
What Does It Take to Become an Entrepreneur? - azazo
http://www.inc.com/articles/201102/what-does-it-take-to-become-an-entrepreneur.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inc%2Fheadlines+%28Inc.com+Headlines%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
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joshkaufman
What it takes to become an entrepreneur:

1\. Create something other people want or need. (If you don't know, test ideas
in low-risk ways until you find something that works.)

2\. Attract the attention of prospects, and make them interested in learning
more about what you're offering.

3\. Encourage your prospects to trust you enough that they give you money in
exchange for your offer.

4\. Deliver the value promised in a way that makes your customers happy.

5\. Collect more money than you spend, and enough to sufficiently compensate
you for the time/energy/money invested.

That's it. Anyone who tells you entrepreneurship is more complicated than that
is either trying to impress you or sell you something you don't need.

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krav
What you need is simple. All below are metaphorical, not physical

1) Cojones - Extra large

2) A Bulldog's jaws - Once you grab on to something, you don't quit.

3) Bulletproof vest - There'll always be detractors, hanger oners, I-told-you-
so'ers. Let it all bounce off.

4) A Dog neck cone - For focus. You only look back for lessons.

I'd add more, but with those 4, you can accomplish pretty much anything.

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michaelpinto
A. Stop reading articles on "What Does It Take to Become an Entrepreneur?" —
if you really want to do something you're either doing it or not...

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edw519
_You have to make a choice: do you want to go to work every day feeling safe
and having someone take care of you, or do you want your learning curve to be
steeper and higher? It's a lot easier to be in the corporate world._

No one will _ever_ "take care of you". Depending on what you're doing at any
given time, your learning curve can be steeper and higher _anywhere_. I
imagine a Google fellow just might have a steeper learning curve than someone
opening a storefront. Why does so much "entrepreneur" advice find a way to
insult people with jobs?

 _There are some people who get fired from every corporate job they have ever
had; those people are the entrepreneurs._

Or maybe just shitty workers or people with significant issues.
BadInCorporateWorld != Entrepreneur

 _If there is any other career you can do, you must do it. This is the worst
career ever. You make no money, it's high risk..._

That could be said about any career. You should want to do it anyway.

 _There was a great article in the Harvard Business Review..._

So we should listen to OP because she read something somewhere. Advice from
hard knocks trumps heresay. Where is it?

 _Venture capitalists are looking for someone who is somewhat crazy—just on
the right side of being a psychopath._

Citing?

 _I can't stress enough how crazy running a venture-backed company is._

OK, something's fishy here. OP is a blogger. Then why would she need venture
capital? Is she confusing "venture" with "angel" or with "friends/family". If
so, then why should we listen to her? If not, then why does this article raise
more questions than it answers?

 _Every 20-year-old will say I want the venture capital, and every 45-year-old
will say, "I don't."_

Every?

I used to enjoy Inc, but honestly, I could have gotten deeper insight about
entrepreneurship from half the people here at hn. Or the local bus stop.
Moving along...

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noahc
I am a 24-year-old and would say that I would rather do the consulting +
startup route than VC funding. However, I tend to not be attracted to building
the next twitter, groupon, Facebook and instead would rather build the next
company you've never heard of(TM).

~~~
tastybites
Not that I'd know, but it must be a lot of fun lurking in the
shadows/periphery with a bunch of mysterious money.

It's the hedge fund vs. web startup mentality :)

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baguasquirrel
Don't you folks think this would discourage people from joining a startup? Who
wants to work for a psychopath?

That having been said, I've noticed the startup world seems to have more than
its fair share of psychopathy, but psychopathy seems to have little bearing on
whether the individual succeeds.

