“Stunning! The mindset guide for entrepreneurs who want to stand out from the rest of business leaders and make a difference in their team culture. A must‐read!”

—Daniel Marcos

Co‐Founder and CEO, Growth Institute

“I've often said that you can't teach a person to be an entrepreneur, but John Mullins's book comes as close as you'll get to doing just that by uncovering the mindsets that lead to entrepreneurial actions. By focusing on these mindsets, Mullins suggests ways to bring out the entrepreneur in many of us.”

—Rob Johnson

Visiting Professor, IESE Business School

“The ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ is an enigma. To the uninitiated it is a mystery how some people just seem to have the knack for recognizing opportunity, attracting talent, and initiating focused, driven collaboration that creates value for customers, and potentially fortunes, for their team, their investors, and themselves. With Break the Rules!, John Mullins has decoded the mystery. He pulls back the curtain to reveal six key behaviors that entrepreneurs use to “break the rules” and go where others have feared to tread. With this guide to the entrepreneurial mindset, we have a roadmap that can guide future entrepreneurs and innovators, in big companies as well as startups, to move from insight to action, from idea to impact.”

—Jerome Engel

Adjunct Professor (Emeritus), Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

Founding Executive Director, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Co‐Author, Clusters of Innovation in the Age of Disruption

“Break the Rules! is a highly accessible book that provides crucial insights that will increase the chance of success as an entrepreneur. John Mullins is both a gifted storyteller and an astute observer of the unique attributes and mindsets of those rare individuals who can give birth to major new companies. If you don't have the good fortune of taking one of John's classes, do yourself a favor and read this book.”

—Bruce Golden

Partner, Accel

“Research shows that successful entrepreneurs respond differently to events and circumstances than do other decision makers in business. In this insightful and fun‐to‐read book, best‐selling author and business school professor John Mullins uncovers six key elements that constitute the mindset of entrepreneurs, thereby making their unconventional, counterintuitive way of thinking accessible to everyone. With a little reflection and practice you can improve your own entrepreneurial skills!”

—Marc Gruber, PhD

Vice President for Innovation, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Co‐Author, Where to Play

“It is often said that it isn't about the cards you were dealt or how the game changes while you play it, but rather how you approach it that matters most. In this, his latest book, Professor Mullins accurately captures the biggest weapon an entrepreneur has: their mindset. He outlines the key ingredients of an entrepreneurial mindset in a form that's applicable to current/aspiring entrepreneurs and corporate innovators alike and provides an inspiring set of applied examples to help you, the reader, transform how you approach the inevitable obstacles that will stand in your way.”

—Carlos Eduardo Espinal

Managing Partner, Seedcamp

Author, Fundraising Field Guide

“Break the Rules! does for the entrepreneurial mindset what Getting to Plan B and The Customer‐Funded Business have done for startup founders who need a large dose of reality to succeed at creating sustainable, scalable ventures. Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of both ethical challenges and corporate innovation. The “lessons learned” sections are a treasure trove of invaluable insights gleaned by Mullins's razor‐sharp (and always pragmatic) perspectives.”

—Lisa Getzler

Executive Director, Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity & Innovation, Lehigh University

“Break the Rules! illustrates that changing the world through entrepreneurship requires new ways of thinking and less obvious ways of acting. We are living in a time where we can no longer rely on the big companies to create the future. Everything big starts small, and small is where the magic happens. Mullins reminds us how to create the magic.”

—Heidi Neck, PhD

Timmons Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College

Chief Education Officer and Co‐Founder, Venture Blocks

“As a venture capitalist, I prefer backing mission‐driven entrepreneurs who are so passionate about the problem they are solving that it becomes their life's work. But I never thought about segmenting problem‐first from product‐first. That's a remarkably useful insight. I must admit that I've been blinded by product, especially these days when achieving product‐market fit is a celebrated milestone. As always, John's frameworks are actionable, even for an industry veteran like me.”

—Hussein Kanji

Partner, Hoxton Ventures

“John Mullins is the easiest‐to‐understand contrarian in entrepreneurship. Whether it is Getting to Plan B or creating The Customer‐Funded Business, John excels at identifying and teaching us the best and least‐traveled paths to success. This volume builds on his approach, providing six ways to think and act like entrepreneurs, and create value for yourself and others. If you read only one John Mullins book, make it this one.”

—Jerome Katz, PhD

Brockhaus Chair of Entrepreneurship, Saint Louis University

Author, Entrepreneurial Small Business

“Mullins has done it again! In this brilliant book he has captured the essence of the entrepreneurial mindset. His six principles emerge from careful study of scores of successful entrepreneurs across the globe. His practical but counterintuitive advice will drive value in every business.”

—Murray Low, PhD

Faculty of Executive Education, Columbia Business School

“What a wonderful read. I truly enjoyed learning about so many interesting cases from all around the world, some well known and highly successful, others less known or ultimately unsuccessful. John Mullins, drawing upon his entrepreneurial and academic experience, has been able to distil important lessons from these cases. Some lessons are intuitive but not always straightforward to implement, others go against conventional wisdom. At the very least, every entrepreneur should carefully consider how these lessons can be used to enhance their own venture.”

—Sophie Manigart, PhD

Professor of Corporate Finance and Faculty Dean, Vlerick Business School

“While there is lots of talk about how entrepreneurs act differently, the book shows how it all starts with thinking differently! The book shows how to think—and act—like an entrepreneur.”

—Henning Piezunka, PhD

Associate Professor, INSEAD

“In Break the Rules! The Six Counter‐Conventional Mindsets of Entrepreneurs, John Mullins brings to bear his decades of experience as an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship educator to distill the six most important mindsets start‐up founders and corporate entrepreneurs need to acquire in order to enhance their chances of survival and growth. These mindsets, explained simply and powerfully, emphasize customer centricity, focus, frugality, and proactiveness. The explanation of the mindsets, rightly labeled counter‐conventional, is enriched with compelling examples of how entrepreneurs from different countries applied these mindsets to overcome difficulties and build successful organizations.”

—S. Ramakrishna Velamuri, PhD

Professor and Dean, Mahindra University School of Management

“John Mullins has done it again! Could not put the book down. Matching takeaways with real‐life examples to learn from successes and, equally importantly, failures. Simple, powerful, pragmatic. A must‐read.”

—Anastasios Economou

Global Chairman, Young Presidents' Organization (YPO)

“In this special book, Mullins has tapped into the essence of entrepreneurship and its power to change people's lives. He translates the entrepreneurial mindset from vague concept to practical guide, showing us how to think and act if we want to launch new things. Through stories and practical examples, he demonstrates how this mindset is not one thing, but six different approaches to making change happen. In the process, he dispels the myths and removes the mystery from what it actually means to be entrepreneurial.”

—Michael Morris, PhD

University of Notre Dame

Co‐Author, What Do Entrepreneurs Create?

“John Mullins's experiences as entrepreneur, educator, and author already attest to both the breadth and depth of his true understanding of how entrepreneurship works on the ground and how that can be brought into classrooms. As an entrepreneur and academic who studies mindsets of expert entrepreneurs, I find the six simple rules that John suggests breaking to be delightful, useful, and actionable. From an intellectual perspective, each of these are components of the invaluable “bias for action” that is well attested to in research. In a world in which entrepreneurship education continues to exhibit a misguided bias for analysis and hypothesis testing rather than a quicker move into cocreative action and speedy reaction that characterizes the entrepreneurial mindset, this book serves to get our students and all entrepreneurs ‘moving’ in the right direction.”

—Saras Sarasvathy, PhD

Paul M. Hammaker Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia