Incubadora de Idéias

Using a straightforward approach, startups are basically a quartet of roles:

• The entrepreneurs, who create the original insights and prototype initial functionalities.
• The engineers, who will actually bring the products and services into life.
• Remember that not all entrepreneurs are good managers – in fact, they rarely are. That means managers are necessary for the everyday routine and to help shaping the original idea in a way it reaches a larger audience.
• Investors, who will keep a tight leash and advise in a way the business compensates their funding.

In other words, entrepreneurs design, engineers build, managers support, and investors think about tha bling. Understand that those are roles – one person can play more than one role, and the same role can be played by different people. So if you’re thinking about creating a startup – or is already in the process – you should pick people to play the roles that fit the moment you’re on.

But which is it? This post will cover the first spot you need to fill: associated entrepreneurs.

[ Entrepreneurs ]

What makes the best entrepreneurs? There’s a whole bunch of books, courses, lectures, and articles that try to define successful entrepreneurs, but my personal experience – and you will decide if that’s valuable – shows that entrepreneurship essentially boils down to three core characteristics: focus, passion, and altruism.

Those three words carry a lot of meaning, if you peel all their layers. So Entrepreneurs that combine those three things very well deserve the capital E: when they nail the right idea, they may change the world as we know it. They envision something that can make the world a better place, defend it with their hearts, and often endure because the idea is bigger than themselves.

[ Focus ]

Focus doesn’t only mean you can concentrate on a precise point. Focus enables you to keep track of what’s around you, but also to change your perspective on depth. The clearer you see what’s close, the less you see what’s distant – and vice-versa. Exercising focus is the key factor.

Entrepreneurs with strong focus abilities will keep a consistent and clear vision all along the product life cycle, despite of the resources they have available. They may change their vision a bit, they can even discard it in favor of another vision – but that will happen only to improve the product, and fulfill their original intent to make the world better. No matter if they’re good or not in dealing with people, focus will help them relate with their team, establishing clear goals and helping people pursue it. Either they do it well, or things will go wrong. Focus will also help them dealing with their investors – if the entrepreneur is strongly focused, he/she will learn how to make things go his/her way.

[ Passion ]

Passion comes second. The reason why it doesn’t come first? Simply put, dreamers without a plan will often perish.

People who are passionate about what they do, what they make, or the services they provide will rarely give up on their endeavour. In addition to that, passion will help an Entrepreneur to believe in the product – and that belief is key to get the consumer’s trust. Passionate Entrepreneurs inspire people around them, including the team they lead. In fact, even leadership is easier to exercise when Entrepreneurs use their passion properly: they evangelize people around them. Correctly used, passion will push the whole team towards the results on which the Entrepreneur is focusing.

[ Altruism ]

When an Entrepreneur pursuits the benefit of others, there is a combination of ethics, sense of community, and intent to contribute. Even when the original insight of the business happened to solve a personal need, real Entrepreneurs do it for other people’s sake. Money is a consequence, not the cause… Since altruistic people are excellent team players, that’s definitely a plus. Self-centered people may function well in specific scenarios, but they usually spoil it in the end.

On the other hand, people that are way too altruistic may never get there. Are you one of them?

[ End of part 1 - Choosing Entrepreneurs ]

Everyone tries to list 10, 20, 25 or 37 main characteristics of an entrepreneur. Well, I’m sticking to the KISS principle and condensing it all to 3.

Why did I choose those three features in particular? Because focus achieves faster results. Passion gives us stamina. Altruism will balance self-interest against the interest of others. Who wouldn’t want a focused, passionate, and nonegoistic person as their associate entrepreneur? Who could ask for more?

Wrapping up this first post, if you’re seeking your significant startup-other, find people that are strongly oriented to the three principles (focus, passion, and altruism) but will complement you with their area of expertise. For example, if you still lack a business model, talk first to experienced entrepreneurs or advisors on the area and maybe ask them to join you. If you’re all about sales, search for the guy that will keep the feet on the ground and take care of the product deployment… Check this post on finding a co-founder to go further into that idea.

A final note: due to several aspects that we’ll approach in the sequel posts, be extra careful when chosing fellow entrepreneurs that are also investors, technical, and/or subordinate to you.