Let\u2019s say I study a ripe fruit in all its fragrant, traffic-stopping orange, knobbliness. And I say that these are the characteristics of an orange.\u00a0 And if I want more oranges I search for them in blossoms; in fact I tell blossoms to look at themselves and ask the question \u2013 Do You have What It Takes to Be An Orange?<\/p>\n
A lot of the evidence which is used about entrepreneurs is completely inadmissible.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Some people study entrepreneurs, their personalities and habits and psychological propensities.\u00a0 This generalised data is then used to predict the characteristics that one must have before becoming an entrepreneur.\u00a0 I have a problem with this method.<\/p>\n
Blossoms look nothing like an orange.\u00a0 Given the right circumstances \u2013 \u00a0food, water, fertilisation \u2013 all blossoms on the orange tree can become oranges.\u00a0 In the same way it seems that \u2013 under pressure \u00a0\u2013 all people can become entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
An orange is an orange once it is an orange. A definition of an entrepreneur is someone who has started a business.\u00a0 An entrepreneur is an entrepreneur once he\/she is an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
What sort of pressure makes someone start a business?\u00a0 Some types of entrepreneurs desperately want creative or research freedom and start their own businesses for that reason.\u00a0 Some people have survival pressures and if they did not start their own enterprise they would not eat. Some do it with the slightly faked pressure of a business plan competition.\u00a0 Usually, if you have done it once, you will do it again.<\/p>\n
There is research that truly looks at large groups of people before they turn entrepreneur, and then tracks them to see whether they do, and looks to see what they had in common. The conclusion is that there are more differences between people than there are between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
Useful studies show which characteristics of entrepreneurs affect the longevity of their businesses.\u00a0 Extraversion, emotional stability and agreeableness have no effect, openness to experience limits the lifespan of a company but conscientiousness is correlated to companies who last longer.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Team.\u00a0 An entrepreneur gathers the skills that he\/she needs to get the job done and this relates to something that I hear entrepreneurs and funders and venture capitalists talk about.\u00a0 Among the people on the team one must find people who can build and organise and create and analyse and have vision and convince others.\u00a0 The team must submit to the conscientious member\u2019s rules.\u00a0 Funder\u2019s know that the skills are in the team, and no funder will invest in a lone entrepreneur because this carries too much risk.<\/p>\n The CEO.\u00a0 For a new venture to grow fast the team should hire a CEO.\u00a0 Most will do so once the technical issues have been dealt with.\u00a0 CEO entrepreneurs are a breed apart with personality traits in common with one another; but you can hire them, just as you can hire an accountant. The characteristics of the CEO should not be confused with the characteristics of an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s say I study a ripe fruit in all its fragrant, traffic-stopping orange, knobbliness. And I say that these are the characteristics of an orange.\u00a0 And if I want more oranges I search for them in blossoms; in fact I tell blossoms to look at themselves and ask the question \u2013 Do You have What … Continue reading Do You have What It Takes to Be An Orange?<\/span>