Anatomy of A Successful Entrepreneur
Journal of Business Strategy
Copyright Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2002
RELATED ARTICLE: ANATOMY OF A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR
To be successful, entrepreneurs must have two things: capital and access to experts in their domain areas. To get capital, entrepreneurs (or start-up teams) must have a good idea in a viable market. But more important, as said over and over again by venture capitalists at meetings such as that of the MIT Enterprise Forum's Start-up Clinic, entrepreneurs must have these characteristics:
* Experience--Knowing, first-hand, what it takes to get a job done so they avoid time-tested issues and can make better decisions
* Drive--the desire to succeed
* Belief--putting their own financial ease on the line; having the ability to ask for what they want, take rejection, and try again
Historically, founders of start-ups believed so strongly in the company and product that they would work two jobs, take out home equity loans, and use credit cards in order to finance the business. If the team did not believe enough to take the risk, why would anyone else?
The market frenzy that created incubators and unprofitable public companies also fostered a breed of entrepreneurs without the characteristics of past successful entrepreneurs. As Jerry Schaufeld of Mass Ventures commented, "It was a flawed model [incubators] because it took the initiative away from the start-up team. It's like teaching a child to ride a two-wheeler; you have to let go for the child to be successful."
Barbara Finer is a principal in the firm High Tech Marketing Professionals and Phil Holberton is President of Holberton Group, Inc. Both are members of the Executive Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, Inc. and can be reached through [email protected] and [email protected] respectively.