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GbizQ Entrepreneurship Forum
Many people dream about being the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. But not everyone becomes a successful entrepreneur. What does it take besides brains, hard work, capital and loads of luck? There are personality markers in an individual that might offer clues of an entrepreneurial streak that might be lurking underneath a bank teller, engineer, truck driver or anyone for that matter. Research studies have shown that certain psychological traits are better suited for the tough, challenging road to becoming an entrepreneur. Prof. Martin Obschonka – a Ph.D. psychologist in Saarland University, Germany who studies entrepreneurship in different regions of the world refers to them as the “Big Five” traits.
- Extraversion: outgoing, energetic
- Conscientiousness: efficient, organized
- Openness: inventive, creative, open to new experiences
- Agreeableness: friendly, compassionate
- Neuroticism: sensitive, nervous
Research shows that an entrepreneurial constellation of these “Big Five” characterizes many successful entrepreneurs.
GbizQ Straw Poll
Who is your favorite business entrepreneur? What traits in him/her do you admire the most?
Steve Jobs is an entrepreneur that I admire since after learning about him during freshman year, I discovered that he was one that persevered through hardship while beginning his company Apple. At first when it began, the share prices were $0.51 December 12, 1980. In fact, the share prices continued to decrease over time rather than gain value. After one year of starting the company, the value of shares were $0.34 which is approximately a forty percent drop in value. Fortunately, the share prices did rise and become $0.57 by August 6, 1986. Nonetheless, it still took 6 years to see any profit; the profit was not a large amount since the share price only increased by approximately ten percent. It is admirable that Steve Jobs persevered through the hardships of starting Apple. One would want to quit after seeing the value of his or her startup decrease and not show any sign of success after years of attempting. Furthermore, significant changes did not occur until after 2004. In 2001, the iPod was first introduced but it did not receive great popularity until 2004. Before the iPod was developed to a point where Apple could really impact the music industry, Steve Jobs made many attempts to sell the top selling product. Apple had to be innovative to keep trying new ideas. It was important for Jobs to take risks in order to continue learning about new possible products to explore and create. Jobs worked with FireWire, created iMovie, and created iTune while trying to launch into the digital aspects of music. It was risky for him to make such decisions especially since the company was not having any significant growth and Adobe rejected working with Apple in creating a movie editing app. I would assume that these stages of the company were quite stressful since the future of the company appeared to be a failure. One can easily be discouraged and lose the determination needed to remain determined to succeed. However, Jobs determination and risk-taking ability did bring positive results as the trend of the share prices began to grow exponentially after 2004. The introduction of the iPod really helped boost the success of the company. Just as we spoke in class, Jobs was working on promoting the Mac when the possible business venture came to build an iPod. So he put a specific worker to handle the job. He allocated work based on capability to have a successful product innovation. The share price as of December 1, 2014 was $112.54.
I personally admire Job’s perseverance, determination, and ability to risk-taking character after observing my entrepreneurial behaviors. Although I do my best to persevere, I am one to struggle with sometimes knowing when to take risks. I like to be in safe areas where I may not be overachieving but at least I am able to still survive when times look challenging to be successful. Furthermore, I really admire his determination to be innovative since I am not one to be able to think “outside the box” in many situations. After I have attempted a few ideas which do not work, I easily start giving up specifically in the area of programming. Jobs definitely was innovative since he found possible markets in which he could expand Apple. Although his ideas did not bring success for years as the share prices showed, he was determined to continue trying. Thus he was able to create iTunes which today is successful. If I was in his situation, I may have given up since there is no way to predict that a company will be successful 30 years later. In addition, he was mainly concentrating on the Mac, he began work on the iPod. This is a decision where I may take quickly since I am one to take action however I do lack putting in considerable thought into my decisions many times. Jobs has many characteristics as an entrepreneur that I admire. I think that I have good qualities to be an entrepreneur but overall I need to invest in my weak points which I mentioned so that I have the ability to lead new innovative ventures.
http://www.dividend.com/dividend-education/the-complete-history-of-apple-aapl/
http://www.macworld.com/article/1163181/the_birth_of_the_ipod.html
Jeff Bezos is one of my personal role models and favorite entrepreneur. In the mid-1990s, Bezos saw the huge potential the internet had to disrupt many areas of the economy. Bezos, convinced by the opportunity, quit his high paying job at a New York hedge fund and founded amazon.com. In learning of the growth within web commerce, Bezos used a systemic approach to narrow the industries which best harness the opportunities. Amazon started as just an online bookstore but within 2 months sales were 20,000 a week. Bezos, from the begin, took a long term view of the company. The initial business plan had a 5 year outline to become profitable and bucked the at the time current trend of starting a business with an exit strategy. Under Bezos’ leadership, Amazon survived the dotcom bust and went on to thrive. Jeff Bezos has a unique ability to not only see long term changes in market place structures but also the control and discipline to execute a long term strategy for success. His openness and conscientiousness have enabled him to create one of the leading online marketplace successes.
