John Mullins
Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship
BA (Lehigh) MBA (Stanford) PhD (Minnesota)
An award-winning teacher and scholar and one of the world’s foremost thought leaders in entrepreneurship, John brings to his teaching and research 20 years of executive experience in high-growth retailing firms, including two ventures he founded and one he took public.
Since becoming an entrepreneurship professor in 1992, John has published four trade books, two textbooks, dozens of cases and more than 50 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review , and The Wall Street Journal . His research has won national and international awards from the Marketing Science Institute, the American Marketing Association, and the Richard D Irwin Foundation. He is a frequent and sought-after speaker and educator for audiences in entrepreneurship and venture capital.
John’s first trade book, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Investors Should Do Before Launching a Lean Start-up (now in its 5th edition, FT Publishing 2017), has become the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities and is widely used by investors and entrepreneurs and in university courses worldwide.
His second book, the critically acclaimed Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model (Boston: Harvard Business Press 2009), co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine.
John’s third book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash (Hoboken: Wiley 2014) , was named one of five “not-to-be-missed books” for 2014 by Fortune magazine. It challenges the commonly held assumption that among an entrepreneur’s first and most important tasks is that of raising investment capital. Its material provides the foundation for John’s widely viewed MOOC on Coursera, How to Finance and Grow Your Startup – Without VC.
John’s newest book, Break the Rules! The Six Counter-Conventional Mindsets of Entrepreneurs That Can Help Anyone Change the World (Hoboken: Wiley 2023) , identifies what makes entrepreneurs “entrepreneurial” and provides a roadmap for how anyone can adopt and master these mindsets to challenge assumptions, overcome obstacles, mitigate risk, and perhaps change the world.
John has done executive education on five continents for a variety of organisations both large and small, including the Young Presidents’ Organization, Endeavor, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Kenya Airways, Merck-Serono, 3M, the European and African Venture Capital Associations, and the IFC, among many others. He has served on the boards of fast-growing entrepreneurial companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
Listen to John on the From Founder to CEO podcast.
Break the Rules!
The Six Counter-Conventional Mindsets of Entrepreneurs that Can Help Anyone Change the World
Break the Rules! reveals the mindsets that enable world-class entrepreneurs to challenge assumptions, overcome obstacles, mitigate risk, and sometimes change the world. Surprisingly, however, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. And they fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
Download a sample copy of Chapter 1 (PDF, 2MB)
Visit the Break the Rules! website.
The Customer-Funded Business
Start, Finance, or Grow Your Business with Your Customers’ Cash
More than two generations ago, the venture capital community—VCs, business angels, incubators, and others—convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and raising venture capital constituted the twin centrepieces of entrepreneurial endeavor. They did so for good reasons: the sometimes astonishing returns they've delivered to their investors and the incredibly large and valuable companies that their ecosystem has created. But the vast majority of fast-growing companies never take any venture capital. So where does the money come from to start and grow their companies? Or yours? For most companies, fast-growing or otherwise, the early funding comes from a much more agreeable and hospitable source, their customers. In The Customer-Funded Business, John Mullins identifies five novel approaches that scrappy and innovative twenty-first century entrepreneurs have ingeniously adapted from their predecessors.
Download a sample copy of Chapter 1 (PDF, 2MB)
Visit the Customer-Funded Business website.
The New Business Road Test
What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan
The New Business Road Test helps entrepreneurs and business professionals avoid impending disaster. It shows them how to enhance their chances of winning customers and capital and actually achieve their entrepreneurial dreams! Chapter 1 is a 'must read' for the first session in any business plan course, as it provides a framework for assessing the seven domains that characterise attractive opportunities.
Download a sample copy of Chapter 1 (PDF, 0.6MB)
Visit The New Business Road Test website.
Getting to Plan B
Breaking through to a better business model
If the founders of Google, PayPal, or Starbucks had stuck to their original business plans, we'd likely never have heard of them. Instead, they made radical changes to their initial models, became household names, and delivered huge returns for investors. How did they get from their Plan A to a business model that worked?
In Getting to Plan B, John Mullins and Randy Komisar present a field-tested process for rigorously stress-testing your initial business idea, and using the evidence you uncover to make swift corrections that tip the business equation in your favour. Whether launching a new venture in the marketplace or inside your company, Getting to Plan B will help you replace assumptions with evidence - and vastly improve your odds of success.
About the authors
John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at London Business School.
Randy Komisar is a Partner at the renowned venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in silicon valley.
This course (into which enrolment is free of charge) will introduce, and help you put to use in your startup, the five models through which your customers can – and will, if you ask them! – fund your business. These five time-tested models have been put to use by entrepreneurial superstars like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, and many more.
Sadly, though, the five models are rarely talked about and not widely understood. Until now! The five models are brought to life by the real-world stories of an inspiring collection of incredibly creative entrepreneurs from around the world – including successes and failures – through a series of captivating no-holds-barred interviews with founders and others, and investors, too.
If you’re an entrepreneur at any stage of your journey, or even an aspiring one, and you need money to start or grow your business, this course is for you.
Sign up for the MOOC at Coursera.
