Author: Daniel Isenberg

Daniel Isenberg
Contributor
Daniel Isenberg
Dan Isenberg (@danisen) is founding executive director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project, Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. From 1981-7 and 2005-9 Dan was a professor at the Harvard Business School, and in the interim (1987-2005) was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Israel. Dan authored Worthless Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value (Harvard Business Review Press 2013), published over 30 online and print articles on entrepreneurship in the Harvard Business Review, and has been featured in the Economist, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg, Quartz, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc. Dan has been a pioneer in the concept and development of entrepreneurship ecosystems, and he launched and directs Manizales-Mas and Scale Up Milwaukee. Between 2009-2013 Dan was active in the World Economic Forum and conducted Forum events in Davos, Africa, Europe, and China. In 2012 Mikhail Gorbachev awarded Dan the Pio Manzu Award for "Innovations in Economic Development." At Babson Executive Education, Dan created and directs the 3-day program, Driving Economic Growth Through Entrepreneurship Ecosystems. He holds the Ph.D. degree in social psychology from Harvard University, received under the mentorship of Robert Freed Bales.
In Guatemala, Scale Up Brings New Opportunity to a Troubled Triangle
In Guatemala, Scale Up Brings New Opportunity to a Troubled Triangle » It’s easy to imagine Guatemala as a region beset exclusively by failure and despair. But Scale Up Xela is changing that conversation by accelerating the pace of growth of dozens of local firms.
6 Questions About Scale Up Economic Development
6 Questions About Scale Up Economic Development » Scale up economic development can have more short-term and long-term social-economic impact than any other regional strategy.
How to Inspire Entrepreneurship Back Home
How to Inspire Entrepreneurship Back Home » If a region really wants to inspire entrepreneurship, its leaders have no choice but to act holistically, and in the context of their own very specific environment.
What Entrepreneurship Educators Need To Know About Being Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid
What Entrepreneurship Educators Need To Know About Being Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid » Entrepreneurship is characterized by growing ventures that everyone else—even the smartest among us—thinks are worthless, impossible, or stupid.