The born-again entrepreneur

#1

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 8:27 PM UTC

Re: The born-again entrepreneur

#2

Post by briggsbio » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 10:15 PM UTC

This jives with a quote from Reid Hoffman, but the post doesn't quite do justice to all the frenzied risks of founding a startup like the quote does. “Entrepreneurship is throwing yourself off a cliff and building a plane on the way down.” – Reid Hoffman (source: http://www.vinnylingham.com/reid-hoffman-endeavor.html)

Re: The born-again entrepreneur

#3

Post by alabut » Wed, Jun 08, 2011, 12:24 AM UTC

Jessica Livingston:

"I spent 13 years in corporate America, mostly because I didn't understand what my other options were. I was hypnotized by the security of an established, respected company."

http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2008/07/why-i-do-yc.htm...

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that got bit by the founder bug while working for others. Some people are born entrepreneurial and others realize it later.

Re: The born-again entrepreneur

#4

Post by Eyalush » Wed, Jun 08, 2011, 12:35 AM UTC

I love the airplane analogy (especially as a pilot license holder) I'll be using that one myself if you don't mind!

Re: The born-again entrepreneur

#5

Post by edanm » Wed, Jun 08, 2011, 8:27 AM UTC

Absolutely agree with the conclusion.

I would take it a step further, though. For us geeks/entrepreneurs, oftentimes the non-conformist thing to do, but which ultimately make us happiest, is to run our own business. Not everyone, as the article points out, but sometimes.

When talking to other people, especially non-geeks, I don't try and convince them that they should run their own company. I try and find out what they would most like to do, but haven't seriously considered, because they're looking for a "regular" job. Almost everyone has some hobby/talent/ambition that they never seriously consider pursuing, because it doesn't occur to them that they might be able to pull it off.