www.WrensJournal.blogspot.com

To: Dr. John Burnett, University of Denver http://www.daniels.du.edu/facultystaff/profile.cfm?ID=1050
cc: Maita Lester, Executive Director, Rockies Venture Club www.rockiesventureclub.org

Dear Dr. Burnett,

I'm writing you as an alum of the University of Denver (BA'69, MBA'79).

I see that you are giving a presentation for the Rockies Venture Club about how to write a business plan when launching a new business.

Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Amar Bhide at Columbia University www.bhide.net? He has written what the publisher of Inc. Magazine has called the most important book on business startup, The Origin and Evolution of New Enterprise.

Dr. Bhide has found that successful businesses don't do formal market research or write formal business plans.

I now call myself a recovering MBA because much of what I learned in graduate business school I've had to unlearn to be helpful to people who what to start something new. A text file of my little booklet on startup, which Dr. Bhide has endorsed, is available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ahtcrbzf9b2b_6fkj3d2

I've just complete an assignment that stretched to nearly 3 years, and I'm now trying to decide how to be most helpful in helping people who want to start a new business. Since the formation of the Small Business Administration in 1954, our country has turned from being a nation of shop keepers into a nation of clerks working for Starbucks and Walmart. Your feedback would be most appreciated. My cell phone is (720)495-4949. I'm going to post this letter on my blog, where I will also post your response.

John Wren