An entrepreneur is often thought of as someone who launches a new venture entailing high risk with the potential of acquiring great wealth. Even though many entrepreneurs have become wealthy, entrepreneurship is about producing wealth, not acquiring it. Nor is entrepreneurship defined by the degree of risk one takes, but rather the creativity and productivity one achieves. Moreover, entrepreneurship need not be so grand. To be an entrepreneur one does not have to “make a dent in the universe” as Steve Jobs aspired to achieve. It is not the scale nor nature of the enterprise but rather the nature of the individual that defines an entrepreneur.
A search on Google for a definition of an entrepreneur provides a wide range of answers. Here are just a few.
“Striking out on your own”
Amanda Austin, Little Shop of Miniatures
“The courage to commit and persevere”
MJ Pedone Indra Public Relations
“a great deal of resourcefulness”
Vip Sandhir, HighGround
“see opportunity everywhere”
Preeti Sriratana, Sweeten
“take a calculated risk”
Eileen Huntington, Huntington Learning Center
“turn a possibility into a reality”
Maia Haag, I See Me!
These are all valid statements, but they are more characteristics and traits of an entrepreneur than a definition of one. A deeper and more comprehensive definition is required to define an Objectivist entrepreneur. Here is mine:
An entrepreneur is an individual with the passion and conviction to launch a business venture capitalizing on a vision to produce a product or service of value in a free market.
Let me elaborate on this definition phrase by phrase.
An entrepreneur is an individual:
An entrepreneur’s philosophical foundation is based on Individualism. Individualism is defined by Objectivists as follows:
“Individualism regards man—every man—as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being.”
Ayn Rand, “The Virtue of Selfishness”
Entrepreneurs are individualistic because all visions begin in the mind of the individual who originates them. Entrepreneurs most often work with a group of people to achieve their vision; and the group may share a common vision; but only individuals originate them. All decisions are individual decisions. All actions based on those decisions are actions of individuals. Entrepreneurs think as individuals, decide as individuals and act as individuals even within a group. When Individualism is subordinated to Collectivism entrepreneurship dies; and the creative solutions to the world’s challenges with it.
“The mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought.”
Ayn Rand, “For The New Intellectual”
passion:
While money is an incentive for an entrepreneur (see essay on Why Become and Entrepreneur) it is not what primarily motivates them. Passion is the entrepreneur’s primary motivation; the passion to execute on a vision of their own individual creation. They must be passionate about their idea or they will not have the motivation to see it through the inevitably difficult process of execution. It takes an act of heroism for an entrepreneur to pursue their passion. This is consistent with the Objectivist view of the nature of man “as a heroic being.”
“You have to have a passion for what you are doing. It’s totally true……. Because it is so hard any rational person would give up”
Steve Jobs, Advice for Entrepreneurs
conviction:
Conviction embodies the entrepreneur’s commitment to act on a rational plan for achieving their vision. As such it employs the entrepreneur’s greatest tool, his rational faculties applied to reality. A conviction is not based on hopes and wishes that are unsupported by reality and reason. Hope is not a business plan. Hope is an effect not a cause of a conviction the entrepreneur can execute on their vision. Ideas are cheap relative to a conviction to act on them.
“I don’t have beliefs. I have convictions.”
Ayn Rand
launch a business venture:
Entrepreneurs launch business ventures as the vehicle for executing their vision. They are businessmen engaged in applying the Objectivist “trader principle” of value given for value received. As such they do not view business as a win/lose but rather a win/win exchange of values, with each party gaining in the trade. They do not seek the unearned from others for themselves. Nor do they acquiesce to those without equal value to exchange in return.
“We, who live by values, not by loot, are traders, both in matter and in spirit.”
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
capitalize:
Entrepreneurs are in the truest sense Capitalists, as they capitalize on their product or service by selling it for a profit in a free market. The pursuit of a profit, however, is not what primarily defines Capitalism. Capitalism is defined as the freedom to make a profit in a “free” market; that is, a market free of government intervention and regulation. Governments act through coercion. Entrepreneurs as Capitalists act through voluntary cooperation.
“Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion … The other is voluntary co-operation of individuals…. the definition of capitalism, the informal system, is the absence of coercion.”
Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in Economics
vision:
Of all the characteristics that differentiates entrepreneurs from others it is the pursuit of their own personal vision. While purveying the world the entrepreneur is actively collecting, correlating and integrating the factual evidence before them. From these observations the entrepreneur imagines something new, a vision not of what is, but what could be, whether it is a new product or service or a new way of producing and delivering them. Not everyone is an entrepreneur, because not everyone is capable of imagining or pursuing a vision of their own. Many people are content to follow and support someone else’s vision. Entrepreneurs wish only to pursue their own vision.
“The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”
Nolan Bushnell
producing a product or service:
An entrepreneur is a producer in society. Productivity is the commitment to act. Thought without action has no value. There is no such thing as a million dollar idea. There are only million dollar businesses built on good ideas. The entrepreneur does not view production as a zero-sum game where success is measured by acquiring a bigger piece of a fixed pie, but rather as producing a pie of their own. In so doing they not only serve their needs but enlarge all the goods and services required for everyone in society to survive and thrive. As such an entrepreneur is willing to take greater risks than most, deserving of whatever they achieve, suffering whatever they lose.
“You must become the producer, director and actor in the story of your life”
Wayn Dyer
free market:
An entrepreneur with integrity does not engage in cronyism; seeking government protection through preferential regulations or subsidies for their business to succeed. They succeed in the free market by their own ambitions, relying solely on the value they bring to that market. They realize the free market will always be a place to succeed for those who continue to deliver value. Conversely they know any success via cronyism is unreliable; as that which is arbitrarily given by a government can be just as arbitrarily withdrawn, resulting in failure.
“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”
Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in Economics