Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: Lori Rosenkopf on the Many Paths to Startup Success

Business for Good Podcast

This episode’s guest is someone who’s spent her career studying—and championing—entrepreneurs who don’t always fit the Silicon Valley mold.

Dr. Lori Rosenkopf is the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School and the author of the new book Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: 7 Paths for Unleashing Successful Startups and Creating Value through Innovation. In this short guide, Lori explores how success doesn’t have to mean dropping out of college to start a venture-backed unicorn in your garage. Instead, she highlights seven distinct paths that entrepreneurs can take to build impactful ventures, whether they’re bootstrapped, mission-driven, or even working within larger companies.

Drawing on her years of research and mentoring at one of the world’s top business schools, Lori introduces what she calls the “Six Rs” of entrepreneurial mindset—Reason, Relationships, Resilience, Resources, Results, and Recombination—as core principles that help explain why some founders succeed where others falter.

In this conversation, we talk about the entrepreneurs Lori profiled in her book—from disruptors and acquirers to accidental founders—and what their stories can teach us about resilience and innovation.

If you’ve ever thought “I’m not the typical entrepreneur,” perhaps Lori will convince you that maybe there’s no such thing.

Discussed in this episode

• Lori discusses the work of Spirovant Sciences and its CEO Dr. Joan Lau.

• Paul recommends reading Shoe Dog and Super Founders.

• Wharton offers curriculum in Entrepreneurship & Innovation for both undergraduates and MBAs.

• The Venture Lab is Penn’s home for student entrepreneurs.

• Some entrepreneurs rely on SBA loans rather than equity investments.

• The Hult Competition is a global competition that challenges university students to develop innovative social enterprises that address pressing global issues.

Get to know Lori Rosenkopf

Lori Rosenkopf is the Simon and Midge Palley Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As Vice Dean for Entrepreneurship, she serves as Wharton’s faculty director for Venture Lab, Penn’s home for student entrepreneurs, and also their San Francisco campus. In a prior role as Vice Dean of Wharton’s Undergraduate Division, she introduced a new curriculum and developed experiential classwork in the tech sector. For over thirty years, Rosenkopf has taught entrepreneurship and management of technology to more than 20,000 high schoolers, undergraduates, MBAs, and executives, connecting these learners to many of the most entrepreneurial alumni at Wharton and Penn through treks, panels, and classes.

Rosenkopf received her PhD in Management of Organizations from Columbia University, her MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and her BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University. She worked as a systems engineer at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Eastman Kodak between her degrees. Rosenkopf lives in Philadelphia with her partner, Allan, and their dog, Winston.