Randall Amon is an entrepreneur that I strongly look up to. After needing to drop out of school because he could not afford tuition costs, he gathered a group of friends and began a small, local to Maryland, company that manufactured and distributed standard and custom network and desktop cables and connectivity products. They sold this company to APC, a leading provider of these technologies in the United States, and APC later sold to Schneider Electric, a global provider of all major computer based technologies and back-up systems. Through all of the mergers, the subsequent companies saw the potential in Mr. Amon and chose to provide him with a high level position within their firms. He maintains the characteristics that are named in the article, notably extraversion and conscientiousness. His outgoing and energetic personality can make anyone like him upon meeting him, which allows him to command work related getaways and other sociable interactions. When work teams feel like they can have somewhat of a personal connection with co-workers/bosses, they are likely to be more productive because they are happy to do their work to help the team. Also, his efficiency and organizational skills allow him to plan for major events for the company in advance, while maintaining and resolving unexpected problems that arise on a daily basis.
Many tech entrepreneurs today such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others are known for their humble beginnings in a garage or dorm room. While these entrepreneurs may have had to face initial startup issues, they could fall back on previously obtained wealth or family. For example, both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg grew up in upper middle class families and both went to prestigious private schools, The Lakeside School and Philip Exeter School respectively. If these entrepreneur’s ventures did not work out they had something to fall back on.
Larry Ellison, the founder of the Oracle Corporation risked everything when he took his first step into the tech industry. He was born into a lower middle class Jewish family and was given up for adoption at a young age. He would then drop out of high school after his adoptive mother passed away and many believed he would amount to nothing. After working with numerous companies helping design early databases, Larry Ellison risked everything and began work on the Oracle Database. The Oracle Database and the other Oracle applications would revolutionize enterprise level computing. I admire Larry Ellison because he risked everything and revolutionized the business world.
I personally look up to Tim Ferriss because I preach efficiency. Tim has always given me the mindset that working smarter is generally more effective than simply working harder. Although Tim is an author, he has started multiple businesses including BrainQuicken, and built the infamous “4-hour” brand. He is certainly outgoing, as he considers himself a human guinea pig, constantly pushing human boundaries both mentally and physically.
There are blogs such as lifehacker, but Tim applies these tactics to his own life, and provides a transparent report to his readers and his mentees. Based on his behind-the-scenes for writing the “4-Hour Chef”, he traveled the world and learned the cooking processes in depth so that he can generalize a formula that anyone can apply to their lives.
Tim is sensitive in the way that he has lived an ordinary life, working long hours with little pay, despite having attended Princeton. Over the years, he helped revive the 80-20 rule amongst mass media and is now an advisor to many popular startups today including Uber and Shopify. Although he’s not considered the typical entrepreneur, I always favor his methodology for growth hacking and capitalizing on opportunities.
My favorite business entrepreneur is Shawn Carter also known as Jay-Z. He is not only an entertainer but also a well-known business man. He began his own record label Roc-a-fella records at 27 and later went on to create his own clothing line Rocawear. In 2005, he became the president of Def Jam Records where he signed many talented and influential artists. During his career he took on different business ventures including opening up his own sports club called 40/40 club and even bought part ownership of the Brooklyn Nets. He also signed a $150 million joint venture with Live Nation to create an entertainment company called Roc Nation which manages many artist. Just recently he launched his own streaming service called Tidal with the help of other well-known artist such as Kanye West and Madonna. I admire Jay-Z’s versatility, drive and ability to stay relevant through business ventures and music as the music industry changes and grows. I also admire his business savvy and ability to be innovative both creatively in his music and in his other business ventures. He’s always looking for the next opportunity and he’s really open in regards to pursuing new markets whether he’s familiar with it or not.
