainable Entrepreneurship 101 textbook, which facilitates your journey from idea to project, and ultimately to potential business, while guiding your personal development in becoming an entrepreneur. In easily accessible language, we present several tried and tested practice-oriented models relevant to your sustainable entrepreneurial journey.

We have added exercises relating to the theory or model presented along the way, to help you implement the lessons learned. You can choose to do the exercises while reading the book or save them for later. The most important thing is that you do this in your own pace as it best suits the person you are.

The book is most valuable when the exercises are done in real life. Do a little at a time as it fits your entrepreneurial project. Return to the book when you are ready for new inspiration and don't let exercises and models overwhelm you as you move forward.

If you do not want to take notes in the book, or if you would like to do the exercises again, you can find and download all models and exercises on https://isbjerget.net/.

Chapter 1

A New World with a New Economy requires New Solutions.

Sustainable development has undoubtedly gained attention on the global stage. Not only politicians and world leaders, even business leaders and entrepreneurs.

The whole world seems to have their eyes focused on the effects of global warming: the wildfires in Australia and the Amazon, the melting icebergs off the coast of Greenland, fierce storms, increasing temperatures and major floods in several locations in Europe. The media communicates in pictures and videos about the consequences of climate change, which affects human life on earth, and significantly, animals and plant life.

As the world has become richer, we are consuming more than ever. We buy more clothes, go on more trips and eat more meat.