In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates—two men and one woman—turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By the time they returned to Harvard ten years later, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They’d made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs—and left their mark on the world.

Based on dozens of interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs, Harvard Business School professors, and HBS alumni, The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders developed ideas, assembled teams, built ventures, and achieved their dreams. Over the course of a decade, they learned that starting great companies requires much more than a brilliant idea, good timing, and a ferocious work ethic. Their hard-won insights—distilled into ten key rules—will help anyone become a successful entrepreneur.

What they teach you at Harvard Business School is that intelligent entrepreneurship can be learned. In that spirit, Bill Murphy Jr. uses a unique combination of vivid storytelling and lucid instruction to show would-be entrepreneurs how to improve their odds of creating dynamic, lasting businesses.