Nandini Kishore
My favorite entrepreneur is Walt Disney. Disney has had an enormous impact in both the entertainment industry and the popular culture of the 20th century due to his openness and perseverance. Some of his innovations include the first cartoons with synchronized sound, the first full length animated film and a theme park. Disney and his brother Roy are the founders of Walt Disney productions which without a doubt has become one of the most well-known companies in the world.
In terms of openness, Disney was inventive, creative and open to new experiences regardless of the risk. With his hard childhood, Disney had found an escape through creating a fantasy world where everything was beautiful and happy. He created a character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which eventually was stolen from him. But, due to his perseverance he was able to overcome this setback and create the world famous Mickey Mouse. His perseverance also prevailed when he gave up his living space in order to save money to produce his on shorts. He wanted the world to experience something new.
Walt Disney is one of my role models because he showed that with just an idea, someone can achieve and innovate great things.
There are many innovators that I admire as an aspiring entrepreneur, but my favorite would have to be founder and CEO of Under Armour, and former Terp, Kevin Plank. Plank was born and raised in Maryland, and went on to play football at the University of Maryland. As a football player, he realized that his normal cotton t-shirts would often get quite sweaty and uncomfortable underneath his pads. Plank sought out to solve this problem and, using the earnings he had saved from a previous entrepreneurial endeavor he had while in school, he developed a new t-shirt from a synthetic material, and Under Armour was born. Today, Under Armour is one of the largest apparel companies in the world, and Kevin Plank is worth $3.5 billion. There are so many qualities to admire about someone as driven and successful as Plank, but for me, what stands out his is initiative. He was a football player who was unhappy with the situation he was in, so he took the initiative and did something about it. That is a very admirable quality that not many people posses. Another impressive characteristic of Plank’s is his strategic mindset. He grew Under Armour by tapping into his connections he made while playing football. He would send shirts to his former teammates turned professional football players, and they would give them to their teammates. This was a phenomenal way to get recognition and grow the company, even if it took some time. Now, 19 years and billions of dollars later, Kevin Plank can look back and know that his plan worked better than he could have ever imagined.
Tony Fadell
Fadell spearheaded the development of the iPod and iPhone at Apple. After revolutionizing the the music and phone industry, he decided to focus on the Internet of Things. He started by tackling a simple device that accounts for 10% of U.S energy consumption, the thermostat. He founded Nest Labs in 2010 and sold it to Google 3yrs later for 3.2Billion. Nest, the smart thermostat, if the first of many products to come that will help him pioneer the conscious home.
I praise in Fadell, his desire to question every product and think how could he make it better. From interviews, one can tell that Fadell strongest traits are openness and conscientiousness. He is constantly thinking how he can improve things, and what product can he redesign in order to contribute to society, he claims it is “his calling”. It is important to not that many entrepreneurs have these qualities as well but his ability to go forward with his idea, and design a product that appeals to the masses in enviable. It just seems like he is always one step ahead of everybody. These are just a few reasons why, Tony Fadell is my favorite entrepreneur.
Elon Musk. Above his other admirable entrepreneurial attributes, I respect Elon for his desire to altruistically help the world. I was astounded to learn of his company’s declaration that “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology”, making all of their hundreds of patents essentially open-source. He said “It would be shortsighted if we try to hold these things close to our vest”, referring to rallying the automotive industry to eradicate our fossil fuel dependency and fight global warming. I’ve always despised the patent system and felt that it represses innovation, a feeling shared in works such as “Innovation and Its Discontents”. I understand that patents were supposed to protect innovators and their time developing new ideas, but in reality whoever has more money in patent litigation is the “winner”. It costs a substantial amount of money to file a patent and can take years to find out if it’s been awarded, which does not mean that it can’t be invalidated after all that. Tesla’s attitude is how I feel every company should behave, to inspire collaboration and swifter advances in technology, and reduce reinvention of the wheel.
One of my favorite entrepreneurs is Jeff Bezos. Bezos founded Amazon.com Inc in 1994 and started in his garage. He scores high in conscientiousness and openness, which can be seen throughout Amazon’s history. Amazon is constantly improving upon its supply chain to make processes faster and allow customers to receive their packages quicker. Above all, Bezos has been very inventive and innovative, pushing Amazon to be ranked among the most innovative companies in the world. From the ‘one-click’ checkout button to the kindle to Amazon Prime Air, Bezos and the company continually strive to reinvent themselves to provide a better overall customer experience. His desire to push forward with innovations is embodied by his motto “it’s still day one”. Bezos also scores high in extraversion and agreeableness, which compliment his other traits. These traits make him charismatic leader who is passionate about innovative ideas. Bezos’ traits have been critical to his success and will continue to shape the future of the company and the way consumers shop.
