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5 Types of people who are disgracing entrepreneurship
January 21st, 2011 | Author: Amit Grover
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!
Amit GroverAbout the Author.
Amit Grover is an IIT Delhi and IIM Indore alumnus, an individual with a passion for entrepreneurship. He is the founder of Nurture Talent Academy (
www.nurturetalent.com), which has conducted 35 programs, across 10 cities, attended by 550 startups. It conducts programs for budding entrepreneurs on areas like finance, business plan, marketing and setting up a company. He is also a member of Mumbai Angels, a group of early stage investors and has led over 25 deals in last 4 years.
