The IEAG uses intuition and guesswork to risk resources for an uncertain return.  These venturers (preliminary indications indicate that about 3% fit this profile), are not without ability or courage; they just lack an understanding of how highly sophisticated venturing works, or rely on rapidity of action and flexibility to "get in" and "get out".  For this reason, the IEAG may tend to be an unreliable long term partner in venturing.

 IEAG's should beware of "blind spots", disguised information which is often "fed" to them to keep them under-informed so that they will not withdraw at the first sign of trouble.  This may result in a set of "thinking errors" moderated by intuition.  The basic gambling instincts are hard to eliminate, but additions to the knowledge structure of an IEAG should reduce blind spots and channel venturing energy.

WHAT TO DO:

If you are an IEAG, the most likely way for you to improve your new venture profile is to enhance your discernment capability.  Consider finding expert help to increase the odds of success.  With an expert guide, you can systematically develop a list of key questions to ask, reports to request, and patterns to recognize which will decrease your need to guess (gamble) in a new venture.

Maximum exposure to existing principles of new venture success should be your objective.  Experts in new venture evaluation include venture capitalists, expert venturers (contact your local or regional venture group), or institutional experts (contact your local university).  Input from these specialists should prove to be valuable over the long term to mitigate the "peaks" and "valleys" related to the "blind spots" in the IEAG's evaluation process.
 

©Copyright 1998-2003 Ron K. Mitchell under license to Wayne Brown Institute