Jack Ma is a Chinese entrepreneur who founded Alibaba in 1999. Today, Alibaba is the world’s largest e-retailer by a margin. Customers on the site spend more than $9000 per second – more than double the per second spend on Amazon. Its IPO in 2014 was one of the largest in history and the firm has a market cap of over $200 billion today. Jack Ma, without a doubt, has played a significant role in his firm’s success.
I admire his willingness to accept risk in pursuit of reward. When his company was competing against eBay in China, he adopted a radical but risky model which shunned charging vendors or customers like eBay did. Revenue, instead, came from search and banner ads. He saw this as way to gain an upper hand against a big competitor. In the end, customers flocked to Alibaba and eBay was run into the ground.
I also admire Jack Ma’s foresight. He always seems to be one or two steps ahead of everyone else. He revels in interacting with the future, spotting trends, and predicting how those trends will evolve. As an example, he bet that the rising Chinese middle class would want to buy name brand goods online. To this effect, he started Tmall, a website on which businesses sell brand name goods to Chinese consumers, which is now one of the top 20 websites in the world. It is Ma’s ability to find blue oceans that has enabled him to triumph where others have met disaster.
My favorite business entrepreneur is Mark Cuban. He is currently the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, 2929 Entertainment and Magnolia Pictures in addition to being the chairman of AXS TV. He first dabbled in the business world at the young age of 12 by going door-to-door selling garbage bags to help save for the new pair of shoes he wanted. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 1981 and moved to Dallas, Texas. After just one year, he started his company Microsolutions which he later sold for $6 million in 1990. In 1995, he partnered with Todd Wagner, a friend from his college days at Indiana, to form what is now known as broadcast.com. Just 4 years after it’s birth, the company was acquired by Yahoo for $5.7 million in stock. In 2000, Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million. Since then he has continued to make numerous profitable investments such as Synergy Sports Technology, IceRocket, RedSwoosh and many more.
What I admire most about Mark Cuban is that even after so much success he is still eagerly pursuing more and more business ventures. While maybe considered smaller scale investments, he is still an active investor on the hit show Shark Tank. Although some may find him to be outspoken, to become worth $3.5 billion means he must strongly emit the “Big Five” traits of an entrepreneur.
One of my favorite and highly respected entrepreneurs is Sophia Amoruso. Like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, Sophia Amoruso dropped out of community college and started NastyGal, one of the biggest apparel businesses in the fashion industry. She started by selling unique vintage clothing online through eBay, and in 2008, she decided to go from her online store on eBay to launching NastyGal as a standalone site. She is a large risk taker with an immense amount of creativity and energy, and she is always motivated to satisfy her customers with more apparel and accessories that are unique to our eyes. I really admire how Amoruso has such high extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. Her outgoing and energetic personality can be seen how she interacts with her employers. On many of NastyGal’s social media platforms, there are videos that express the large excitement taking place in their workplace. This really brings all the workers, including Amoruso, together. Her open, inventive, and creative trait is what I believe to be why NastyGal came about. Her unusual creativity and taste in fashion is what excites both her customers and workers, making her business unique and quite addictive, since so many people look forward to their new arrivals. Lastly, her compassionate and friendly attitude is shared by many of her workers, making her easy to work with. Along with these three character traits that I admire most about Amoruso, I also truly admire how she was able to go from sitting behind her computer using eBay to owning a successful online clothing retailer with annual sales over $100 million.
As someone who one day hopes to be a successful entrepreneur myself, I have several entrepreneurial role models that I look up to. My favorite entrepreneur, however, would have to be Elon Musk. There are several traits that he possesses that make him my favorite, like his determination, risk taking, and forward thinking. Musk is someone who did not come from money, but like so many other great entrepreneurs was determined to make it to the top. His forward thinking is one of his greatest qualities. He has consistently made his money by being ahead of the curve with both the companies that he has started himself, as well as those he has invested in or purchased. From the eventual sale of PayPal for example Musk made $165 million because there were really not any other services like PayPal. His more recent ventures have also been well ahead of their time, and also shown his risk taking. Space X for example could revolutionize space flight by commercializing it in the near future, and Tesla Motor Company could bring electric cars into the main stream. Even when his ventures do not seem to be working out Musk continues to relentlessly drive toward success in whatever he is doing, which is one of the main reasons he is a top role model of mine.
