Comments on: Serial Entrepreneurs and What Motivates Them

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:54:16 +0000

Dave,

I actually think there is no difference. Serial entrepreneurs start businesses not because they want one successful one, but rather just because they love the act of starting up. I think as a serial entrepreneur, whether a company we start succeeds or not is secondary to the feeling of turning an idea into reality.

By: gwin

gwin — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:52:25 +0000

it was a great segment. i liked the reinforcement on:
-do what you like vs what you are good at
-serial success can be a trend but not guaranteed
-create–create, it isnt nec about the business, but we do know that is a bit naive
-’herd tigers’—build the right team of young turks who can execute.

nice exposure for rally too!

By: Anagha

Anagha — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:40:47 +0000

The bottomline : they do it for creativity and the risk associated with it. Also, the challenge of doing it. It is something akin to solving math problems when in school. You learn a new math principle, do one problem, solve it correctly and you want to do more ; you want to learn more and again apply that learning. The cycle goes on.

No correction was required regarding the species-genus thing. Brad, you were right the first time.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:46:44 +0000

There's also the parallel entrepreneur genus/species. http://www.extremenano.com/print_article/Beyond+NanoTex+Portrait+of+a+Parallel+Entrepreneur/151353.aspx

By: Graeme Thickins

Graeme Thickins — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:40:38 +0000

biggest point of the article: “it’s not about money”

By: Brad Feld

Brad Feld — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:53:45 +0000

@Dave – thanks for the biology correction. I really did get a 5 on my AP Biology test – 24 years ago. Think of it as biological dyslexia.

By: Martin Edic

Martin Edic — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:35:08 +0000

One of the reasons we go back into another business is that you learn so much from each one that it’s hard to resist applying that experience, to greater affect, again to a different problem.
Plus there is the allure of a truly creative occupation which isn’t a bad description of what drives entrepreneurs (and what often makes them poor managers of ongoing businesses!).
And finally, my last start-up was during the latter period of the dot bomb. Today we have a completely different environment with amazingly powerful and inexpensive resources available. You really don’t need a lot of cash until you’re ready to scale. It’s really exciting.

By: Scott Yates

Scott Yates — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:11:33 +0000

The mythology of the serial entrepreneur is valid, but there’s another, darker point of view.

What if these entrepreneurs, myself included, just couldn’t get hired to do anything else? What if the only way we have a reason to get out of the house every day is to start another company?

More on that here: http://creditcardvc.com/2007/serial-entrepreneurs/

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:38:28 +0000

Does the term “serial entrepreneur” still apply if you keep doing it because you haven’t succeeded yet? Obviously the motivations there are quite different.

Also, a species is a subset of a genus, not the other way around.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:54:33 +0000

We've been looking at this as well in the context of performance. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=909615