Daniel Isenbergy, author of Worthless, Impossible and Stupid has listed down three interesting and wrong stereoptypes of an entrepreneurs.
1. Entrepreneur are not always innovative
The author has given a very nice and crisp definition of what entrepreneur does. He says that " An entrepreneur creates value. He creates a value that is recognised by the market." Sometimes, to create a value, he has to innovate. But, most of the time, he need not innovate.
I have been meeting entrepreneurs and coaching them from last 3-5 years. I was surprised to notice that most of the entrepreneurs i have met are not innovative. They sometimes start the venture with a very novel idea. But once that idea is established, they are just in the 'routine' of doing the same 'business' over and over. They forget that money was a side effect of their desire to do something novel. Instead of making money work for them, they start worrying about 'losing' the money. Once this happens, the zing in their life goes. And they become a business man ! You can see this people in entertainment field. There are very few like Aamir khan, or Abhay Deol, or Imtiaz Ali who never forget that 'Money is the side effect of business'.
2. Entrepreneurs are not always experts
With the advent of of VC industry, there are many entrepreneurs who start a venture because they can create value. We seem to have forgotten this. Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur who did not design his first computer, he was a person who could dare to create value where none could see. We have forgotten that this hugely daring and optimist breed, which Daniel Kahneman says are the lucky people we have in our society, is becoming extinct.
The author notes that 50% of the entrepreneurs started their ventures in an area they knew nothing about. He shares a very interesting insight about the 'expertise of entrepreneur'. He says that 'Knowing something too well can come in the way of being an entrepreneur'. And when you meet big experts who are researchers and professors you realise how true is the author ! So if you are an entrepreneur, do not pursue expertise in one area of focus !
3. Entrepreneurs need not be young
Today, with advent of VC and intrapreneurship in companies, you will find entrepreneurs starting their first venture even in late 30's.
But young entrepreneurs are more to be seen, because they have less to lose. Their ignorance of market reality paradoxically makes it easier for them to take the risk. On the other hand, their lack of market common sense can make them prone to failure.
Actually, for young entrepreneurs like Unmul, there is a easy method to avoid this mistake. If they can find a mentor who can help him see these pitfalls, they can channelise their energies far more productively. But in the desire of not wanting to meet people who 'object' to them, they also miss the pearls of wisdom.
1. Entrepreneur are not always innovative
The author has given a very nice and crisp definition of what entrepreneur does. He says that " An entrepreneur creates value. He creates a value that is recognised by the market." Sometimes, to create a value, he has to innovate. But, most of the time, he need not innovate.
I have been meeting entrepreneurs and coaching them from last 3-5 years. I was surprised to notice that most of the entrepreneurs i have met are not innovative. They sometimes start the venture with a very novel idea. But once that idea is established, they are just in the 'routine' of doing the same 'business' over and over. They forget that money was a side effect of their desire to do something novel. Instead of making money work for them, they start worrying about 'losing' the money. Once this happens, the zing in their life goes. And they become a business man ! You can see this people in entertainment field. There are very few like Aamir khan, or Abhay Deol, or Imtiaz Ali who never forget that 'Money is the side effect of business'.
2. Entrepreneurs are not always experts
With the advent of of VC industry, there are many entrepreneurs who start a venture because they can create value. We seem to have forgotten this. Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur who did not design his first computer, he was a person who could dare to create value where none could see. We have forgotten that this hugely daring and optimist breed, which Daniel Kahneman says are the lucky people we have in our society, is becoming extinct.
The author notes that 50% of the entrepreneurs started their ventures in an area they knew nothing about. He shares a very interesting insight about the 'expertise of entrepreneur'. He says that 'Knowing something too well can come in the way of being an entrepreneur'. And when you meet big experts who are researchers and professors you realise how true is the author ! So if you are an entrepreneur, do not pursue expertise in one area of focus !
3. Entrepreneurs need not be young
Today, with advent of VC and intrapreneurship in companies, you will find entrepreneurs starting their first venture even in late 30's.
But young entrepreneurs are more to be seen, because they have less to lose. Their ignorance of market reality paradoxically makes it easier for them to take the risk. On the other hand, their lack of market common sense can make them prone to failure.
For instance, i met a daring entrepreneur , Unmul, who at the age of 19 has started coaching classes for 12th science students. The classes ran well in a small town. So he decided to come to a large town and launched the same coaching class, not realising the customer differences between small place and big town, not understanding the difficulties of transferring the local reputation to the new town, and without understanding the changes required in business model. The new business naturally went into lot of trouble !
