Entrepreneur-final report

8/7/2019 Entrepreneur-final report

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Introduction- Who is an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs have been existent even before the derivation of the word. Speaking about

derivation, the word gets its origin from two French word, entre means between and prendre

meaning to take. Entrepreneur initially referred to those who took the risk between the

suppliers and the customers. Though the meaning of entrepreneurs have been widened, it is still

associated with the ideology of them being risk takers. But, the actually truth is usually far from

this commonly perceived idea. Also, in French , entreprendre is a verb which means to

undertake . Hence, in modern context they came to refer those who take up the initiative of

starting new ventures.

When we hear about entrepreneurship, we often tend to think that the entrepreneurs are

those who have a brilliant idea, which they want to convert into successful products or services.

They are also thought to take unnecessary risks in order to achieve their goals. Also, they are

thought to be college dropouts in order to achieve their objective. There is also a conception that

they start at very young age of 20 years or so and then go on to be a successful entrepreneur with

their first ever venture. And so on goes our idea about entrepreneur.

But the truth is that these are not the only entrepreneurs who are around. A large chunk

of entrepreneurs are those who have some work experience. This will give them the required

exposure in order to survive the competition and various other hurdles. Also, they are not all risk

takers. They are very careful when investing into a particular product or service, ie; they never

invest if they are not sure about the results. Such investment being a success or not is a different

issue.

All entrepreneurs are those people who usually come up with a brilliant idea either

technically or due to their circumstance. They are quick to realize an opportunity which no oneelse has till then might have experienced but not yet cashed on it. They are also very determined

and confident people and are sure about what they are about to do. They are ready to work hard

to achieve their goals. Be it a small or large venture, initial years during its growth are extremely

hard and they should be able to give everything in order to achieve their ends. That does not

mean, they can relax after their business has taken off well. They will be confronted with new


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challenges in order to sustain their business. As most of the successful entrepreneurs are

passionate about what they, it is the driving force for them to work hard and come up with new

ideas in order to maintain their venture.

Methodology

In order to get an idea regarding what an entrepreneurship is all about, various books and

articles from the website were referred to. This provided the basis for this paper. Then, a little bit

of research was put into about various successful entrepreneurs who are both well known and not

that well known. From their life story, certain inference about the common aspects which bind

them together was obtained. Then a character study of all the successful entrepreneurs was done.

Lastly, this paper contains 10 cases real cases are taken up for investigating the reasons why they

came up with the idea to start a venture of their own rather than being satisfied with their salaried

job which many of them previously had.


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Is money a driving factor for entrepreneurs?

For many who aspire to be an entrepreneurs are driven by money. But the truth is that

those aspire to become to owners of cash rich ventures ultimately end up losers because money is

never the factor that drives most entrepreneurs. Because if money is a factor, then you can see

they will soon back out when they come face to face failure. They try not to lose more money

and they back out. But for most successful entrepreneurs, money is only the outcome of their

plan coming together and hence a measure of how successful their good, product or idea is. It is

the passion of what they do that actually drives them rather than money.

This can actually be proved by the life story of various entrepreneurs who, though had

initial failures with their ventures and gone bankrupt, were never ready give in and went around

looking for an opening of some sort. For them, they feel kind of suffocated if they are not able to

achieve their goal. Also, many of them had good jobs with low risk. They were able to sacrifice

them after being able to make sure that they are ready for the mission.

In short, the various factors that motivate an entrepreneur are passion to do what they

want, success, to show the world what they are capable of, to implement an idea which occurred

to them either because they are opportunistic or they realize to serve the society which is lacking

that and so forth goes the list.


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What is that an entrepreneur requires to succeed?

This is never an easy question to answer and never will be easy as with the addition of a

new entrepreneur we will have to change our view on what an entrepreneur should be made of.

Hence this paper has no intention of defining all the qualities what a successful entrepreneur

should possess. But from what has been inferred , it is possible to give an incite into what all an

entrepreneur might possess if he is successful.