Being an entrepreneur is not one of my own goals in life, however, I do respect people of that nature due to the circumstances which involve reaching that position. This is because I understand that the most drastic changes can only arise from drastic ideas which are followed up with rigorous perseverance. William “Bill” Gates is the man which I most respect in this arena due to this and other reasons. I wont go into detail about his history except for what really appeals to me, mainly that he saw the fallacies of the modern day american schooling system and how it most money being spent on schools are being wasted and spent in the wrong areas, not on increasing the quality of the education, Bill Gates goes so far as to say during the 2011 TED conference “The guys at Enron never would have done this! I mean this is so blatant, so extreme that, is anybody paying attention to what these guys do?”. However this is not the only reason why I look up to him because most people can talk since it does not cost anything like time or money but Bill acts. Since its introduction in 2008 and after nearly 225 million USD which Bill Gates himself funded, the common core standard is applied in about 45 different states which change the way education is being delivered. Now, whether one agrees with the common core standard or not, my point is that Bill Gates is using the money he earned from his entrepreneurial ventures towards a cause which is good and that is what matters to me at the end of the day. If I were to give one statement from Bill Gates as to why I look up to him in such a manner, it would be this: “I have no use for money. This is God’s work” -Bill Gates.
There are a lot of business entrepreneurs from various fields that I like and respect but my favorite entrepreneur is Kevin Plank. Going to Maryland has exposed me to the life and success of Kevin Plank and the more I learned about him the more I grew to like him. He played football at Maryland in the mid-90s and while in college launched various businesses. One of his most successful businesses was a service that sold roses on Valentine’s Day. From this business alone he made over $17,000. He then used this money as the initial funding for the new famous brand Under Armor. Plank was always referred to as the “sweatiest guy on the football field”. So, he started looking for an alternate, more comfortable material compared to cotton. He tried out several prototypes before eventually settling on what is now the material used in Under Armor. He graduated in 1996 and it wasn’t until 2003 that the company really took off. I admire how determined Plank is as an entrepreneur. The fact that he made $17,000 running his own business while playing college football shows how hard he was willing to work to be successful. Then the fact that he persisted with Under Armor for years before gaining any national recognition shows how faithful he was in his brand. I also admire how philanthropic Plank is. He has donated millions of dollars to charities across the country as well as the University of Maryland. He even funded $25 million for a new practice facility in College Park.
My favorite entrepreneur is Paul Reed Smith, CEO and founder of PRS guitars. In his work, Paul Reed Smith has demonstrated all 5 of the big 5 traits for entrepreneurs, but what I find most fascinating about his entrepreneur work is his openness, agreeableness, and extraversion.
When Paul Reed Smith was first starting out, the guitar industry was dominated by two companies, Gibson and Fender, neither of which were known for constant innovation. The two companies preferred to continue to sell the same product that they had sold for decades, using the same processes and techniques they had used since their inception. Utilizing new CNC machine process innovations, new engineering designs, and innovative marketing techniques, Paul Reed Smith showed his openness to new technology and creative ideas in a market characterized by tradition and stagnation.
One of my favorite anecdotes is about Paul Reed Smith’s marketing in the company’s infant stages. During a Carlos Santana concert, Paul Smith snuck backstage to meet him, brought one of his guitar prototypes, and told Santana that if he didn’t like it, he could have it for free. That day, Santana became the leading endorser for PRS guitars, and showed that Paul Reed Smith to be a agreeable and extraverted entrepreneur. He still maintains close, personal relationships with many of the leading endorsers of PRS guitars, even as his company’s annual revenue has risen from 0 to $43.5 million over the years.
My favorite business entrepreneur is Elon Musk. Musk is the CEO of two extremely innovative companies in Tesla Motors and SpaceX. One of the things that has made him so successful in his role as a leader for these two organizations is that Musk is an engineer and has an extremely deep understanding of the products and services his companies provide. He has been an entrepreneur for much of his adult life so he has much experience conveying his ideas to outside investors. It is this ability to translate dense scientific ideas into something the public can understand that makes him so successful. The drive and ability to overcome fear of failure are some of the things that have also made Elon successful. He is a very creative ,open minded person who listens to others better than him and reads to become well acquitted with the fields in which he is innovating.
