What do entrepreneurs actually think? – Business and politics

Founder of 6 businesses, co-founder of several others, owner of 6 more, non-executive director of many more, and has worked with owners and founders of privately held companies and served as a management consultant. As a co-founder of a weekly podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and small business owners nearly every week for 44 years, and as someone who has taught entrepreneurship at the university level for almost 20 years, I have a unique perspective on how entrepreneurs think. I think you have insight.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that the public needs more understanding of what exactly it is. Below are some of my observations and conclusions about how entrepreneurs actually think.

1. The idea that entrepreneurs find a need in the market and try to fill it is different from the origins of business. Sometimes founders want to do what they want and see if it sells. They are passionate about something. Often there is no market research or validation at all. However, they may understand the industry or market they are entering and know what they want to do. More companies start this way than follow a logical market identification and validation process.
2. Entrepreneurs have a different attitude to risk than most people, but they don’t take risks carelessly. They feel that having a job and receiving a salary is riskier than owning their own business because they can lose their job at any time through no fault of their own. Their boss may change. The owner may sell the company. Top management may decide to outsource their operations. Entrepreneurs think that being employed is like owning a business with only one client or customer for her, and that is actually very dangerous.

3. 

   Entrepreneurs never do anything they don’t fully believe they can succeed at, but they also never bet their entire farm on one thing. They also know that you can’t “save” your path to success by always taking the safe route. Instead, risk is minimized by betting a lot rather than not at all. It could mean that their business is constantly offering a variety of new products or services, or that the entrepreneur runs many completely different companies. They know that even if everything goes wrong, something can always go right.

4. Entrepreneurs are more obsessed with growth, cash flow, and long-term value creation than profits. Many companies don’t even set revenue goals, instead focusing on meeting specific revenue goals. They believe that profits solve everything. This is one of the main differences between being an entrepreneur and just being a small business owner, and it’s an important difference that most people don’t understand.
5. Entrepreneurs feel that taking action is more important than ideas and plans. They believe ideas come easily and everyone has ideas. That is also why they are not secretive and share their ideas with almost everyone who asks them. Rather than focusing on competitors, they look within themselves and their companies. They know that having a plan makes it easier to convince yourself that you’re doing something. But what’s important to advance their goals, and what separates them from would-be coffee shop entrepreneurs, is doing something. That’s why they highly value “doers” among their employees and are deeply involved in “doing” some of the business’s work themselves.

One thing I know for sure is that very little is truly known about entrepreneurs. They deserve more research and attention than they’re getting. This is one of the reasons why the University of Arkansas Walton College moved away from management entrepreneurship several years ago by creating an entirely new Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation.

Mark Zweig is the founder of two Fayetteville-based Inc. 500/5000 companies. He is also the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business and author of the award-winning book Confessions of an Entrepreneur. The opinions expressed are those of the author.