- Personal website
- jmullins@london.edu
- +44 (0)20 7000 8626
- Opportunity assessment
- Business model innovation
- Venture capital
- Entrepreneurial mindsets
2020
Are your cash flow tools recession-ready?
Mullins J
Business Horizons 2020 November-December Vol 63:6 p 693-704
2018
Hong Kong needs innovation to face the future, but that’s more than Just technological
Mullins J
South China Morning Post 2018
Spot the entrepreneur: six signs to tell if you have what it takes
Mullins J
SME magazine 2018 p 24-25
2017
Innovation, the cloud, and Cisco’s fight to maintain market leadership
Mullins J
Forbes online 2017 June 27
Shutting down your business gracefully
Blickstein A; Mullins J
Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 2017
The counter-conventional mindsets of entrepreneurs
Mullins J
Business Horizons 2017 Vol 60:5 p 597-601
The new business road test: what entrepreneurs and investors should do before launching a lean start-up
Mullins J
London: Prentice-Hall / FT (5th ed)
Three alternative ways to finance and grow your start-up
Mullins J
London Business School Review 2017 June 2017
Use customer-funding to get your start-up venture off the ground
Mullins J
The National, 13 March 2016
What to expect in 2017
Jolly R; Markides C; Mullins J; Pillutla M; Yueh L
London Business School Review 2016 December
Your customer is not just king; he or she can be your VC, too
Mullins J
European Business Review 2016 p 54-56 November-December
2015
Break your industry’s bottlenecks
Ersek B; Weisenbach-Keller E; Mullins JW
Harvard Business Review 2015 July-August Vol 93:7/8 p 98-105
Turn your industry upside down
Mullins J; Ersek B; Keller E W
London Business School Review 2015 Vol 27:1 p 22-25
Launching a business: call on your customers first, angel investors second
Mullins J W
Forbes magazine 2014 Autumn
Why leveraging sales to finance growth is better than wooing a VC
Mullins J
Entrepreneur.com, 14 August 2014
Your startup can thrive without VC that it will probably never get anyway
Mullins J
Entrepreneur.com, 4 September 2014
Use customer cash to finance your start-up
Mullins J W
Harvard Business Review 2013 Vol 91:7-8 p 19-21
What's your working capital model
Mullins J W; Komisar R
Book Chapter: In Harvard Business Review Guide to Finance Basics for Managers, Harvard Business Review Press, 2012
2011
Managing in ethically corrupt environments
Mullins J W; Rhodes T
Business Strategy Review 2011 Vol 11:4
2010
A business plan? Or a journey to plan B?
Mullins J W
Sloan Management Review 2010 Vol 51:3 p 44317
Marketing management: A strategic decision making approach
Mullins J W; Walker O C JR
7th Eds., McGraw-Hill, 2010
The new business road test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan
Mullins J W
3rd edition, Prentice-Hall/FT, London.
Getting to plan B: Breaking through to a better business model
Mullins J; Komisar R
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2009
Marketing management: A strategic decision making approach 6th Eds.,
Mullins J W; Walker O C JR; Boyd H W JR
McGraw-Hill, 2008
Marketing strategy: A decision-focused approach 6th eds.,
Walker O C JR; Mullins J W; Boyds H W JR; Larreche J
McGraw-Hill, 2008
Worth a second chance?
Mullins J; Farneti I; Hassan F; Johnson RM; Zott C
Harvard Business Review 2007 March Vol 85:3 p 37-48
2005
Missing the boat or sinking the boat: a study of new venture decision-making
Mullins J; Forlani D
Journal of Business Venturing 2005 Vol 20:1 p 47-69
Managing cash: what a difference the days make!
Mullins J; Churchill N
Business Horizons 2004 Nov-Dec Vol 47:6 p 79-82
Toward a theory of opportunity development
Mullins J; Dimov D
in Babson/Kaufman Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Glasgow, June 2004
What they see, how they act: new venture perceptions and decisions of managers and entrepreneurs
Mullins J; Forlani D
in Strategic Management Society Conference, San Juan, 2004
2002
New product decision making: how chance and size of loss influence what marketing managers see and do
Mullins J; Forlani D; Walker O C Jr
Psychology and Marketing 2002 Nov Vol 19:11 p 957-981
Seeing differently, acting differently?: new venture perceptions and decisions of managers and successful entrepreneurs
Mullins J; Forlani D; Cardozo R
Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship 2002 Vol 4:3
2001
How fast can your company afford to grow?
