About The Author
The story behind the book
Meet Daniel Isenberg
Dan was raised in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, studied and taught at Harvard, and then started raising a family in Cambridge and then in Israel. In Israel, Dan entered the world of entrepreneurship as a teacher, investor, and policy advisor. In 2005, with four grown kids, Dan moved back to Boston to teach again at HBS, which led to his divorce.
In 2009, Dan left the classroom and, at first in collaboration with Babson and later independently, went out into the field to innovate methods for stimulating broad-based prosperity with entrepreneurship, leading to the concept of “entrepreneurship ecosystems,” which he pioneered.
A prolific professional writer, Dan has over 35 HBR articles, 40 HBS cases, a successful business book (“Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid: How Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value.” HBR Press 2013), and a children’s book (“The Friends of Kelev Shmelev” in Hebrew).
In 2010, Dan met Carla Cefaliello, an Italian neuroscientist doing research at the Marine Biological Laboratory. They fell in love, and from 2013 began to build a life together in Napoli, Boston and Woods Hole.
In 2020, Carla was diagnosed with a rare cancer, and three years after a massive surgery, she discovered that it had spread. It killed her nine months later in December 2023, after a fierce and determined battle and search for a treatment.
A space for honest conversation
For podcast invitations, interviews, speaking engagements, media inquiries, or thoughtful conversations inspired by the book, Dan welcomes meaningful opportunities to connect and share his story.