John Mullins

John Mullins is one of the world’s most respected voices on entrepreneurship and a bestselling author whose work has shaped how founders, leaders, and investors think about building and scaling businesses. Today, as Associate Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, Mullins has become something of a Pied Piper for anyone seeking to grow a business faster and more intelligently.

His widely acclaimed books are each considered essential reading. Getting to Plan B, co-authored with renowned investor Randy Komisar, reshaped thinking on business models and was named one of the best books of 2009. The Customer-Funded Business challenged the dogma that entrepreneurs must raise capital first and earned praise from Fortune as one of 2014’s “not-to-be-missed” books. His latest, Break the Rules!, captures two decades of research to reveal six counter-conventional mindsets that make great entrepreneurs entrepreneurial and how anyone can adopt them.

John Mullins argues that the most successful founders succeed not because they follow business-school orthodoxy, but because they break it. Their mindsets often contradict what large organisations hold dear: rigid strategy, core-competency thinking, narrowly defined markets, and early reliance on investor capital. His work shows how these very “rules” can stunt innovation.

A sought-after speaker, Mullins has delivered workshops to corporations, venture associations, and high-growth companies across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. He is also the creator of several popular online courses, including a best-selling Coursera MOOC that has reached learners around the globe.

John Mullins is a sharp commentator on the state of British entrepreneurship. He admires the country’s scientific and creative brilliance but laments the cultural and structural barriers that prevent promising ventures from scaling. At a time when the UK faces a “valley of death” in growth-stage funding, Mullins is a clear and unapologetic advocate for rekindling a national appetite for ambition.