If applying entrepreneurial theory to real life problems was a super power, Alex Conwan would definitely be a hero. He teaches at UVA Darden’s MBA and is the mastermind behind a free MOOC on Coursera but is not an academic in the traditional strict sense of the word.
What he is, is more akin to a kind of wizard that gathers ingredients from all over and mixes them in his magical cauldron of awesomeness to produce potions that help you create or grow your business.
He has come up with a framework called “Venture Design”, that combines all (my favourite) the best entrepreneurial theories out there (i.e. Lean Start-up, value proposition Design, etc.), with research methods from design thinking and ethnography and transforms them into an incredibly practical set of highly applicable processes, templates and tools that create a clear path for the confused entrepreneur to follow (or any kind of entrepreneur, really).
I’m rubbish at explaining it and super biased because I feel truly inspired by his work, but you can judge by yourselves here: http://www.alexandercowan.com/