If You Really Want to Change the World: A Guide to Creating, Building, and Sustaining Breakthrough Ventures

Silicon Valley’s latest trend for creating new ventures is based on trial and error: test market needs with new product concepts and a minimum amount of capital, expect that the product may not meet the market need, so fail fast and try another product with the hope that a product-market fit will eventually emerge. But this fail fast, step-and-pivot philosophy is like taking a random walk in the forest without a compass. If You Really Want to Change the World is about helping entrepreneurs find true north.

Henry Kressel and Norman Winarsky—technologists, inventors, and investors with stellar track records—provide a guide for those who wish to create a market-leading company that will have a real impact: a disciplined and staged approach they have used to launch, invest in, and develop scores of highly successful companies.

If You Really Want to Change the World leads entrepreneurs through the critical stages of venture development, from concept to acquisition or public offering to maintaining a rich culture of innovation in the company. It is a guide by innovators for innovators, with approaches that are practical and timeless.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences as well as those of their partners from around the world, Kressel and Winarsky share the stories of their triumphs and misses, demonstrate their method in action, and inspire their readers in the process. There are more opportunities now than ever before to build breakthrough companies that touch millions of lives. If this is your goal, let this book be your guide to creating world-changing ventures.

Henry Kressel served as a senior partner and managing director at Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm, for more than thirty years. During his tenure, he successfully led and managed investments, both domestic and international, in diverse fields of technology and services. Collectively, these investments generated many billions of dollars in enterprise value.

Norman Winarsky was President of SRI Ventures at SRI International, a world-renowned research institute. He cofounded and led SRI’s venture strategy and process, which has resulted in more than sixty ventures worth over $20 billion, including companies such as Nuance, Intuitive Surgical, and Siri. For more information visit ifyoureallywanttochangetheworld.com