Successful entrepreneurs need innovative ideas, but they also need a thriving network of mentors, clients, investors and partners to help them start and grow their business.
Toby Stuart, a professor at the Harvard Business School, has closely studied the importance of social networks in entrepreneurial success. Based on his research, Stuart was recently awarded the 2007 Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship.
According to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship (NDE), Stuart received the Medal for his pioneering research into social networks and their effects on entrepreneurship. His work points to the dynamics of networking and proves that successful entrepreneurs need more than good ideas and intelligence. They also need to be perceived positively in their networks.
As a tribute to Ewing Marion Kauffman and his entrepreneurial work, the Kauffman Foundation established the Kauffman Prize Medal in 2005 to inspire promising young scholars to contribute new insight into the field of entrepreneurship. The Medal, which includes a $50,000 prize, is awarded every two years to one scholar under age 40, whose research has made a significant contribution to entrepreneurship.
The study of networks is a growing field, according to Erik Pages of EntreWorks Consulting. Pages has written extensively on entrepreneurial networks, including a 2001 national study on entrepreneurial networks (PDF) and a soon-to-be published guide on building entrepreneurial networks in rural North Carolina (written with CED and other partners in the North Carolina Rural Entrepreneurship Development System project).
Additional interesting networks resources include the Network Weaving blog and the Plexus Institute's Learning Networks.