Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

generalist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 121 posts

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#21

Post by atleastoptimal »

Another correlation, very unusual and interesting, is that past infection with Toxoplasmosis (a parasite that grows in cat poop) increases the chances of becoming an entrepreneur by a factor of 1.27 to 2

https://hbr.org/2022/07/a-common-parasite-can-make-people-mo...

> they discovered that those infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii were, on average, 29% more likely than others to have founded a start-up, 27% more likely to have founded multiple ventures, and more than twice as likely to have founded their businesses alone

Along with an increased risk of death via car accidents, having contracted Toxoplasmosis seems to precipitate risk seeking behaviors, similar to its intended evolutionary prerogative: the infection makes rats sexually aroused by the smell of cat urine, so they seek the smell, where cats are more likely to be around, are eaten by cats, and the cycle continues.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#22

Post by manmal »

rxhernandez wrote: post #17
bushbaba wrote: post #6

It’s easy to choose a career in entrepreneurship when you either have enough inheritance wealth to not need to work OR living in poverty where there’s not much lower you could drop. For those in the middle, entrepreneurship comes with likely too great a risk to be worthwhile.

As an entrepreneur twice over, it had everything to do with being able to spend the most productive hours of my day on being an entrepreneur and being armed with basic full stack web development skills. I had zero success in entrepreneurship in my 20s and I was delusional to think I could accomplish anything in entrepreneurship without both of those properties (and I tried multiple times a year for the decade of my 2…

Did you build up a financial cushion before you started for the second time?

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#23

Post by barrysteve »

shon wrote: post #20

It’s an interesting article. In my view, Non-conformists start companies. Possibly aggressive non-conformists most of all. In my personal case, I made many questionable choices, including turning down a job at Microsoft in the nineties (would have been better financially) and leaving multiple great jobs (one of which afforded me corporate apartments in Honolulu and London) to risk everything multiple times to start m…

"including turning down a job at Microsoft in the nineties I can still see my dad shaking his head about turning down Microsoft…"

That was quite a while ago... Probably should forgive and forget that one. Forgiving the disappointment makes mental space for new opportunities.

I agree non-conformists start the really visible flashy companies. A new aircraft maintenance company can make bank, but it doesn't really grab headlines.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#24

Post by Uselessly1691 »

bushbaba wrote: post #6

It’s easy to choose a career in entrepreneurship when you either have enough inheritance wealth to not need to work OR living in poverty where there’s not much lower you could drop. For those in the middle, entrepreneurship comes with likely too great a risk to be worthwhile.

Those who can afford to immigrant to western countries are not poor people at home country. If they failed in new country, they have option to go back to own country where they will have good quality of life as compare to new country.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#25

Post by lmeyerov »

Uselessly1691 wrote: post #24
bushbaba wrote: post #6

It’s easy to choose a career in entrepreneurship when you either have enough inheritance wealth to not need to work OR living in poverty where there’s not much lower you could drop. For those in the middle, entrepreneurship comes with likely too great a risk to be worthwhile.

Those who can afford to immigrant to western countries are not poor people at home country. If they failed in new country, they have option to go back to own country where they will have good quality of life as compare to new country.

We came to the US with a few suit cases and had to abandon all property in our home country. In general, many immigrants move to start over due to the relative lack of opportunity at home, whether due to politics, crime, economy, whatever.

I do agree with the original point. Nowadays, most STEM PhD students at top US schools are immigrants. When I look at the work, delayed gratification, etc, native Americans forgoing a STEM PhD seems a rather rational choice. Starting a company feels like a similar decision.. a lot of pain for statistically low gain.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#26

Post by jaggederest »

shon wrote: post #20

It’s an interesting article. In my view, Non-conformists start companies. Possibly aggressive non-conformists most of all. In my personal case, I made many questionable choices, including turning down a job at Microsoft in the nineties (would have been better financially) and leaving multiple great jobs (one of which afforded me corporate apartments in Honolulu and London) to risk everything multiple times to start m…

Not especially non-conformists - non-conformity is merely a symptom.

As you say, risk seeking behavior, resulting from the actual cause: "poor risk assessment" - ties right in to difficult childhood, mental health issues, and the market misjudging you (all causes or signs of trauma and being outside the norm).

I say this as someone with an appetite for trying new things, being non-conformist, and adventure sports - clearly the accuracy or the precision of my risk assessment model is significantly outside the norm!