These are my inference:-

[1] Passion- They have a passion to do what they are interested in. They take up as a business as

they strongly believe that they have an opportunity to succeed in that areana and hence a kind of

service to those who need them.

[2] Ambition- They have an ambition to succeed in life. They are hence very motivated.

[3] Hard workers- They are ready to work really hard in order to achieve their goal. For them this

is never tiresome because they are passionate about what they are doing.

[4] Right moment and right investors- Though we say entrepreneurs require a lot of qualities, it

never works until he is able to launch his product at the right moment or is able to find the

required investors on time. It is partly luck and partly temperament.

[5] Inner ego- Inner ego are those characteristics that a person possess that help him to bounce

back fairly well after a fall. True entrepreneurs never give up after a failure, but fight their way

out after that downfall. There are very few entrepreneurs who havent come face to face with

failure. But it is their confidence and passion that keep the in the drivers seat.

[6] Fear of failure- Maybe for not all this is a driving factor, but for certainly many of them is

what defines them as they are. They never like to fail and hence work hard to keep being

successful.


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[7] No fear of loss- There are some people who have experienced the bitter side of life and

believes that they have nothing worse to experience. This help them to take some risks as they do

not have fear of loss and sometimes go and do some risky investments which proves to be very

fruitful. If they didnt have this attitude, they would have never succeeded.

[8] Opportunistic- They are quick to discover a new need among the people. Since they have the

idea generating capacity, they can quickly make the required good or service and hence become

entrepreneurs. This will also help them to diversify their business.

[9] Idea generating capacity- They are generally people who can generate idea very quickly. This

help them not only to establish an establishment but also to survive the tough world of

competitors.

[10] No money making intensions- Most of the entrepreneurs are never get into the

entrepreneurship with money making intensions but other objectives. This is because if they had

such intentions , they would never be able take some unrational decisions required to sustain the

business.

[11] Trustworthiness- Most of the successful entrepreneurs are able to achieve their goals by

through good means. But if they try to sustain it through unethical means, we can soon see the

end of them.

[12] Good team-builder- If the entrepreneur is not able to build a good team around him, then the

venture will collapse after its initial success as the enterprise grows. This also getting the right

kind of people around you. They also shouldnt be part time workers or those who have other

commitments.


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Why do entrepreneurs become what they are?

In this segment, we will take various cases of entrepreneurs, study their background andhence try to get an insight into what it that drives them into take up entrepreneurship.

CASE 1

Name Lizzie Vann

Founded- Organix brands

Reason-

As a child, she suffered badly from asthma and eczema, for which she was treated with

steroids. But at that time she felt the need for some nutritious food because she felt that only

good food will lead to good health. So the idea of nutritious food was always there at the back of

her mind. Ultimately, after her graduation she and some jobs, she decided that market badly

needed nutritious food for babies made of only organic and natural ingredients, free of chemicals

or additives. So she started experiments with various ingredients with the objective that it should

be attractive to children and it should be both tasty and colorful. After some disastrous

experiments, she was able to stumble upon a good mix which she marketed and hence the origin

of Organix brand. It is now one the leading baby food producer in US.


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CASE 2

Name- Darren Richards

Founded- Datingdirect.com

Reason-

He from his early days in school had been dreaming of doing something on his own such as

business and believed that he didnt have to prove anyone of his abilities and hence never did great

academically. He always try to do new things when he grew up but was never able to hit upon a solid

idea. At the age of 33, he was still single and his attempt to find other singles like him through internet

failed as there were no serious dating sites. It is then that the idea occurred to him that he could start one

himself. Hence, he found a website designer who could implement the idea for him and hence they

started a 50-50 partnership business. This is the origin of Datingdirect.com . He was also able to find his

life partner on his second date.

CASE 3

Name- Mark Mills

Founded- Cardpoint

Reason-

He was a very opportunistic people and found opportunities in anything and everything. Thus he

started making money from the age of 6 but selling small biscuits to his friends. According to him,I

couldnt see the sense in giving something away if people were willing to pay for it. I kept spotting

opportunities and couldnt understand why people couldnt fulfill them. He started his first business at

the age of 18. Cardpoint was his 5th innovation. Cardpoint is a private money withdrawing points in

various petrol pumps by charging a small amount. He has a 15% share in it and earns 6.8 million pounds

annually.


