My affection for entrepreneurs

My affection for entrepreneurs is matched only by my obsession for comedy and French things. Over the past decade I’ve been related to them, elevated them, dated them…and at times, even hated them. A former colleague of mine and I spent years launching tech startups in the U.S. market. Along the way, we encountered hundreds of entrepreneurs, guided them through tough decisions, and often talked them off cliffs -- acting more as psychologists than communications professionals. This experience taught me a few things about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and the diversity of personalities that claim the title. In a fun game of what I call “psychological entrepreneur-typology,” I bring you a somewhat pseudo-scientific categorization of this special breed of human: 1. Superpreneur The Superpreneur needs little introduction, mostly because you know and feel them when you see them. Their entrepreneurial pursuits span space, time, countries and nations. They typically bite off more than they can chew in one, let alone four, lifetimes. Think Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. Want to become a superpreneur? Good luck. They’re as chaotic as they are awe-inspiring: Their road to success is a labyrinth of disconnected strokes of good fortune and unpredictable market timing infused with unparalleled genius. Related: Richard Branson on Leadership Lessons From the Unflappable Steve Jobs 2. Localpreneur This particular type of entrepreneur shares qualities with the Superpreneur, minus the mammoth global focus. Their ambitions may be smaller, but their efforts can also be life changing. One close to home example of this type of entrepreneur is the Driver brothers, Adam and Graham, who applied their business chops to open Driver’s Market in Sausalito, Calif., -- along with a handful of their friends who have roots in the town. The addition of Driver’s to my local community has had a profound impact that I feel and appreciate on a daily basis. They have quite literally changed the lives of thousands of locals, rooted in their goal of connecting people with each other and the foods that they eat. 3. Wingpreneur Ahhh, the Wingpreneur. One of my personal favorites. The Wingpreneur can be likened to Batman’s Robin. Without her, the entrepreneur would not be nearly as powerful -- or likeable for that matter -- as the “wing” has a specific talent for assuming leadership when appropriate but happily taking the passenger’s seat so the entrepreneur can shine. These folks are often found in “COO” or “co-founder” positions and are best suited to partnerships where they are not assuming all the risk. Typically, they are also adept at providing order to the chaos. Related: Are You a Risk-Taker or Just Reckless? 4. Productpreneur As a General Partner for Mohr-Davidow Ventures in Silicon Valley, Bryan Stolle encounters thousands of entrepreneurs a year as he seeks out startups to add to the company’s growing portfolio. More and more, on his various ‘trep finding journeys, he encounters an emerging type of entrepreneur who places product at the center of his vision: “Typically, these folks are engineers who have technical expertise, but very limited experience in leadership, management or what it takes to build a significant company. While they are innovators in terms of envisioning a new product idea, they are best served finding a partner who can build a company around the product.” 5. Fauxpreneur As startups explode in number, and having one is this generation’s version of having a band in the 90’s, another emerging type of entrepreneur is what I tenderly refer to as the Fauxpreneur. If you don’t speak Frenglish, or haven’t heard of “faux fur” this will sum it up: “Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like.” – Paul Graham. Know any of these entrepreneurial types? Have anything to add? Let us know with a comment.

Some Kinds Of Enterepreneur

Enterepreneur’ is a pretty broad, and often abused, word. How do you define it and what do you need to do to call yourself one? I don’t have the answer, but I do know that there are a lot of different types of entrepreneurs. Here are a few typical entrepreneurs you might meet. Which one are you? The Manager Entrepreneur This is the type of person who becomes involved with startups once they have received a fair bit of funding and are just beyond the first high-risk stage. These people often call themselves entrepreneurs because they are close to entrepreneurs and have worked at startups. I think it is safe to say these entrepreneurs are more like managers then entrepreneurs and they might be very good at it too. The Setup For Failure Entrepreneur This is the kind of entrepreneur that has failure written all over everything he does. All he does is complain, and when he takes on a project it is too ambitious and destined to fail even before he starts. he never gives up, of course, but you wish he would. The Lifestyle Entrepreneur Some people just want to live the life and act the part. They promote entrepreneurship, have lots of ideas about entrepreneurship but they don’t actually do anything. Well, maybe consult a bit on the side. The Cash-flow Entrepreneur This entrepreneur doesn’t think about anything except money. In general that can be a good thing for an entrepreneur but some people overdo it. Entrepreneurship is about the bottom-line but also about innovation, inspiring your team, thinking ahead and building something out of nothing. Spending your days with a calculator counting your money might feel productive, but is it entrepreneurial? The Wannabe Entrepreneur Every now and then I meet people who work at a company, have been working at companies their whole life, and will probably always work at a company. Within minutes they tell me they are entrepreneurs too. Deep inside, waiting to burst out, is their entrepreneurial spirit. All they need is a great idea, enough money to stay alive for, oh, one or two years, and the assurance that money will soon start to flow. Unfortunately that isn’t exactly how being an entrepreneur works and precisely the reason these people still work at a big company. Becoming an entrepreneur is as much a profession as any other and generally with a lot more risk. The wannabe entrepreneur will most likely never progress beyond the wannabe stage. And that might be the best for everybody. The Headlines Entrepreneur Some entrepreneurs are in it strictly for the fame. They rush from one headline to another and are more focused on making it to the front page of the newspaper than actually doing business. Your company is doing well when you get lots of customers, make a lot of money and your investors are happy. Headlines are great to show off to your mother. The Better World Entrepreneur This entrepreneur isn’t into entrepreneurship for the money but to make the world a better place. This is an awesome goal of course but often quite contrary to being a good entrepreneur. Don’t get me wrong: being a successful entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to screw the world. But your first focus should be in making your company more successful and then using your success to make the world a better place. Not the other way around. Conclusion Did you recognize yourself in one of these stereotypes? Not 100% right? Me neither. But I guess we aren’t perfect and maybe we all have a little bit of the Headlines Entrepreneur inside of us. And sometimes it is good to take some distance to prevent you from becoming the Cash-flow entrepreneur but without becoming the Lifestyle Entrepreneur. Again, being an entrepreneur is not a clearly defined thing. We balance our lives and try to stay away from the extremes. Some days we are managers and other days we are motivators or there to inspire. Being an entrepreneur means being different kinds of things at different moments. That makes it a challenging but never boring profession.