Not every small business succeeds. In fact, most don’t. But entrepreneurs should follow certain principles — and avoid common pitfalls — to give themselves the best chance. Our guest this week, Louis Foreman, is one of the best to teach us the ins and outs of entrepreneurship (he even started his first business when he was still in college).  

Louis is the founder and Chief Executive of Enventys Partners, an integrated product design and engineering firm. Over the past 20 years, Louis has created 9 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. He is the inventor of 10 registered U.S. patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 700 more. 

Listen to the full episode for more on the questions someone should ask before they start a new business, how to leverage crowdfunding in your fundraising strategy, top mistakes that entrepreneurs make, and more.

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn: 

• More about how Louis got started with entrepreneurship, including the story of his very first business, which he started in college 
• How Louis pivoted from some of his earlier businesses into what he’s doing now
• The key characteristics it takes to make a small business work, plus the 5 questions someone should ask themselves before they start a business
• The different types of capital an entrepreneur can use to finance a new business, and what a new owner should solidify before they pitch to investors
• How to leverage crowdfunding to pursue other types of investment
• How to eliminate uncertainty from investors’ perspective, and why it’s so important to have an exit strategy 
• Some of the biggest things that entrepreneurs overlook, plus examples of how brands can differentiate themselves from the competition
• What people value within the marketplace, and how entrepreneurs can figure out what’s most important to their ideal customers
• How Louis measures success — in his own life, and within the companies he’s worked with
• The activities and habits Louis has kept up that have kept his energy and productivity up
• How COVID shifted Louis’s typical business travel schedule and made him rethink how to provide value to the people he worked with

Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 

• Enventys Partners
• Inventors Digest Magazine
• Louis Foreman on LinkedIn
• 40 Strategy
• Contact 40 Strategy
• Carl J. Cox on LinkedIn