Four Genetic Malfunctions of Entrepreneurs
People often ask what makes a great entrepreneur, and if the skill sets are taught or congenital.
Both. Entrepreneurship can and must be taught.
Yet, most of the best entrepreneurs seem to have a few common genetic malfunctions.
An unbridled sense of agency. There's an irrational confidence that most entrepreneurs have - but it's more than confidence. Movie stars are confident, cool guys at parties are confident. It's more like an overwhelming sense of can do, an unbridle sense of agency. Teach yourself particle physics? Done in a few months! Raise $10 million? No sweat!
An attraction to uncertainty. In textbooks this is called "risk taking." Back in the 1600s when corporations where ships the word risk seemed appropriate. Half your crew died from scurvy and syphilis, and men often mutinied and killed the captain. That was risk. Nowadays entrepreneurs write code in their PJs and raise rounds of funding from investors that, aside from hanging with MC Hammer and Ashton Kutcher, are accepting of loss. I feel like today's entrepreneurs are just attracted to unknown unknowns, to what ifs. Questions like whether or not there will be a paycheck next month are not worrying, and questions like whether or not something is possible are seductive.
A self-created urgency. I once saw an entrepreneur get an idea from a panel and they literally ran through the parking lot to their car so they could get back and build it. Another friend quit trying to start a business and went to medical school because he found he'd just sit around and waste time. When ideas and strategies hit, the urgency to do must drive you to heroic acts of work. It must inspire and motivate everyone around you.
Synthesis thinking. Part of entrepreneurship is to connect the dots and go somewhere new. Even copycat businesses often have unique spins, new applications, or different markets. You have to take information from many different places, put it together, recombine them, and chart out something new enough to get people excited.
Missing anything? Let me know.
