The 3 mindsets of an entrepreneur

Simon Blampied
2 min readOct 21, 2015

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I’m developing a course at the moment and in module 1 we cover ‘Normative Entrepreneurship’, so I was thinking about some simplifying ways of acting and thinking that are useful for entrepreneurs. I think these are useful heuristics (that’s why I chose them), but explore them and let me know what you think.

I arrived at these three; Deterministic Optimism, Effectual Reasoning and Antifragile learning.

Deterministic Optimism, or how to think about the future.

“I can change my world for the better, even if it takes me a long time”

I first learned about it here — http://blakemasters.com/post/23435743973/peter-thiels-cs183-startup-class-13-notes

Steve Jobs talks about a changeable world here.

Effectual Reasoning, or how to act in the present.

It shares similar traits (i.e. it maps at least partly) with other concepts that have been used like Bias Towards Action, Relentlessly Resourceful or Fail Fast which added credibility.

I first learnt about it here — http://necrophone.com/2014/01/20/effectuation-the-best-theory-of-entrepreneurship-you-actually-follow-whether-youve-heard-of-it-or-not/ and

How to get from the present to the future: Antifragile Learning

It’s learning in the form that Nassim Taleb advises in Antifragile i.e. empiricism + a large library. (it’s in the table at the end of the prologue.)

I expanded this as;Relentlessly curious about the way the world is and could be (Learn for yourself) and the ability to stand on the shoulder of giants (Learn from the best others).

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I think these three give you a simple, but well-rounded way to think, act and learn — what do you think?

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Simon Blampied

I love exploring, understanding and solving problems with great people.