Churchill N C; Mullins J
Harvard Business Review 2001 May Vol 79:5 p 135-143
Market entry strategies of successful entrepreneurs: the effects of risk propensity and risk perception
Mullins J; Forlani D
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 2001
2000
Perceived risks and choices in entrepreneurs' new venture decisions
Mullins J; Forlani D
Journal of Business Venturing 2000 Vol 15:4 p 305-322
Pioneering practices for new product development at US West
Mullins J; Sittig S; Brown C
Marketing Management 2000 Winter Vol 9:4 p 36-41
1999
Factors that distinguish among entrepreneurs' new venture funding decisions: a risk-based typology of entrepreneurs
Mullins J; Forlani D
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1999
Perceptions of and decisions about market opportunities: comparing managers and entrepreneurs
Mullins J; Forlani D
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1999
Situational strength: a framework for understanding the role of individuals in initiating proactive strategic change
Mullins J; Cummins L L
Journal of Organizational Change Management 1999 Vol 12:6
The effects of organizational and decision-maker factors on new product risk taking
Mullins J; Forlani D; Walker O C Jr
Journal of Product Innovation Management 1999 May Vol 16:3 p 282-294
1998
Differences in perception and behavior: a comparative study of new venture decisions of managers and entrepreneurs
Mullins J; Forlani D
in Frontiers of Entrepreneurial Research (Proceedings of the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference), 1998
Effect of contextual factors and decision maker risk propensity on new product decision-making: an experimental study
Mullins J; Walker O C Jr
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1998
New product development in rapidly changing markets: an exploratory study
Mullins J; Sutherland D
Journal of Product Innovation Management 1998 Vol 15:3
Strategic framing: a study of the antecedents of threat and opportunity perceptions
Mullins J; Bacon D R
Marketing Letters 1998 Vol 9:1
1997
Cash flows, the cash cycle, and unlocking the door to self-financed growth
Mullins J; Churchill N
in Birley S and Muzyka D eds., Mastering enterprise, Pitman Publishing, 1997
New product development in rapidly changing markets: an exploratory study
Mullins J; Sutherland D; Anderlik K
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1997
1996
Anomalies in the timeliness of strategic marketing change: a process perspective
Mullins J; Ruekert R W; Walker O C Jr
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1996
Competency prior performance, opportunity framing, and competitive response
Mullins J; Walker O C Jr
Marketing Letters 1996 Vol 7:2
Early growth decisions of entrepreneurs: the influence of competency and prior performance under changing market conditions
Mullins J
Journal of Business Venturing 1996 Vol 11:2 p 89-105
Risky choices in new product investment decisions: an experimental investigation
Mullins J; Forlani D; Walker O C Jr
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1996
Road less traveled: the joys and sorrows of team teaching. Stage four: the raging debates
Mullins J; Fukami C
Journal of Management Education 1996 Nov Vol 20:4 p 446-461
1995
Playing the odds versus manipulating the odds: a test of two perspectives of risk in new product introduction decisions
Mullins J; Forlani D; Walker O C Jr
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1995
Strategic framing: the antecedents of threat and opportunity perceptions
Mullins J; Bacon D R
in American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, 1995
1994
Liquidation costs and risk-based bank capital
Mullins H,Pyle D H
Journal of Banking and Finance 1994 Vol ? p ?
1993
Role of individuals in creating change in marketing strategies: a conceptual framework
Mullins J; Cummings L L
in American Marketing Association Summer Educators' Conference, 1993
1992
New venture strategies and startup environment: concepts, measurement and a research agenda
Mullins J; Cardozo R N
in MacMillan I and Birley S, eds., Research in global entrepreneurship, Elsevier, 1992
1991
Determinants of proactive strategic change: a cross-level review of situational and individual factors
Mullins J
21st Annaul Albert J Haring symposium proceedings, Bloomington, Indiana University, 1991
Evolution of competitive strategy in new firms
Mullins J; et al.
in Hills G E and LaForge R W eds., Research at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface, Chicago University of Illinois, 1991
Levels and components of strategy, types and dimensions of strategic change: a perspective from the product-market level
Mullins J
in American Marketing Association Summer Educators' Conference, 1991
New business strategies: an exploratory examination
Mullins J; et al.
in MacMillan I and Birley S eds., Research in global entrepreneurship, Elsevier, 1991
Cree (B)
Mullins J; Philp E
Cree (C)
Mullins J; Philp E
Finance for Entrepreneurial Companies: Financing Instruments - Technical Note (Spanish)
Mullins J; Johnson R M; Pesenti S
Lynda Weinman
Mullins J; Philp E
2021
Finance for Entrepreneurial Companies: Financing Instruments - Technical Note
Mullins J; Johnson R M; Pesenti S
MOVE Guides (A)
Mullins J; Putimahtama T
Pass the Keys (A)
Mullins J
Patrick McGinnis
Mullins J; Hughes J; Putimahtama T
ProMed Ltd
Mullins J; Johnson R M
Valuing Privately Owned Companies: Valuation Techniques - Technical Note
Mullins J; Johnson R M; Pesenti S
NakedWines.com
Mullins J
The customer-funded business: start, finance, or grow your company with your customers’ cash
Mullins J
Wiley, 2014
2013
Marketing management: a strategic decision-making approach
Mullins J; et al.
8th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013.
Marketing strategy: a decision-focused approach
Walker OC; Mullins JW
8th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin
The new business road test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before launching a lean start-up
Mullins J W
FT Press, 2013 (4th ed)
2011
Marketing strategy: a decision-focused approach
Walker O; Mullins J; Boyd Jr H
7th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Simon Cohen (A)
Mullins J; Gubbins D; Walker J
Terry Rhodes (A)
Karin A; Mullins J; Putimahtama T
Teaching portfolio
Our teaching offering is updated annually. Faculty and programme material are subject to change.