1: Hollywood tells us that being an entrepreneur is all about being a “high-flying, confident risk-taker who beats the odds and retires young,” Ron Shaich writes in his outstanding book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

This week, we’ve been analyzing Ron’s rise as the founder of Panera Bread. In 2017, he and his team would sell the company for $7.5 billion, one of the largest … continue reading

1: In 2017, Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich sold the company for $7.5 billion, one of the largest deals in restaurant history.

What does Ron believe is the “the singular element” that created this enormous amount of value?

The “Concept Essence” document that he and his team created twenty-one years earlier.

What exactly is a Concept Essence? 

It “isn’t a business plan,” Ron writes in his book … continue reading

1: It was 6 AM, and more than fifty people were standing in line outside the Au Bon Pain bakery cafe in Boston’s Copley Place mall.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Ron Shaich writes in his terrific book Know What Matters.  “I’d spent months desperately trying to figure out how to get people to stop walking past our door.

“And now, here they were, waiting in line,” he recounts. … continue reading

1: “Excuse me, sir, would you like to try a cookie?”

The year was 1980. Future Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich, then 26 years old, was standing on the sidewalk of a busy street in downtown Boston.

“I held out a tray of chocolate-chip cookies to a square-jawed gentleman,” Ron recalls in his excellent book  Know What Matters.

The man hesitated, then he took a cookie. 

“We’re testing … continue reading

1: GSD. Getting stuff done.

Perhaps replace stuff with a less polite word.

This trait is fundamental for most entrepreneurs. “Born entrepreneurs have to find a way to live fully, in their business and in life,”  Dan Martell writes in his book  Buy Back Your Time.

“If we’ve been eating the GSD fruit for some time now, we’ve probably found some success,” Dan notes. “Hard work, even at … continue reading

1: Dan Martell looked in his rearview mirror and saw two armed police officers running toward his car.

He glanced at the gun in his duffel bag.  

“If I just point it at these cops, they’ll end my miserable life for me,” he recalls in his book Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire.

Dan rubbed the sweat from his eyes. “I’d just … continue reading

1: Before becoming Zappos‘s founder, Nick Swinmurn was frustrated. He couldn’t find an online site with a terrific selection of shoes.

So, “he envisioned a new and superior retail experience,” writes Eric Ries in The Lean Startup.

One option would be to raise money to build “his complete vision with warehouses, distribution partners, and the promise of significant sales.”

Instead, he ran an experiment.  

He asked “local shoe … continue reading