Entrepreneurship: Is it acquired or inherited?

While we're at it, perhaps I can get a correct explanation of what Entrepreneur means. As of late, everyone claims he's an entrepreneur or 'interested in entrepreneurship'.

P.S.: I know how to google, don't throw links at me.

Kassem wroteWhat differentiates someone like Michel or the guys who founded Wixel Studio from other well educated people?

Your question is focusing on the wrong topic you should focus on Leadership,
to be a good entrepreneur, you require resources(both physical and intellectual), opportunity, Vision, and motivation. (among other things)

Read and research info about Steve Wozniak for an example, he is in my opinion a true entrepreneur. The true entrepreneurs on the scene in Lebanon do not surpass in number the digits of a single hand. A true entrepreneur should not focus on entrepreneurship as a goal. A true entrepreneur would work his ass off for an idea he thinks is worth all his effort. He first creates something, it becomes successful then he is lauded by others as an entrepreneur. Here in the ME its the other way around, someone starts by blabbering that he is an entrepreneur, his grand idea being nothing but maybe a translated knockoff he has seen somewhere else. Prestige.

xterm wroteWhile we're at it, perhaps I can get a correct explanation of what Entrepreneur means. As of late, everyone claims he's an entrepreneur or 'interested in entrepreneurship'.

You can ask 1000 person and get 1000 different answers, but they all have to do more or less with the same thing: starting your own company.

As for Kassem, here's my answer: Just like everything else in life, you're not "born with it". You learn it through hard work and failures. If entrepreneurs need to learn one thing, it's to allow themselves to fail.

Ghandour wroteHere in the ME

Why do you think it's just here? Every startup scene in the world (and every scene everywhere) has its own share of douchebags.

rahmu wrote

Ghandour wroteHere in the ME

Why do you think it's just here? Every startup scene in the world (and every scene everywhere) has its own share of douchebags.

Yes, but im pretty sure the douchebagery is overwhelmingly apparent here. Compared of course to other parts of our planet.

While we're at it, perhaps I can get a correct explanation of what Entrepreneur means

Not to throw links at you, but the term itself is loosely defined.

Are entrepreneurs born to be so, or is entrepreneurship an acquired skill?

Here's an interesting paper about the subject: http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/papers/06012.pdf

What differentiates someone like Michel or the guys who founded Wixel Studio from other well educated people?

This seems to be well researched.

While this could matter to governments and institutions, on an individual basis, it shouldn't.
If you feel like entrepreneuring then you really ought to be considering the risks and advantages, and studying your instantaneous impulses against your future goals and comfort rather than self-selecting based on generalized studies.

People really do fall for "word definitions" and "labels" and give them more than they ought to mean. Business and creativitiy is a whole spectrum of activities. Entrepreneurship is just a pole at one sides of that spectrum.

I've also heard about him from several people who knew him when he was just getting started; they all confirm that he's one of a kind.

People tend to exaggerate, and they definitely are bad judges on rarity or personal constituency, especially after the fact.

So what is the real questions here, are you seeing whether you personally can become an entrepreneur? Isn't pioneer such a nicer word anyway?

i once read somewhere that an entrepreneur founding his own startup has a 12% chance of succeeding the first time.
the percentage increases for the following times

One thing to note is that whether you're "born with it" (whatever that means) or not, there isn't "one kind" of entrepreneur. We can only hope to emulate the behavior of the famous ones (Steve Jobs mania, anyone?) but I think we'd find very different kinds of people.

Of course it all depends on who you chose to worship and what your scale of success is. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates may have a lot in common, they're only two instances of the same kind of entrepreneurs. People living at the same place and the same time. What about the millions of people who found innovative ways to affect people around them, all across the world.

Story time
Is corporate success a l'americaine the only indicator of success? A friend of mine spent a summer in a small reserve in the Shouf among a "village" of 10-15 people. They have an Eco-friendly thing going on out there, so they are completely self-dependent whether on electricity or food. The whole operation was maintained by one guy. He set up a generator in the river, planted salads and tomatoes in the garden, got some chicken, build some shacks for people to stay there, basically took care of everything. The thing turned into a business and there's a team behind it.

There's no "one way" to be an entrepreneur and there's no "one way" to define success. If I live long, die old and had fun doing my own thing on the way, I'd call it successful.

kassem wroteSomeone who has just graduated from college with no experience in the market will most likely fail in his/her first few attempts at starting their own business. So why not use the time and effort in a stable job until they're ready to take a risk that could be justified?

Usually it is the other way around. Simply because a younger person doesn't have much to lose added to that the enthusiasm and ability to focus more. I can't imagine someone in his/her 30s who is used to a good paycheck at the end of every month venture into something that will consume his money. Add to that a wife, kids and other responsibilities. Furthermore even a person experienced as an employee may have the same probability of failure simply because he/she does lack experience in taking risks, trying different things and failing at them.

As we grow our responsibilities become bigger which makes it more risky and don't forget that Lebanon is no where near Silicon Valley or any of those places that are able to embrace and foster entrepreneurship. In Lebanon there is no culture for any of this and it all starts right from the educational system which is totally f*** up and will never ever be better in the foreseen future(not even initiatives). jsaade's link shows exactly what I would like to convey and more.

Another thing is that most people here are actually great developers, but I don't see any relation between a good and experienced developer becoming a succeeding entrepreneur even if that is in tech entrepreneurship. These are totally different and keep in mind that entrepreneurship is mostly a business and marketing thing. So if you have in mind in becoming the CEO if your business, you won't be writing a single line of code, you'll be doing business, dealing with clients and all that shit.

Most people are so influenced by all those cheesy quotes and success stories (including me) and that is pure bullshit. The hollywoodification of the great success stories of Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs are extremely misleading. These people are exceptions who exist in a totally different culture and had opportunities that don't come every single moment and many other factors that led to their success. Its a big mistake to think that successful entrepreneurs make a shitload of money too.

I used to have a different view about this but the issue of entrepreneurship is not very appealing to me any more especially in a place like Lebanon. So from a technical guy point of view I totally agree with jsaade, as long you work in a place that values your abilities and skills. You're surrounded with a nice and supportive team of good developers then you shouldn't even think of it(I guess) and that's what I personally looking forward to. And every good person has the potential to grow and move from one place to another, whats wrong with someone growing to CTO at a good company leading and being responsible for all the cool stuff while others do the business and talking to get more money inside the institution? You don't even have to be confined to Lebanon.

So my question to you is the following: Which would you prefer an opportunity to have a good fairly leading position at a company like Microsoft(or maybe a bit less high profile) or a start-up with a fine idea that your are spending on money from your pocket and has the average probability of failure? Setting: Age: in your 30s, country outside Lebanon(would also apply inside why not?). Which would you choose? Based on that work to achieve what you want, lets can assume they both need the same amount of hard work and the first with much less monetary cost.

So my point is, if you're looking to doing something great and beautiful you don't necessarily have to be an entrepreneur, everyone can do cool stuff in what he/she does best, if you're not in a company with interesting ideas to work on and make even more awesome through your own, aim for others! If you're in just for making your dream amount of money I think its not worth it and that it is a big headache(especially in Lebanon) and there is a huge probability that it may not work out.

The thing is that just thinking about "I want to be an entrepreneur too" doesn't really work without an idea that is worth add to that a bunch of extremely important factors... If you have an idea in mind that you deeply think it great then start executing it today on your own and see where you can go from there without even thinking about titles.

I came across this article today and enjoyed reading. The subject is about Saudi Entrepreneurs but in reality the same ideas regarding the categories apply to most if not all places in the world. Just thought it would be useful for sharing here although not exactly related to the main subject.