Put a Columbia business graduate student in a ring with a hungry, raw, bootstrapping entrepreneur and watch the punches, kicks, and slams ensue.
Contender # 1: Columbia University Business Student
The group of entrepreneurs who eat, sleep, and sh&t everything that their business professors are preaching to them in class. They not only feel the need to write 30+ page business plans, but in their minds, it’s the only way! They think that hundreds of hours spent consulting with analysts and reading charts and graphs is the best way to go about starting any business. They feel that every little thing needs to be covered before they can take that next step.
Contender # 2: Bootstrapping, hungry, do-what-I-want Entrepreneur
On the other hand, you have the group of entrepreneurs who HATE business plans, who don’t feel the need to spend countless hours studying, studying, studying; who are more likely to sell their car, clothing, and home before raising venture capital; who are so hungry to succeed that they’ll forget about grad school to jump into starting a business; and who don’t rely and depend on the advice of professors to dictate to them how and when they should run a business.
Let’s just say that on one end you’ll have the CEOs of major corporations making a decent salary, working like slaves, and not really changing the world in any significant way.
And on the other end, you’re likely to have the movers and shakers of society who are happy with what they are doing, have plenty of free time, have control of their lives, and are changing the world on an ongoing basis.
At the end of the day: it’s not how much you study, how much information your business professor teaches you, or how many graphs and charts you stare at all day, it’s about what you are doing to make things happen!
Read some related articles:
- Student Entrepreneur Programs If you have an entrepreneurship program at your college then consider yourself lucky. Back at my old school, Pace University, entrepreneurship programs were nowhere to...
- Entrepreneur Bootstrappers I am very excited to be one of the contributors to the bootstrapping column of Mindpetals. Bootstrapping is not a buzzword, individual technique, or get...
- Business plans? One evening I had the privilege of having dinner with David Friend, a serial tech entrepreneur, and currently the CEO and founder of Carbonite (a...
- Young Entrepreneur: Josiah Mackenzie Josiah Mackenzie isn’t scared to accept the rough and rewarding life of a young entrepreneur. At just 20 years-old, Josiah isn’t sitting on the sidelines...
You know, I used to think exactly like that. I guess I learned that mentality by being around entrepreneurial people and all of the books I’ve read. It’s kind of a form of rebellion: “ha, look at me, I don’t want to work at [insert a Fortune 100 company here] instead I’m going to hack it out as an entrepreneur while you slave in your cube”
Only until recently have I started to think differently. Just a week ago I wanted to start my own business… any business, I just wanted to start it. But now, I’m choosing to pursue consulting (either financial or management). Why, do you say? Well I’ve come to realize that having the opportunity to work for companies like Deloitte and Bain is a privilege not a right. And coming from a good business program and grades, I have that opportunity. Many people don’t, so why not pursue it while I still can. Consulting can give you a wide range of opportunities and opportunity to learn a more sophisticated level of business. Also they spend so much money on training so I will get to learn a lot. I’d get to work with the best people in the country, challenge myself and make some pretty good money. After some years I will start my own business, but I think by then I will be able to approach it from a much more mature angle.
Yeah, entrepreneurship is still awesome, but there are many ways of getting there.
Liana,
I agree 100%. There are many different routes one can take to start a business, and the truth is, the right route is different for every business.
Dave – you might be able to start an internet business that requires $1,000 of your own money without a business plan, charts, graphs, etc. But now try putting together a VoIP start-up that requires millions of dollars in seed money. You better have a written plan (and a damn good one at that) and you better be able to convince people with the bucks that you’re worth their money. Whether you’re starting a $1,000 internet business or a $10 million VoIP company, you’re an entrepreneur, but it’s a lot harder to start that $10 million VoIP company without the maturity Liana is referring to.
And as far as being a “mover and shaker” that “changes the world”. Well, something tells me the entrepreneur that created the first VoIP company – the person who first helped bootstrapping entrepreneurs such as you and me save $50+ on a phone bill every month – is helping change the world much more than a web development company such as mine.
@Liana: Totally, agree. Yup, there are many, many ways of getting there; there is no one official route to become a successful entrepreneur. For many people, it will, in fact, be the corporate route then possibly spinning off on their own — happens all the time.
@Anthony: Well I guess we all have different goals as to what “changing the world” means. I personally feel that the bootstrapping entrepreneurs will be the ones more likely to do so. For others, it will be the pro-corporate business students with the 30+ page business plans that he/she supposedly needs to raise money. To each their own
Dave,
I’m sorry to press the issue, but it’s not “supposed”. Look, it’s as simple as this, even the smallest companies that “changed the world” still did not do so by bootstrapping.
Take Google for example. They had a great idea and they bootstrapped their way to moderate success. But this is not what changed the world. What changed the world is what they did with that moderate success. They got a bunch of people with fancy educations, graphs, and charts, figured out where money would be best spent, how to raise it, and of course, went public. THAT is when they Google became ubiquitous and truly changed the world with new and/or updated tools such as AdWords, Maps, Video, enhanced searches, etc. And all of that aside, let’s not forget the most important factor – the name “Google” was plastered everywhere, used loosely in conversations, and inserted into the dictionary. These are all things that began happening way AFTER the bootstrapping stage and there’s a reason for that. Bootstrapping can only get you so far. To expand past that point, you need to open up to the idea that somebody within your organization, whether it’s yourself or other talented individuals, MUST be more in tune with big business. Otherwise, you will forever stay a small business. And if you stay small in an inherently big world, you will never change it. Ever.
P.S. DISLCAIMER: I am a believer in bootstrapping. I do not like graphs or charts and I do not like big business. But I am also a realist. I understand that trying to change the world without conforming to the way it runs is like trying to put a new president in office without holding an election. It’s just not how the system works. If you want to change a system, you have to first conform to it and work your way up. Then, once you’re in a position of power and credibility, you can begin to change the rules.
@Anthony: Like I said, to each their own. We all have different approaches, realist included. Many entrepreneurs won’t “wait” until they’re in a “power position,” they’ll stake out their own position now. Only time will tell. For me, it’s all about the bootstrapping entrepreneur working at changing the world every single day, little by little.