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Entrepreneur DNA

February 19, 2010 # 8:48 am # General # 2 Comments

Fred Wilson just wrote about a really interesting topic based on his recent visit to Wharton.  Can someone be taught to be an entrepreneur? Nature vs Nurture and Entrepreneurship

This is a really interesting question and one that is at the core of almost every hiring decision when building an early stage company.  Related to this question is: can an intrepreneur become an entrepreneur?   If a founder or a candidate is coming out of a larger more corporate environment, has no early stage experience but has very relevant industry or technical experience what are the filters by which we would judge their ability to be successful?   In my experience having been on founding teams of successful companies and recruited many executives to early stage companies I believe that you either have the DNA to be an entrepreneur or you don’t.   Many people say that are or want to be, but have they exhibited past behavior in college, at work or in life to show us they can be?

Here are a few other characteristics that I would add to Fred’s great list that I look for when trying to determine if someone is or can be an entrepreneur:
- A proven ability to iterate on ideas and/or product quickly
- Ability to accept risk without the big safety net
- Works well in small collaborative teams
- Makes financial decisions as if the money was coming out of their savings account.

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  • mikemcgrath

    It seems to me that an overlooked factor is upward mobility. Most people never go beyond the status of their parents, and each step of upward mobility is considered one of the most stressful events a person can live through. If you can do that, your ability to do all of the aforementioned criteria is second nature.

  • davidkpark

    I couldn't agree more with both you and Fred about the nature vs nurture debate regarding entrepreneurs. I think 3 out of the 4 traits you highlight really separates potential successful vs unsuccessful entrepreneurs. The “ability to accept risk without the big safety net” is a trait that probably does a better separating the entrepreneur vs non-entrepreneur.

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Peter Flint is a general partner with Polaris Venture Partners. He joined Polaris in 2003 and brings over 25 years of experience as an operating executive in the consumer media industry combined with building senior management teams for early stage venture backed companies.

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Peter currently serves on the Board of BlackArrow, Infinian, JIBE, Stickybits and Seamless Receipts.