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CASE 4

Name- Penny Streeter

Founded- Ambition 24 hours

Reason-

She was born in Zimbawae, brought up in South Africa and came to England at the age of 16. She

got a job at recruiting agency and soon she was promoted to the post of branch manager. Due to her

success in every point in her life, she was confident that she could start a recruiting agency of her own.

But after spending lots of money on recruiting office by furnishing it well, recession of 1989-90 hit her

business really hard and lost all money she had invested and she went bankrupt. Later, when she tried to

get back into a recruitment job, she realized she still wanted to do her old business, but this time from the

scratch unlike last time. She managed to a desk in the corner of her friends motor business and hence the

beginning of Ambition, the recruiting agency of her dream. Later when they started providing home

nurses, they required to be open all around the clock and hence changed its name to Ambition 24 hours.

CASE 5

Name- Trisha Mason

Founded- Vivre En France(VEF)

Reason-

She was widowed at an early age of 29. So she had the belief there is no worse fate for her and

hence she started taking rash decisions. She felt that she had nothing more to lose. She bought an old

watermill in France which had not been taken care of for almost 40 years. She then started renovating it.

It was then that one of her friends asked her to help them buy properties of their own in France. Thus she

hit upon the idea of providing her service as a property scout and hence she placed an ad in the

newspaper. This was the beginning of Vivre en France. It helped people in England interested in buying

properties in France.


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Analysis

Now we are in a position to analyze the various reason why people become entrepreneurs. In

most of cases, the idea itself is imported from some other sources. Hence it is all about finding the right

people to work with you.

CASE 1 Organix (Lizzie Vann)

She was a very ordinary person in terms of her abilities. It is only her will power and her hard

work that helped her to achieve her goals. The circumstance under which she was in her childhood made

her determined that no child should have her fate. She believed that every growing child require good

food to be healthy. Also , her determination helped her to overcome some difficulties. For example, it was

difficult for her to make the food with the right combination of fruits so that it would be tasty and

attractive. Then later she had the difficulty to market her product, both of which she overcame.

CASE 2- Datingdirect.com (Darren Richards)

He was a person was very excited about new things all the time. He was full of ideas. Sohe was always on the lookout for a platform to implement his ideas. He did lots of business , but

was never sure in which one to concentrate. His need for a life partner actually helped him to

establish the venture. Though he didnt have the technical skills required for making a website,

he was able to find the right person to do the job for him. Thus, it was his passion to do

something new plus his need to find a life partner resulted in the organization.


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CASE 3- Cardpoint(Mark Mills)

He was a very opportunistic person. Also he was ready to pursue to any extent to achieve

his goal. For example, 50000 people had already enquired Royal post whether advertising on the

side the post was possible. But he went on to the extend that he joined a law college 1st

year and

found the article on communication which says that private post are possible. So he set up his

own private post to attain the goal. He was also a very innovative person and came up with new

ideas in a jiffy. He was also a bit of risk taker. He was very confident of what he was doing and

never at any point did he feel that he has taken a wrong step. He was never afraid of failure.

CASE 4- Ambition 24 hours (Penny Streeter)

She was very confident person after she had a series of successes all along her life. This

is what inspired her to start her own business. Even though her first attempt went in vain and

made her bankrupt, she was determined to start anew from the scratch. She was very hard

working and slowly was able to capture market by using her previous experience in the

recruiting sector. Finally, she being opportunistic was able to tap the demand for home nurses in

outward area, which made the business leap to a greater height.

CASE 5 - Vivre En France(Trisha Mason)

She was a very opportunistic person. Buying of the watermills and renovating them

shows this fact. Also, when her friends asked her for help to procure properties in France, she

saw an opportunity to start real estate business in England for properties in France. She was a

very hard working person as she drove the clients all around France and provided them with

meals. Since she faced a huge loss in her life(her husband) she feels that she has nothing more

painful to lose and hence very positive towards life. She always relishes challenges. She is very

energetic and never want to sit simply without doing anything. She had the fear of being bored!!


