When Ewing Marion Kauffman created the Center for Entrepreneurial
Leadership Inc. at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 1992, he had
one outcome in mind--job creation. But he understood that jobs, indeed
economic development, depended on the ability of entrepreneurs to grow
companies. He was convinced that the best way to enhance the possibili-
ties of success for entrepreneurs was to identify and teach the skills that
contribute to entrepreneurial development. If entrepreneurs could learn
how to develop successful companies, jobs would be created, as surely as
the day follows the night. And these jobs would be one way the Ewing Mar-
ion Kauffman Foundation could achieve its mission: "self-sufficient people
in healthy communities."

Mr. Kauffman was the consummate entrepreneur. He founded Marion
Laboratories in 1950 with $5,000. When that company was merged with
Merrell Dow in 1989, it was valued by the NYSE at more than $6 billion and
employed over 3,000 people. Mr. K, as he was known, knew from this per-
sonal experience that entrepreneurs are critical to the economy. Thus his
vision of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc., included entre-
preneurial support systems, and he recognized the importance of business
incubators in the development of start-up companies.

Although the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. does not plan to
operate an incubator, the board and staff have a keen interest in how incu-
bators work, what they do and how they should be developed and managed.
Because the Center believes well-conceived and managed incubators are
powerful support systems for entrepreneurs, it provided funding to under-
write the development of this book. For the first time, the principles and
practices of successful business incubation are clearly identified and out-
lined in detail. Incubators based on the principles and practices in this
book will achieve their mission: the growth of successful companies. They
will also become hubs for entrepreneurial activity and catalysts for the

-xvii-