“The truth is, start-up-land is littered with mavericks, iconoclasts, dropouts, and misfits.”
Sramana Mitra in “The Real VCs of Silicon Valley”
Entrepreneurship is Involuntary
I have come to the conclusion that most entrepreneurship is involuntary. Either someone is an entrepreneur from the time they are young, which was my personal experience, or they are thrust into situations where their old career path(s) are foreclosed to them and they have to become entrepreneurial.
Entrepreneurs Can Live on Scraps
Startups survive because they can live on the scraps of a market (a niche) that larger competitors ignore or would be unable to pursue profitably. This is doing less with less. The trick is to minimize the amount of wasted effort. The challenge is to launch new initiatives and projects that build on existing relationships, knowledge, and successes.
Intrapreneurs Are Iconoclasts Who Get Results
Entrepreneurs who work within a large firm as change agents are able to recognize what’s no longer working and suggest ways to improve it that are acceptable to many in the corporation. They can act as mavericks as long as they make it clear that their ultimate goal is not independence from the firm but a more robust organization that is more likely to thrive. Startups need to be able to identify these effective internal change agents because they can help to get new methods and tools adopted.
“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
Wesley to the Princess in “Princess Bride“
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