What Does It Take to Become an Entrepreneur?

http://www.inc.com/articles/201102/what-does-it-take-to-become-an-entrepreneur.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inc%2Fheadlines+%28Inc.com+Headlines%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

by azazo • 15 years ago

35 8 15 years ago

inc.com

baguasquirrel• 15 years ago

Don't you folks think this would discourage people from joining a startup? Who wants to work for a psychopath?

That having been said, I've noticed the startup world seems to have more than its fair share of psychopathy, but psychopathy seems to have little bearing on whether the individual succeeds.

edw519• 15 years ago

You have to make a choice: do you want to go to work every day feeling safe and having someone take care of you, or do you want your learning curve to be steeper and higher? It's a lot easier to be in the corporate world.

No one will ever "take care of you". Depending on what you're doing at any given time, your learning curve can be steeper and higher anywhere. I imagine a Google fellow just might have a steeper learning curve than someone opening a storefront. Why does so much "entrepreneur" advice find a way to insult people with jobs?

There are some people who get fired from every corporate job they have ever had; those people are the entrepreneurs.

Or maybe just shitty workers or people with significant issues. BadInCorporateWorld != Entrepreneur

If there is any other career you can do, you must do it. This is the worst career ever. You make no money, it's high risk...

That could be said about any career. You should want to do it anyway.

There was a great article in the Harvard Business Review...

So we should listen to OP because she read something somewhere. Advice from hard knocks trumps heresay. Where is it?

Venture capitalists are looking for someone who is somewhat crazy—just on the right side of being a psychopath.

Citing?

I can't stress enough how crazy running a venture-backed company is.

OK, something's fishy here. OP is a blogger. Then why would she need venture capital? Is she confusing "venture" with "angel" or with "friends/family". If so, then why should we listen to her? If not, then why does this article raise more questions than it answers?

Every 20-year-old will say I want the venture capital, and every 45-year-old will say, "I don't."

Every?

I used to enjoy Inc, but honestly, I could have gotten deeper insight about entrepreneurship from half the people here at hn. Or the local bus stop. Moving along...

noahc• 15 years ago

I am a 24-year-old and would say that I would rather do the consulting + startup route than VC funding. However, I tend to not be attracted to building the next twitter, groupon, Facebook and instead would rather build the next company you've never heard of(TM).

tastybites• 15 years ago

Not that I'd know, but it must be a lot of fun lurking in the shadows/periphery with a bunch of mysterious money.

It's the hedge fund vs. web startup mentality :)

m0th87• 15 years ago

I agree with you until the ad hominem attacks on Penelope Trunk. A quick google search shows she runs Brazen Careerist the venture-backed startup.

krav• 15 years ago

What you need is simple. All below are metaphorical, not physical

1) Cojones - Extra large

2) A Bulldog's jaws - Once you grab on to something, you don't quit.

3) Bulletproof vest - There'll always be detractors, hanger oners, I-told-you-so'ers. Let it all bounce off.

4) A Dog neck cone - For focus. You only look back for lessons.

I'd add more, but with those 4, you can accomplish pretty much anything.

joshkaufman• 15 years ago

What it takes to become an entrepreneur:

1. Create something other people want or need. (If you don't know, test ideas in low-risk ways until you find something that works.)

2. Attract the attention of prospects, and make them interested in learning more about what you're offering.

3. Encourage your prospects to trust you enough that they give you money in exchange for your offer.

4. Deliver the value promised in a way that makes your customers happy.

5. Collect more money than you spend, and enough to sufficiently compensate you for the time/energy/money invested.

That's it. Anyone who tells you entrepreneurship is more complicated than that is either trying to impress you or sell you something you don't need.

michaelpinto• 15 years ago

A. Stop reading articles on "What Does It Take to Become an Entrepreneur?" — if you really want to do something you're either doing it or not...

What Does It Take to Become an Entrepreneur?

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