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Theories applied to entrepreneurship

Leadership required by entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurs should possess some traits that help them to them to be leaders. This is

because they might be able to work really well individually and might gain initial success, but as

the enterprise grows large, they will have to control lots people. If they fail at that point, they

will lose all what they had done till then.

Trait theory- Being extroverts will help them to be rise as entrepreneurs but after that stage,

when they have to lead large number of people under them, they will have to be more open to

new ideas and experience. This will make the people working under them to appreciate whatever

they say and hence help motivate them better. They also should be conscientious and have high

level of emotional stability.

Behavioral theories- Whether they should be employee- oriented or job- oriented depends on the

type of people under them. If they have people who are very much close to them in life, they can

be more job oriented. But the people taken to work are not that close them previously, then they

will have to develop good relations with them through interpersonal skills. But be careful never

to be in authority or Laissez-faire type of leadership.

Formation of the organization

Initially after new people are taken to help him out with his work, there will be a team

forming a stage people when different people will have to find their role in the new organization.

During this phase the entrepreneur will have to facilitate this process so that the transaction goessmoothly. They can be training regarding what they are hired for so that it will be easy for the

entrepreneur to know their strengths and weakness and hence obtain maximum output from

them.


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But after this stage there will be the storming stage, when there are conflicts regarding

roles and leadership. The first stage of team forming done well will see to it that there are lesser

number of conflicts during this period. And the transition to a good team takes place so that

whatever he thinks of can be easily executed without much struggle.

After this norming stage takes place when everyone is clear about what their roles and are

comfortable with the culture of the organization. Then go into the performing when they have to

actually get together and convert the cohesiveness they have achieved over the past few stage

into positive energy so that they translate into positive outcome for the entrepreneur. If the

entrepreneur is successful in developing a good team, it will help ideas into excellent output.

Otherwise, he will start finding that he no longer enjoys the success he used to get when he used

to work all alone. This will be become an hindrance for him to expand his enterprise.

Entrepreneurs also should try to develop teams which are self-managed as far as possible.

This will help them to get better productivity. Initially they might think they can take all the

responsibility and this is good, but as the organization grows, they will find that if they make the

teams more interdependent, it will help them to free their hands. This will help them to take the

organization to the next level. Thus, if they encourage self-managed teams, it will benefit the

organization in the long run. Also the founder might not be the same all throughout like stress

and bad health. In these case, others will be empowered to take forward the organization.

How to develop a culture in the organization

Basically the culture of the organization comes from the founder himself. He is the one

who defines the culture of the organization. He is the one who has the vision and hence he is the

one who defines the roles of the organization. Then it is his responsibility to maintain the same

culture among his followers. So at the selection process he has to be careful that he selects

people who are ready to share his vision and goal. He should hire who have the skill, abilities the

job leading to the organization success.

After the employee become a part of the organization, he should take measure to make

them confirm to the vision and culture of the organization. For this he need to socialize them

through various socialization procedures.


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Conclusion

From the case study it can be seen that entrepreneurs have some common characteristicsin order to succeed. They all had a goal once they were into the business. They all were very

passionate about what they were doing and very confident that they could achieve what they had

started. No force could stop them in any way. They were ready to work really hard for their

objective. Sometimes it required that they work but without getting much returns. Inspite of that

they were motivated to work day and night as they had a fire within them to succeed. They were

also very flexible people who could change quickly according to the situation. They also tried to

get the right kind of people to work with them. This required that even if he is met with some

illness or accident, the enterprise will not perish.

There were various factors that can be attribute to the success of the enterpreners. Many

of them were opportunistic and they could sense those gaps in the society which have never been

served. The shere thought of their idea being put into practice motivated them. Some of them

have been very unsuccessful in life and they used this as a scenario where they could prove

everyone wrong. Some of them are good salesperson and was able to sell anything and

everything and this motivated them to start an organization of their own. But there are still large

number of people who felt that they can improve the society by introducing a product or service

and hence start an enterprise. But entrepreneurs have a entrepreneurship background and

knowing in and out of business help them start a company of their own. For others, it the shere

need combined with some of the above factors that help them start an enterprise.


