475 post: What About Technology Entrepreneurship?

Reggie Aggarwal and Mark Esposito argue that entrepreneurship is a way of life which can have great rewards, but also has downfalls and frustrations. For instance, statistics show that:

-     Only 1 in 6,000,000 high-technology business ideas wind-up in an IPO (initial public offering);

-     Less than 1% of business plans received by venture capitalists get funded;

-     Founder CEOs typically own less than 4% of their high tech companies after an IPO;

-     60% of high tech companies that are funded by VCs go bankrupt;

-   Most high tech companies that succeed in having an IPO take between 3 and 5 years to succeed.

Although technology entrepreneurship is hard, there are at least three major reasons to do so:

-          The motivation to create something novel and useful;

-          The motivation to build long-term value or something of lasting utility without becoming an opportunist ;

-          The motivation to have freedom. The entrepreneur needs to be able to handle the price of this freedom.

Not everybody agrees with these motivations but they are crucial for a true entrepreneur.

In addition to different motivations above, the following characteristics make an entrepreneur special:

-          Passion;

-          Laser focus which implies creativity, perseverance, and discipline;

-          Courage;

-          Leadership or the ability to build teams and instill confidence in others;

-          The ability to think ahead. This makes an entrepreneur an ocean wave which exists as long as it moves forward.