I know what you’re thinking: “entrepreneurship” and “school” don’t go together–they never have, never will. While I certainly agree with this, there are interesting schools of thought on the entrepreneurial process, as well as various determinants of success. Below, I’ll outline the entrepreneurial schools of thought, as they can be separated into two main sections:
I. Macro View:
Environmental School of Thought: This school of thoughts asserts that an entrepreneurs’ success is the direct influenced by his or her environment (being located in Palo Alto vs. New Mexico; friends, family i.e. if you’re dad is the President vs. a broken home).
The Financial/Capital School of Thought: This school of thoughts reckons that an entrepreneur can only get somewhere if he or she (i) has capital, (ii) knows how to grow it, and (iii) knows how to manage it.
The Displacement School of Thought: This school of thought, which I think is quite fascinating, revolves around a situation where a person feels “left out,” or displaced. For isntance, if all of their friends are latter-climbers in the corporate world, and the one individual is “displaced,” then that feeling will cause him or her to pursue entrepreneurial ventures to prove their friends wrong. Think of it as the “I’ll show them,” type of people.
II. Micro View:
The micro view of entrepreneurship focuses on the individual–what a person can actually control; as opposed to their macro-environment.
The Entrepreneurial Trait School of Thought: For some reason, this area absolutely fascinates academics. They feel one can uncover specific characteristics that make an entrepreneur an entrepreneur. Honestly, I feel the only thing that drives an entrepreneur is the realization that you only have one shot at life: you might as well try and hit a homerun, make something of yourself; rather than being an insignificant piece of a cash cow.
Venture Opportunity School of Thought: This is almost a hybrid macro/micro school of thought. It simply asserts that an entrepreneurs ability to spot, see and execute on a market pain influences his or her success as an entrepreneur.
Strategic Formulation School of Thought: Ahh, yes. The concept of strategy. Yet another concept academics love. This school holds that an entrepreneurs ability to target unique markets, with a unique strategy is the ultimate deteminant of success.
How Art Plays Into Entrepreneurship:
I don’t believe any of the above fully capture the determinants of success for entrepreneurs. Certainly each school possesses potent elements that affect the rate of an entrepreneurs success; however, I’ve found that the best entrepreneurs are ones that (i) have made mistakes, (ii) have learned from them, (iii) have taken those lessons into their next venture, (iv) have pressed on, (v) have outworked their competition, (vi) understanding that entrepreneurship is not a science, but an art.
To emphasize the last point, in that entrepreneurship is an art, I find that a great example of this centers on watching someone create art. The video below is a depiction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart creating a masterpiece. In this video you can see entrepreneurship at its roots: sweat, work, passion, creativity and persistence:
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