#1 - Vision: Being an entrepreneur is not being a follower. Be curious. Act first.
#2 - Confidence: Being an entrepreneur is an ongoing dance between confidence and paranoia.
#3 - Team Spirit: Collect a team who can do what you cannot do, beyond your skills.
#4 - Risk-taking: Take risks that will steer you, and avoid the risks that will sink you.
#5 - Fearless of Failure: Only by learning through your failures can you reach success.
#7 - Personal: When you truly care personally, the customers know it.
#8 - Being Real: Great entrepreneurs solve the problems right in front of them.
#9 - Persistence: Being an entrepreneur is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.
#10 - Commitment: You better really, really, really want to do it.
Oliver Samwer listed these qualities of an entrepreneur in 1999 when he was 27 years old.
He listed them after interviewing 100’s of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley in the 1990’s, and published them in a small book, “America's Most Successful Startups”
He then decided to put what he learned to the test, and so immediately after publishing the book he returned to Germany and set up his first company with his two brothers. Within 100 days of launch, eBay bought his company, Alando, for $43 million.
He then set up mobile phone company, Jamba!, which Verisign bought for $273 million.
Realising the only thing stopping them was the size of their vision, Oliver and his two brothers, Alexander and Marc, then set up Rocket Internet in 2007 (just 8 years after writing his book) to be a ‘Venture Builder’ - and built over 100 companies in over 110 countries. Today, Rocket Internet is worth over 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion), and all three of the brothers are billionaires.
Oliver says “We’re not Einstein. We’re Bob the Builder”. He’s researched existing ideas, and turned them into a book. He’s researched existing business models, and turned them into a multi-billion dollar business, saying: “An existing business model in a new market is much more successful than a new business model in an existing market.”
Oliver took those 10 qualities he learned, and lived them.
What could you do, by taking the same 10 qualities of entrepreneurs, and applying them to your journey?
Actually, you can read his entire book (and all 13 qualities) for free here:http://bit.ly/Oliver-Samwer
The future starts today. So get started!
(And if not now, when?)
“The trouble is, you think you have time.” ~ Buddha
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