People with excellent and accurate risk estimation and assessment work as actuaries, or accountants, certain kinds of insurance brokers, something nice and safe where you can do good work for 35 years and retire. The quintessential "brown volvo" driver.

Now, I personally think those people are rather safe and uninteresting - but then we've already established I'm probably not the person to base your decisions on!

If people are interested, there are good psychological tests for risk assessment skills - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulsivity#Assessment_of_impu...

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#27

Post by Nevermark »

Working on my second startup. I have clinical depression, ADHD and OCD.

The depression is an endless battle through a muddy swamp. I have to endlessly game it with exercise, sleep, supplements. I would give anything to not be held back by that.

I somewhat envy the manic benefits of Bipolar! That sounds so much better than just regular depression! /h

But my ADHD is high functioning. My mind constantly jumps from topic to topic, every aspect of a problem, or any problem in my life, or anticipated future life. And my brain tracks all these puzzle pieces well. It is my counter-point to focusing!

And OCD works for me too. I think it is what makes my ADHD work for me. Always fixing, improving, smoothing, organizing. I can get distracted rearranging books on a shelf, but even then its like meditation, my zen, in that even small positive changes to my environment motivate me out of depression.

Also, the constant ADHD/OCD iterations over the smallest things, leads me to fluency with my projects that invariably lead to the bigger novel insights that make all the difference.

You can't run around the base of a huge mountain like a madman, testing every possible crevice, accumulating every possible strategy, practicing every kind of traversal, and acquiring every piece of equipment, without finding a way up! Even if I can't describe to anyone whether I am making any progress at all until I do!

The downside of ADHD is very real for me: "less skilled at necessary tasks like accounting and bookkeeping" is an understatement. I can keep my regular life on rails, or get work done. Unfortunately, not both.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#28

Post by eastbound »

Swizec wrote: post #4
bruce511 wrote: post #3

Which just goes to show that all the studies in the world don't mean a whole lot :) I guess it depends on your definition of "entrepreneur" - does it count if you only found 1 company? But from where I stand I pretty much fail all the "high probability" criteria, no troubled past, no mental health issues, no previous employment history, no bad-childhood, and do on. Arguably I'm "well rounded" (for some definition of…

> Success isn't bei g a billionaire, success is keeping the doors open, drawing a salary, employing others in a non-exploitive way, not grinding away every second. Success is taking time off to spend with family, or playing sport, or whatever, just because you can. Success is whatever you want it to be. And that, to me, is the point of entrepreneurship: Defining your own success and getting there on your own terms.

Success is having no regrets.

But of all the people, those who show jealousy acts are often the ones who say success is having less money and more time with family. Then you show them “Hey, you have 3 kids, a loving wife, just enough money to get by which is both what you’ve always said was sufficient and what you voted for (while you voted for the richer single men getting slashed), meanwhile I’m autistic, have no wife or kid, I’m rich like Cresus as a nice kickback from spending my Sundays at work… and you still have to be jealous???”

If it were on my own terms, I would have chosen to be able to join improv groups and invite them all home without having a tantrum thrown because I don’t contribute more than the rest of the group. Money doesn’t equate universal power.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#29

Post by paulpauper »

Being a tech entrepreneur seemed so cool in the early 2000s. Tech salaries have exploded so much since then that you're better off with an office job in terms of risk vs. reward, or maybe youtube or substack for those who want to be more entrepreneurial but without owning a business. The whole LLC/business plan route is not as important as it used to be unless you actually think you can create the next Square, Stripe, or Coinbase and can get the VC to write a big check. It does not help either that costs have really surged, such as coding, advertising, fees and regulations (such as Apple App store rules and fees, which are so high and restrictive), and complexity (like coding) compared to the early 2000s, and markets seem more saturated too.

Re: Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies

#30

Post by batmaniam »

paxys wrote: post #5

If you study 10 entrepreneurs you will find 11 different paths they took in their journey. While this is a good read, the advice to everyone looking for the "secret sauce" to starting a successful venture remains the same – there is none. You can try to emulate Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg or whoever else all you want. The moment you idea meets the real world you will be in completely unfamiliar territory with no op…

The secret sauce is generational wealth. People whose parents are extremely well off have a larger chance at succeeding in building their business. Not only does their parents have money, but also the right connections at that wealth level. They basically manufacture their own luck, and their money buys time and labor to get their product first to market.

Sometimes the average joe can taste certain components of that secret sauce, because they're brilliant and hard-working, and was at the right time and place. But it's a very rare occurrence.

Post reply on HN