As defined by Dictionary.com, entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.” Today’s definition makes sense with the French origin of the word, which literally means “one who undertakes (some task).” The term was coined in the 1880s and originally referred to the director of a musical institution. Now, almost 140 years later, entrepreneur has many different meanings and connotations depending on who you ask.
The stereotypical entrepreneur is a twenty-something-year-old guy launching his app from Silicon Valley. According to The Atlantic, 60 percent of millennials see themselves as entrepreneurs, but Millenials are the least entrepreneurial generation to date. After all, the average age of an entrepreneur is 40 years old. So why is the stereotype skewed? Nowadays, 90 percent of millennials see entrepreneurship as a mentality rather than an action.
The fear of taking “action” makes sense in today’s society. Millenials are graduating college with massive student debt and look for stable careers to pay off these debts rather than run the risk of building a startup. In the today’s competitive America, the majority of the market is held by a few large corporations which limit the ability for small startups to succeed.
Nevertheless, there seems to be a craze over how many young entrepreneurs are launching their own businesses — and the stereotype still continues to stick.
In the video above, Paul Tasner launches a short talk on how he became an entrepreneur at age 66, after working for other people for 40 years of his life. He’s not only is funny and motivational, but he also provides statistics on how successful older entrepreneurs are in their endeavors and compares them to younger entrepreneurs. He sheds some light on pressing questions directed toward society and its influences: Why do we only focus on speaking about and promoting young entrepreneurs? Where is the community of older entrepreneurs and how can they help each other out and provide a sense of unity? Tasner strives to acknowledge how the accomplishments of older entrepreneurs are just as important as the victories of young ones.
“That’s why I’d like to make the phrase “70 over 70” just as commonplace as the phrase “30 under 30”,” Tasner said.
In class, we defined two main motivations behind today’s entrepreneurs: necessity and opportunity. Necessity entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs because they do not see another option for making a living. They need a source of income and thus start a business to address this need. Opportunity entrepreneurs see an unaddressed need in society or whitespace and work to address this need. They are entrepreneurs because they have a new idea, not because they need money. These two umbrella terms encompass all types of entrepreneurship. But, how exactly are these interpreted and defined in society?
There is no true categorization of entrepreneurs. Larry Kim, CEO of MobileMonkey and founder of WordStream, has defined the six types of entrepreneurs: Hustler, Innovator, Machine, Prodigy, Strategist, and Visionary. Each type is defined in the infographic below.
Forbes, on the other hand, has defined the four types of entrepreneurs:
The Builder:
The entrepreneur who is focused on scaling his or her business in the shortest time possible and views success as infrastructure.
The Opportunist:
The entrepreneur who looks for business opportunities which make fast money and view money as success.
The Specialist:
The entrepreneur who is an expert in the field. He or she approaches business analytically and views personal income as success.
The Innovator:
The entrepreneur who became an entrepreneur when a passion opened to a business opportunity and view success as the impact their business has.
Which of these categorizations are right? Both of them? Neither of them? There are infinite possibilities.
One categorization has come up that fits under both sides of the umbrella — necessity and opportunity – or perhaps it is the rain that falls around it: passion. Many people have started their own business ventures by building their company around their passions. It can be argued that these entrepreneurs both start businesses around their passion and use it to sustain it as well.
Gautam Gupta, CEO and Founder of NatureBox, started his company based on his personal weight loss goals. To keep the passion alive within his company, he hires employees who also have a passion in this area whether from agricultural experience or experience in the food industry. He believes that passion is necessary for a successful startup because of the long, hard hours needed early on.
“Enthusiasm translates to a positive customer experience. And that’s what will build your business,” Gupta said.
Without passion, how do you found, develop, and grow your business with as much care and attention to detail as possible? For many, passion is vital — for many others, it is not.
Although there may be an official dictionary definition of entrepreneur, it seems there is no real way to define entrepreneur.
More inspiration:
TED Talk on how we should be raising kids to be entrepreneurs
Article on entrepreneurship for social change
Video on achieving your dreams
By: Kristen Gerdts and Anna Blakley
