5 types of people who are disgracing entrepreneurship

24 Jan 2011
Amit Grover
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http://www.2indya.com/2011/01/21/5-types-of-people-who-are-disgracing-entrepreneurship/

Nurture Talent Academy, India’s 1st institute for training

entrepreneurs recently completed 1 year of its operations. I just

thought to reflect what the journey has been like, and though in the

past I have talked about the positive and motivating aspects of

entrepreneurship, few things about few people has been disturbing me

in the past, and I thought to write about it. I have met over 2000

entrepreneurs in past few years, and of all kinds, age, sex etc. There

are few types of people, though, who are disgracing entrepreneurship,

and I am highlighting their traits below:

1. “I am thinking about starting up for last 3 years” types

These are the type of people who you will find in most of the

networking events and they have only 1 cap on – “THINKING” cap. Every

time you talk to them, they will tell you about a great startup (which

maybe in news for funding, product, consumers etc.) and say, “You

know, I had thought about this idea 3 years back! But the problem is …

(some explanation about why this will not work or why they didn’t do

it)”. A real potential entrepreneur would have already met potential

customers, team members and investors and taken off in some ways by

this time.

Lesson – Thinking is good, but doing is better

2. “I have got this great idea, but I cannot share with you” types

There are some types of people who take literal meaning from “Power of

Ideas” – they think that idea is only thing that is holding them from

their next IPO (initial public offering), and because they have a

great idea, customers will be lining up after them. Nowadays,

customers are smart to understand who promises and who delivers – they

pay for performance, not for ideas. Some of them are even smart enough

to copy other ideas from Techcrunch, Demo sites and claim to be their

“original” ideas.

Lesson – Ideas are everywhere, but he who brings a product for the

customer makes the money.

3. “I don’t like my job, so I want to become an entrepreneur” types

If you don’t like your job, then change your job. If you don’t like

your industry, then change the industry. But who says that being an

entrepreneur is better or worse than a job. In fact, its multiple jobs

rolled into one – you have to get customers, arrange for money, use it

efficiently and manage a team all at the same time!

Lesson – Entrepreneurs need ability and passion to start, not

frustration.

4. “I want to make money” types

Yes, entrepreneurship is a lot about making money, but as Henry Ford

said, “Any business that makes only money, is a poor business”. There

will be days, especially early on in business, when you will not make

any money. There will be days, maybe sometime later in business, when

you will make so much money that you will not be able to count – you

will have to get accountants, secretaries and professional bankers to

do this for you.

Lesson – define few objectives with which you wish to start your

venture, including personal, professional and financial ones.

5. “If I had the money, I would start my business” types

I come across this category of people every day, and their most common

crib is about investors not giving them the money to start. When you

probe them further, you come to realize that they are in a comfort

zone of a monthly salary, set daily schedules, and weekend parties

etc. There are no real attempts at trying to find customers, build a

product, or even meet investors! They just read a newspaper or website

and think what gets covered in media is really for real.

Lesson – Real entrepreneurship is about making sacrifices, and doing

something to convert problems into opportunities, not complaining

about someone else.

These are the few kinds who always crib, criticize or complain – the

first thing that I do is avoid them, and find someone more helpful or

positive in life. India does not need people who bring disgrace to

entrepreneurship, but more people who can struggle, fight, and bring

things to life!

Tags: business | idea | Startup | team | Venture

Posted by Amit Grover 24 Jan 2011

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Anil Bahuman (2011-03-15 13:26:34)

Interesting observations and classification, Amit. It was an amusing read :)