Types of Entrepreneurs

There are several types of entrepreneurs and several reasons why they start a new business. Here’s an inventory of the reasons entrepreneurs leave comfortable employment to start high-risk companies.

Businessmen after big-time money,

Creative people pursuing a big dream,

Independent souls motivated by being self-employed,

Scientists setting out to prove their ideas,

Executives driven by a revulsion for bureaucracy,

Perfectionists driven by self-fulfillment.

There is no ‘right’ answer here. As the entrepreneur jumps off the corporate ladder and assumes responsibility for both his livelihood and his dream he gets to pick and follow his primary motivation – – it may be the dream of a big idea, it may be to self-actualize. Whatever it is, it’s his – – doesn’t have to meet with anybody’s approval nor get graded A+ as a business plan. It’s his dream, he owns it, takes responsibility and has clarity perusing his dream. This is what provides the energy to make it work. After picking the perfect dream, the process quickly will become implementing the dream -- that is, the nuts and bolts of building a company take almost his full focus. To keep the energy and dream alive it’s important the entrepreneur identifies exactly why he’s taking this big risk. 

It’s crucial for the entrepreneur to see where he fits in the above inventory. The hurdles, frustration, and high risk of an entrepreneurial endeavor will shake the entrepreneur to his bones. It’s critical the person understand his primal motivation when for starting a company – – otherwise the severe obstacles and setbacks will stop him in his tracks. It’s empowering for the entrepreneur to understand, honor, and revisit his primary motivation. When he hits the inevitable dark passage and screams ‘why am I doing this’ they’ll be an answer -- when he acknowledges and is conscious of his primal motivation it provides the backbone to deal with hurdles.

 The initial dream of the entrepreneur is often fragile and tenuous --it needs nurturing and encouragement. The entrepreneur often shares the dream with people who are not entrepreneurs, yet they don’t hesitate to project their own anxieties on the entrepreneurs

dream and worse yet to emphasize the downside. ‘You’re taking this huge risk to get rich’. That’s when the entrepreneur should know in his bones why he’s jumping off into his own business. The desire to build a new idea, or self-actualize, or be captain of his own ship has to be well formed enough and provide enough energy to overcome the discouraging reactions of people around the entrepreneur.

It takes a team to build a business. It takes the technology for the core product, takes an executive CEO to lead the team and create a vision, it takes a COO to execute the dream, and it takes a CFO to handle the finances. The entrepreneur, once he understands his core strength and core motivation, can surround himself with the executives he needs. The scientist-entrepreneur will focus on the vision and technology of the company and surround himself with a business-minded executive team. For example, the business entrepreneur may have to find a chief scientist; so he can focus more so on business execution and finances. All of this emphasizes the entrepreneurs initial understanding of his primary motivation and primary expertise.

An immediate challenge for a would-be entrepreneur is finding somebody suitable share his plan with. One of the problems is that the entrepreneur will not get any good advice from lawyers, accountants, executives, and even professional coaches – – all of these people have a job – they work within an organization, have a title, and have a boss. They are often confident and forceful in their advice – – advice that they have never taken themselves. 

The entrepreneurs best option here is to talk to other entrepreneurs who have already made the jump and better yet are successful.

The above discussion is an important narrative, but it’s only that – – a narrative. Enter The Dream Machine, a way to iterate and see all the dimensions of the entrepreneur’s dream. The Dream Machine is a proven mathematical elaboration of the entrepreneur’s initial dream. It captures the entrepreneurs vision and motivation and expands it into all of its corollary implications. It’s an elaboration ‘ping’ for the entrepreneur’s ‘pong’. It will show the entrepreneur all the implications of this initial dream.

The impact is huge. Instead of the stale advice of lawyers and accountants which is typically out of step, the dream machine elaborates the entrepreneur's vision into a robust set of corollaries that strengthen, encourage, and reinforce the entrepreneurs dream.

This is the first step in the entrepreneurial journey. This is well before formulating a strategy, it precedes the company’s objectives, is more fundamental than the company’s philosophy. Is the elaboration of the entrepreneurs dream and motivation. It’s the entrepreneurs gift to himself.