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Theories applied to entrepreneurship

Leadership required by entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurs should possess some traits that help them to them to be leaders. This is

because they might be able to work really well individually and might gain initial success, but as

the enterprise grows large, they will have to control lots people. If they fail at that point, they

will lose all what they had done till then.

Trait theory- Being extroverts will help them to be rise as entrepreneurs but after that stage,

when they have to lead large number of people under them, they will have to be more open to

new ideas and experience. This will make the people working under them to appreciate whatever

they say and hence help motivate them better. They also should be conscientious and have high

level of emotional stability.

Behavioral theories- Whether they should be employee- oriented or job- oriented depends on the

type of people under them. If they have people who are very much close to them in life, they can

be more job oriented. But the people taken to work are not that close them previously, then they

will have to develop good relations with them through interpersonal skills. But be careful never

to be in authority or Laissez-faire type of leadership.

Formation of the organization

Initially after new people are taken to help him out with his work, there will be a team

forming a stage people when different people will have to find their role in the new organization.

During this phase the entrepreneur will have to facilitate this process so that the transaction goes

smoothly. They can be training regarding what they are hired for so that it will be easy for the

entrepreneur to know their strengths and weakness and hence obtain maximum output from

them.


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But after this stage there will be the storming stage, when there are conflicts regarding

roles and leadership. The first stage of team forming done well will see to it that there are lesser

number of conflicts during this period. And the transition to a good team takes place so that

whatever he thinks of can be easily executed without much struggle.

After this norming stage takes place when everyone is clear about what their roles and are

comfortable with the culture of the organization. Then go into the performing when they have to

actually get together and convert the cohesiveness they have achieved over the past few stage

into positive energy so that they translate into positive outcome for the entrepreneur. If the

entrepreneur is successful in developing a good team, it will help ideas into excellent output.

Otherwise, he will start finding that he no longer enjoys the success he used to get when he used

to work all alone. This will be become an hindrance for him to expand his enterprise.

Entrepreneurs also should try to develop teams which are self-managed as far as possible.

This will help them to get better productivity. Initially they might think they can take all the

responsibility and this is good, but as the organization grows, they will find that if they make the

teams more interdependent, it will help them to free their hands. This will help them to take the

organization to the next level. Thus, if they encourage self-managed teams, it will benefit the

organization in the long run. Also the founder might not be the same all throughout like stress

and bad health. In these case, others will be empowered to take forward the organization.

How to develop a culture in the organization

Basically the culture of the organization comes from the founder himself. He is the one

who defines the culture of the organization. He is the one who has the vision and hence he is the

one who defines the roles of the organization. Then it is his responsibility to maintain the same

culture among his followers. So at the selection process he has to be careful that he selects

people who are ready to share his vision and goal. He should hire who have the skill, abilities the

job leading to the organization success.

After the employee become a part of the organization, he should take measure to make

them confirm to the vision and culture of the organization. For this he need to socialize them

through various socialization procedures.


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Reference

Ref 1: Rachel Bridge. How I made it. New Delhi: Kogan Page India

Ref 2: Bill Bolton, John Thompson. Entrepreneurs- Talent, Temperament, Technique. 2nd

edition. New Delhi: Elsevier

Ref 3: Madhura M Chatrapathy(2007). Basics of Business and Entrepreneurship. Bali, Indonesia

Ref 4: Scott Shane, Edwin A. Locke, Christopher J. Collins(2003). Entrepreneurial motivation.

Human Resource Management Review:13 (2003) 257279

Ref 5: Gerry Segal, Dan Borgia and Jerry Schoenfeld(2005). The motivation to becomean

entrepreneur,International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & ResearchVol. 11 No. 1, 2005

pp. 42-57

Ref 6: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneuraccessedon 14th November,2010

Ref 7: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurshipaccessedon 14th November,2010

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