My favorite entrepreneur is my older brother, Chase Kaczmarek. Chase was a graduate from the Smith School in 2014 and since then his business has continued to grow. About two years ago, he began a company called Wheel Shields that introduced a new accessory into the skateboarding and long boarding community. The journey that got him to a successful business involved crowdsourcing, competition winnings (Cupids Cup and Baylor Entrepreneurs), and Angel investors. At this point, Chase has a self-sustaining company that features a product sold online as well as in many stores in the US and Europe.
The most admirable characteristics of my older brother are his public speaking ability, resourcefulness, and lack of fear with making big deals. First, all of his initial startup funding came due to his ability to speak in a manner that promoted his product and gave the listener a reason to believe in his mission. Next, Chase was resourceful in his use of the Smith School and all of the assistance he was able to obtain from professors that were pushing him to be successful. Lastly, by not fearing making a big deal, he was able to quickly close a deal that put him into retail stores in Austria. Overall, Chase’s ability to learn and apply the assistance of others was him main avenue to success and the main takeaway I have from his entrepreneurship.
Daniel Medina
Although there is a lot we can learn from the richest entrepreneurs that have been around the longest, many of these entrepreneurs have had a lot of time to see their inventions, innovations and ideas flourish and gain recognition over time. What I find more impressive are the new, younger entrepreneurs that have grown up in the age of technology and are creating new ways of furthering technology. For that reason I have a high regard for Evan Spiegel, the co-founder of Snapchat. Evan is the son of two wealthy lawyers and went to Stanford University. However, this young billionaire isn’t the typical billionaire. Evan Spiegel is characterized as an immature partier. Evan is an extroverted “bro” that dropped out of school to follow his idea. This step took a lot of courage and a lot of perseverance especially since dropping out of an ivy league isn’t the most popular decision. What I admire about Mr. Spiegel is that he is a normal student in terms of character. Besides the wealth, Evan had a great and simple idea and it turned out to be a hit. It wasn’t necessary to invent anything huge in order to become extremely successful.
Robert Herjavec’s approach to entrepreneurship is to never give up. He’s the son of Croatian immigrants who could barely speak English, and once remembers how his mother lost their family savings to a smooth-talking vacuum salesman. He vowed to himself to never let his family get taken advantage of again, and eventually launched BRAK technology systems, which is now worth $100 million. It is hard not to respect that willingness to succeed in the face of such adversity. He is also the author of two best-selling titles, ‘Driven: How to Succeed in Business and Life’ (2010) and ‘The Will to Win: Leading, Competing, Succeeding’ (2013). While the former one is based on the work and life principles that made him both wealthy and successful, the latter one delivers life lessons that promise to guide readers to greater happiness and success. His rags to riches story is both compelling and inspiring to me.
On the show Sharktank, he’s an investor who isn’t as harsh as say, Mark Cuban; rather he will attempt to give the entrepreneurs constructive criticism. On one episode of Sharktank, an extremely passionate student pitched his t-shirt idea. Mark Cuban and others tore him to shreds, but Herjavec said at the end, “As long as your emotional and you’re great at something, the money will follow”. I truly believe in that statement and it led me to respect Herjavec even more. I most admired his ability to show compassion to the young entrepreneur in a time of complete failure.
I really look up to Richard Branson. He is a self made man and didn’t come from anything and managed to build something out of nothing. He struggled in school and dropped out at age 16, a decision that ultimately lead to the creation of Virgin Records. His entrepreneurial projects started in the music industry and expanded into other sectors making him a billionaire. His Virgin Group holds more than 200 companies, including Virgin Galactic, a space-tourism company. Branson is also known for his adventurous spirit and sporting achievements, including crossing oceans in a hot air balloon.
I really admire his determination in the face of all the adversities he had to overcome. He struggled with dyslexia in school and it caused him to suffer. In 1992 Virgin was struggling and Branson had to sell it. He didn’t give up there though and continued to found different businesses. I also really admire the fact that he is very adventurous and takes risks. In 1986 he broke the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing in the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. He was also the first person to cross the Atlantic in a Hot Air Balloon. Risk tolerance and being adventurous are two good traits of entrepreneurs.
