Wantrepreneurship
There seems to be a lot of talk about “wantrepreneurs” lately. For example, in this article passed to me by @gumboshowjoe, the author (also a friend) gives several ways to identify yourself as a wantrepreneur. He also starts off with this quote by Mark Cuban:
“We romanticize entrepreneurship so much that people don’t do the work… it’s not just a dream, not just a goal, it’s a lot of hard work. A lot of people are wantrepreneurs, not entrepreneurs.”
While I don’t love the term “wantrepreneur”, because I think it sounds too negative toward someone who wants to be an entrepreneur, I do believe there are some truths to what it implies. Being an entrepreneur is something is something that a lot of people really, really want to do, but figuring out how to do it can be paralyzing to most.
So how do you move from being a wantrepreneur to an entrepreneur? You start a company.
Brilliant, right? Obviously, the moment you start a company you’re an entrepreneur, win or lose, so you immediately shed that other moniker. But what I really mean is that you have to be “all in” if you’re going to start a company. Talking about it, doing it on the side, working on the business plan, all of these things are for worthless if you never actually start the company.
Because we all know, the only way to fail is to not try…
Ha, that is brilliant. “Just do it.”
But what if someone is not in a position to take as much risk, especially without any experience or point of reference? I wonder if someone could benefit by joining alongside another entrepreneur early in the company’s life. They don’t shoulder as much risk (or share the reward- understood), but can feel the day-in-day-out hard work required (Cuban’s main point). They will likely also pick up a lot of tactical knowledge along the way, as well as build helpful relationships, and have more information on which to based their decision and plans down the road. Its an actionable step to moving towards a dream of starting a company. They might love it.. or discover they hate it and will cherish the benefits of a corporate job all the more. Either way its less talking and more doing.
Absolutely Rob, that’s a terrific insight. In fact, one of my good friends (https://www.donovanpanone.com/) and an early employee/leader at my first company, Spunlogic, is doing that right now. He joined us a few years in, when we were still super young, and was with us from 5 employees to 75 employees 7 years later. Now he’s starting his own digital agency using that experience to draw from. And he’s here in the Village no less.