Abstract

The case “The Saga of Sophia Amoruso: From Serial Entrepreneur to Guide for Business Owners” discusses the various ventures undertaken by US-based serial entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso. The case starts off by giving a brief background of Amoruso, who was a school-dropout with a troubled childhood. It then documents the rise and fall of her first venture – an e-commerce business selling vintage clothing called Nasty Gal, which at one point of time was a multi-million dollar business. Despite the failure of her first venture, Amoruso managed to leverage her fame to become a best-selling author and leverage her fame for her personal brand of corporate feminism called Girlboss. The case then gives details of the various other ventures that she went on to establish. The case also gives highlights of her latest venture – a business training course called Business Class for entrepreneurs. So, what can budding entrepreneurs learn from Amoruso’s experience of building businesses?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.
• Recognize emerging business opportunities for new ventures.
• Examine the challenges in new venture management.
• Analyze why new ventures fail.
• Scrutinize the process of building an individual brand.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Women Entrepreneur; Serial Entrepreneur; Startup; New venture management; Business Failure; Business Strategy; Brand Building; Entrepreneurial Development; Brand Management; Social Media Marketing; Personal Brand; Corporate Feminism; Professional Network; Leadership and Change Management