Twitter’s announcement in September that they would be filing for an IPO is a reoccurring headline in the News. I found this story interesting to research after our previous class discussing private and public companies, and the financial statements public firms are required to produce.

Twitter has recently provided the public with financial statements that have caused analysts to question the company’s future success on the Stock Market.

Twitter has approximately 200 million users, however, these users don’t provide any profit, leaving the company to rely on advertising as their main revenue source. In a recent Globe and Mail article, Omar Akkad wrote that this dependency on advertiser revenue presents a challenge for Twitter. Even though their revenue has grown substantially in the past several years, Akkad writes that “it’s not yet clear its growth trajectory is enough to translate into big profits” (Akkad). This statement is followed by a quote from a Sauder professor of finance, Kai Li, who claims that “looking at a valuation simply from a revenue perspective is a mistake” (Akkad). Twitter has valued itself between $10-billion and $13-billion according to the company’s filling.

It is interesting to read these statements and opinions and compare them with the ideas discussed in last week’s class that involved calculating share holders equity, and reviewing the ‘value’ of certain brands. I recommend that you check out some articles on this story: “The Short Message from Twitter’s IPO“, “Twitter Takes First Steps to go Public“.

As we’ve been learning many strategies in class for creating and sustaining businesses, including brand positioning, financing, and constructing business plans, the Globe and Mail article ‘The True Secret to Business Success’ by Lisa Bell caught my eye.

The article states that an important trait in a successful entrepreneur is resilience: “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” (Bell). This statement makes excellent sense. From class, we know that there are numerous aspects to consider when running a company. Management must always be considering threats, opportunities, and must be constantly working on improving. Most industries are extremely competitive, and mistakes can have huge consequences. Mistakes may cause misfortunes such as missed opportunities, higher expenses, or reduced revenues, and entrepreneurs must be able to quickly bounce back from such setbacks.

Bell goes on to describe five tips she believes will help to develop entrepreneurial
resilience, including refining decision making abilities, using the ’10-10-10 test’ to determine the short-term and long-term consequences of decisions, as well as staying positive and being grateful for the good parts of the business.

I encourage you to check out her article and read more about Bell’s observations. There are lots of helpful pointers for the future entrepreneurs out there!

Many are keen to discover the key to entrepreneurial success…