Crazy Entrepreneurs
Issue date: 3/15/05 Section: Campus News
By SCOTT HARRINGTON
U.S.A., Fall '05
"Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages. Bitter Cold. Long Months of Complete Darkness. Constant Danger. Safe Return Doubtful. Honor and Recognition in Case of Success." If you saw this job posting on MTB, would you apply? If you would, you might want to have yourself checked out, because you're crazy, but you also may be the kind of person that would make a good entrepreneur.
The above job posting was the actual ad placed by Ernest Shackleton looking for a crew to join him on his journey to the Antarctic. Barry Moltz, the keynote speaker at the recent Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club workshop, used this example to help define what it takes (and what you often get) to become an entrepreneur. In an effort to better understand the type of person that is cut out for a future of entrepreneurship as well as what one can expect going down this road, the Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club brought together 6 experienced entrepreneurs to speak about the challenges and success stories and give advice for others pursuing a similar path.
Barry Moltz, an experienced corporate careerist with IBM, entrepreneur (both successful and not), and author, kicked off the workshop with his presentation entitled, "You need to be a little crazy." The title refers to the almost mandatory "crazy" psychological nature of the entrepreneur that enables him or her to withstand and flourish in the often chaotic environment of running one's own business. He opened by saying how some of the most popular reasons for wanting to run one's own business, namely control and stability, are terribly misguided. Despite his experience, passion and intelligence, several of his business ventures ended in failure, not owing to any shortcoming or major mistakes on his part. Having the floor drop from beneath you at some unknown point in the future is not a pleasant prospect, but it is a possibility of which the aspiring entrepreneur should be aware. However, he did stress the importance of experience and how often times it is through failure that one learns the most. No one likes to fail, but when it happens, Barry advises taking stock of the situation, evaluating the good and bad, cry if you must, but in the end "get back in the dented car." Additional imparted Barry wisdoms were his comments on relationships and business. Basically the entrepreneur gets screwed (so to speak) on two important counts: with the spouse, the business is always in the bed, but with the business partner, it's like "a marriage without the sex."
U.S.A., Fall '05
"Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages. Bitter Cold. Long Months of Complete Darkness. Constant Danger. Safe Return Doubtful. Honor and Recognition in Case of Success." If you saw this job posting on MTB, would you apply? If you would, you might want to have yourself checked out, because you're crazy, but you also may be the kind of person that would make a good entrepreneur.
The above job posting was the actual ad placed by Ernest Shackleton looking for a crew to join him on his journey to the Antarctic. Barry Moltz, the keynote speaker at the recent Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club workshop, used this example to help define what it takes (and what you often get) to become an entrepreneur. In an effort to better understand the type of person that is cut out for a future of entrepreneurship as well as what one can expect going down this road, the Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club brought together 6 experienced entrepreneurs to speak about the challenges and success stories and give advice for others pursuing a similar path.
Barry Moltz, an experienced corporate careerist with IBM, entrepreneur (both successful and not), and author, kicked off the workshop with his presentation entitled, "You need to be a little crazy." The title refers to the almost mandatory "crazy" psychological nature of the entrepreneur that enables him or her to withstand and flourish in the often chaotic environment of running one's own business. He opened by saying how some of the most popular reasons for wanting to run one's own business, namely control and stability, are terribly misguided. Despite his experience, passion and intelligence, several of his business ventures ended in failure, not owing to any shortcoming or major mistakes on his part. Having the floor drop from beneath you at some unknown point in the future is not a pleasant prospect, but it is a possibility of which the aspiring entrepreneur should be aware. However, he did stress the importance of experience and how often times it is through failure that one learns the most. No one likes to fail, but when it happens, Barry advises taking stock of the situation, evaluating the good and bad, cry if you must, but in the end "get back in the dented car." Additional imparted Barry wisdoms were his comments on relationships and business. Basically the entrepreneur gets screwed (so to speak) on two important counts: with the spouse, the business is always in the bed, but with the business partner, it's like "a marriage without the sex."