While not a household name in the world of entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur that I look up to is Rich Paul. Paul is a founding member of Lebron James’ marketing and management group, LRMR, as well as the owner of Klutch Sports Groups, one of the top sports agencies in the industry. Paul’s been so successful due to his abnormal strengths in the Big 5 traits of entrepreneurship; specifically, his extraverted personality and low levels of neuroticism. Before he created his own agency, Paul made a humble living selling throwback sports jerseys out of the trunk of his car. It wasn’t until he had a chance run-in with Lebron at an airport, where he introduced himself and quickly started talking business, that he got his foot in the door. Since their partnership, Paul has shown that he is not easily intimidated. In business meetings with billionaires such as Warren Buffet, Dan Gilbert, and David Geffen, he always asked questions and gave off a welcoming aura that attracted both established entrepreneurs and potential clients to his camp.
Additionally, Paul has an even temperament and cool headed attitude that is essential for any entrepreneur to keep up and thrive in the fast paced and stressful business environment. Perhaps the most famous example is how he handled his client Lebron’s controversial decision to leave the Cavaliers. While the rest of LRMR were busy with handling the fallout and backlash from the situation, it was Paul who called Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner, to inform him that his client was not returning. This was one of the most controversial and criticized decisions in recent sports memory, and to be on the front line between his client and a furious city and organization required a tremendous amount of patience and resolve on his part. His ability to maintain his cool has been a large factor in LRMR’s financial success, with investments in Beats by Dre, Liverpool FC, Nike, and Coca Cola reaping massive benefits for his firm.
My favorite entrepreneur is Elon Musk because of his diversity of business ventures and his desire to want to better society. There are plenty of business people who engage in “dirty business” and disregard others’ well being or the environment (companies like Monsanto, for example) to make money, but Elon Musk wants electric vehicles to become as ubiquitous as regular gasoline vehicles in efforts to reduce the pollution of the environment. For example, Tesla’s mission statement is ” to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible. ” In addition to this, I admire the sheer innovativeness and vision of the SpaceX, his other company. SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Science-fiction is becoming reality. Due to this, and more, Elon Musk is one of the entrepreneurs I respect the most.
There are many reasons why Steve Jobs is my favorite Entrepreneur, however the most inspiring reasons cam from his 2005 Stanford Commencement speech. Throughout his speech, Jobs tells a shorted version of his life story, making sure to include the lessons he had learned. After Jobs dropped out of college, he stayed ambitious and studied what he loves and what he found interesting. Those are the classes that came in handy in the future when he was creating Apple. At age 20 he was able to start Apple in his parent’s garage, building the company to over a billion dollars within 10 years. However, his perseverance didn’t stop there. Jobs was fired from Apple when he was 30, but that just made him stronger. He went on to become more creative than he has ever been before, and eventually created both Pixar and Next, a company that would soon be bought by Apple. And yet the perseverance continues. Steve was diagnosed with cancer and was able to fight through, and after a surgical procedure, he was cancer free. He continued to follow his heart and knew his time was limited so he had to make the most of it. The way Steve Jobs was able to persevere through anything that was thrown at him, and his ambition throughout life, is why he is my favorite entrepreneur.
My favorite business entrepreneur is Arianna Huffington the co-founder of Huffington Post. When Huffington wrote her second book it was rejected 36 times before getting published. Her great mindset and motivation to not give up allowed her to continue to pursue her goal. Most people would have given up if their book was rejected as many times as Huffington’s. This is what I admire most about her which is not to give up when things get tough. She inspires me to always continue to work hard, despite tremendous adversity, and it will pay off in the end.
Huffington had the confidence and believed in her ability to succeed, so she continued to write. This is very inspiration because lots of people lose their confidence when they fail. Just because someone lacks the ability to write a great book does not make them a failure, instead they should work with their own ability to reach their goal.
Huffington’s ambition and the inner drive to succeed allowed her to create Huffington Post and now she is one of the premier publishers of Huffington Post. These are several characteristics that I admire about her which motivates me each day to chase after my goals.
