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The Often-Neglected Term In The Entrepreneurial Equation—The Purchase Order, Deaver Brown, Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Many entrepreneurs are enthralled with their company’s technologies, products and potential markets. Invariably these emerging ventures present bedazzling business plans with industry-wise vernacular, detailed market research, and sophisticated financial spreadsheets. They often flaunt their “optimized business models.” Investors, however, typically want to know when and how the sales will start meeting the Plan. “Where’s the purchase order?” is the refrain. In this article, our “Practitioner’s Corner” associate editor Joe Levangie collaborates with a long-time colleague, Deaver Brown, to address how businesses should “make sales happen.” Levangie warns that Brown’s elitist education (Choate, Harvard College, Harvard Business School) should not be …