The topic of entrepreneurship has been the subject of a considerable amount of
academic interest over the last twenty years. Despite a vast amount of published
work there have been very few attempts to study the entrepreneurial process. In other
words, we know little of what happens as an entrepreneur moves from idea to the
objective reality of a fully functioning business. A more recent phenomenon has been
the shift from a focus on entrepreneurial traits to the study of entrepreneurial
networks. This is recognition that even the most individualistic of entrepreneurs rely
heavily on their social relationships during the creation of a new business. These two
factors, networks and the entrepreneurial process, are brought together in this paper
which utilises a first-hand account of activities associated with business startups. The
paper also examines the way in which MBA education provides useful skills to even
the most experienced entrepreneur