WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR

"Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunities beyond controlled resources"

As a young entrepreneur this definition of entrepreneurship by Professor Howard Stevenson from the Harvard Business School has manifested what exactly happen in my start-up business development. I am sure it is going to inspire you too especially if you want to start and become an entrepreneur. Let me explain its parts in detail:

Pursuit,

Implies a singular relentless focus, this is true, as an entrepreneur you will always need to activate your idea in reality as you get it. You will have to do something with whatever you have without waiting; you will have that urge to show tangible progress to attract resources. In a simple language an entrepreneur believe in acting upon ideas to materialize them so they can attract its progress to meet their vision.

Opportunities,

This implies to an offering that is novel in one or four of the following ways:

•  Pioneering a truly innovative product
•  Devising a new business model
•  Creating a better or cheaper version of an existing product
•  Targeting an existing product to new sets of customers   

Above is what an opportunity entails, this is due to the fact that, everything is actually existing in terms of resources and functions so as an entrepreneur you will recognize an opportunity which will mean improving what is available.

Beyond resource controlled, 

This implies resource constraints, as an entrepreneur you will always have less resources at the beginning so you will have to minimize cost and leverage your time by mobilizing your own funds to impinge in your initiative. You will do this to develop your business cash flow so it sustains itself in future and of course attract more funds from external investors. An entrepreneur will make sure the business stands out for other investors to join the force.

What are the risks entrepreneurs face at the beginning?

Entrepreneurs face risks because they always pursue novel opportunities while lacking enough resources to venture into their start-up businesses. Such risks come in four main types:

1. Demand risk, this relates to customers willingness to adopt the solution envisioned by you as an entrepreneur. You will always be uncertain on this.
2. Technology risk, this is very high when engineering or scientific breakthrough is required to bring a solution to fruition, you will also be uncertain
3.  Execution risk, this one relates to entrepreneurs ability to attract employees and partners who can implement the venture’s plan.  
4. Financing risk, this one relates to whether external capital will be available on the reasonable terms.

Let me tell you, above risks are what makes people become entrepreneurs, everything above is uncertain it needs your readiness to take such risk and start, not everyone can do this only entrepreneurs.

To minimize these risks, entrepreneurs are always following these steps in their establishment.

•  Lean experiment: at this level you will have to test your minimal product to know whether customers need it and they are ready to buy, this product will also work as your learning process to validate it before producing more.
•  Staged investing, this is when an entrepreneur utilize his/her resources according to the level of investment  milestone, here as an entrepreneur you should not expend resourced needed for the next investment before realizing the success of the recent milestones.
• Partnering, this allows an entrepreneur to reduce risk by expending other people’s resources and sometimes rely on the risk taken on their side. On return the entrepreneur’s initiative grows.
•  Storytelling, this is when an entrepreneur tells his story to other people so they get inspired and choose to impinge their resources in his/her venture. So as an entrepreneur you will need to be an inspirational leader of your initiative, you will need to be able to inspire others to choose collaborating with you and investing in your initiative.

Now try to think deeper on this definition of entrepreneurship above, doesn't it make you inspired to become an entrepreneur the way it did to me? You just need to do what some of the above to become one of them.

I wish you the best

By: Erick Chrispin.