Startup Spark

Are You Obsessed With Creating Things? Maybe You’re An Entrepreneur!

by Ben Yoskovitz on December 6th, 2006

One of an entrepreneur’s fundamental characteristics is the need to create. When I asked some colleagues, “What is an Entrepreneur?” several of them touched on this point.

Shawn Hessinger took my question and posed it on his own blog, which itself is a great resource on bootstrapping startup businesses.

He received a couple responses, one of which was from Mark Seremet who wrote:

An entrepreneur is someone who loves to build things. She creates not just for the sake of creating but with the intention of getting her ideas efficiently to people willing to consume them. Entrepreneurs are driven not by money but by the experience of the hunt from picking up the trail to the perfect shot to the trophy on the wall…and then, only to do it again. It’s about vision, determination, and orchestrating what you see in the future in the present moment with whatever resources you can bring to bear.

Mark hit the nail on the head.

Entrepreneurs are builders.

(That picture is of Auroville, an experimental city in India. How freaking cool is that?

We may build software, retail outlets, actual buildings, or anything else for that matter, but I think many entrepreneurs are really driven to create “stuff.” I know it’s one of the things that fascinates me about working. I always ask myself, “What can I create that would add value?”

I don’t necessarily think about the risk, the money involved, the time or anything else. The initial spark of entrepreneurship comes from the urge, need or obsession (call it what you like!) to build.

In upcoming interviews (see previous ones with Vernon Lun and Jim Estill) I’m going to ask people flat out, “Why?” I’m also going to poke and prode them (figuratively of course) about the issues and definitions of entrepreneurship. More importantly, what being an entrepreneur means to them. I bet most if not all of them share my passion for building things.

Are you a creator? Are you driven by the need to build things?

Photo by premasagar.

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POSTED IN: Entrepreneurship, Passion