By far, I would say that my favorite entrepreneur would be Sergey Brin. As one of the co-founders of Google and as an undergrad Alumni of the University of Maryland, he has contributed much to the success and widespread appeal of internet search engines, and their derivative technologies. Along with the other co-founder, Larry Page, they both set out to work on a research project, which would eventually become the Multi Billion dollar company that we all know today. I deeply admire the fact that he was not mainly motivated by money for these projects. His will and drive were focused entirely on innovation through creating the best search engine technology in the world.
With respect to his traits, I most admire his tenacity and openness to explore and develop innovations, for the sake of innovation. Given his interests in the fields of computer science and engineering, I can see how his particular innovation could be seen and interpreted as the pinnacle of his passion for search engine technology. This openness and tenacity were also exemplified when both him and his colleague maxed out their personal credit cards for developing this innovation, when other search engine companies, such as Yahoo and Lycos, refused to invest in or buy out their technology. Needless to say, that their passions for technology ended up turning them a healthy profit as well.
Of all the incredible entrepreneurs that continue to shape the world as we know it today, my personal favorite of the group is Richard Branson. The famous story goes that Branson was not a strong student and dropped out of high school, which led the Headmaster of his school to say the famous quote “You will either end up in prison or a millionaire”. The rest was history; as Branson went on to turn his small record business that he started into Virgin Records which he sold to EMI for a whopping 500 million Euros. The qualities Richard Branson possesses that are so inspiring are his openness, extraversion, passion, and agreeableness. Branson is a well-known celebrity by now, being featured in movies, tv shows, commercials, etc. His outgoing and open minded attitude led him to a multitude of successful ventures. Many people would have been satisfied with the success from the record company, but not Branson. No, Branson moved from his record business and created Virgin into a worldwide brand with Virgin Airlines, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Australia, and Virgin Galactic. All of which are highly innovate and successful ventures. But his openness has also led him into many unsuccessful ventures, like Virgin Cola, Virgin Trains and Virgin Vodka. His ability to accept his failures and push toward further innovation is the true sign of an entrepreneur in my opinion. Richard Branson is a testament to innovation, but also a constant reminder that you should never count yourself out in any scenario and remain true to your vision.
My favorite Entrepreneur is Sir Richard Branson. He is the founder of the Virgin Group which now consists of over 400 companies. He started from just a magazine and was able to grow and branch out into many different fields from electronics to banking and even commercial space flight.
The trait that I admire the most is his persistence to succeed in so many fields. He could have retired a long time ago or stuck to just one field that was successful but instead he has continued to dabble and succeed in many industries. An example of his persistence is when he sold Virgin Records. In 1992 to save his airline company he reluctantly sold Virgin records and five years later he founded V2 records to get back into the music industry. Obviously he wasn’t successful in all of his ventures e.g. Virgin cola, but his commitment to trying new field definitely are keys to his massive success.
Of Out of all the entrepreneurs I know of, although few, Bill Gates would have to be my favorite by far. I’m a computer science major and software has always been a passion of mine, so it was easy to relate to him in that sense. His immense success in the industry made him a role model for my computer science aspirations. But even if Bill and I didn’t share the same career, I would still admire him for his relentless philanthropy. As of 2007, Bill and Melinda gates had given over $28 billion to charity – namely the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which was started in 1994. Recently Bill has even stepped down from his day-to-day operations with Microsoft to focus more on his philanthropic ventures. Aside from his philanthropy, another trait which I admire about Bill is that he is extremely hardworking. Entering his field in the era of the personal computer’s birth, Bill – with his background and passion in the field of software – seized this opportunity and put in a tremendous amount of work to develop the magnificent products Microsoft deployed in their early days. He instilled his notion of hard work in his employees too, which is the main driving force behind Microsoft’s huge success. Bill Gates, ranked as the fourth most powerful person in the world, is definitely a man that I admire both as a person and a businessman. His motivation to convince other wealthy individuals to follow the philanthropic path is also very respectable. In a capitalistic nation such as America where selfishness thrives, especially among the rich, we need more people like Bill Gates to step forward and help those who aren’t as fortunate.
There are many great entrepreneurs who gained their success around my lifetime: Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sean Parker, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page to name a few. While these businessmen have dominated the Information age and the Internet, and while I do respect each and every one of them, my favorite entrepreneur is someone a bit more aged: John D. Rockefeller.
While I don’t admire Rockefeller for his wealth, it is worth noting that he was both, according to Forbes, the first American billionaire and his fortune in today’s dollars would be equivalent to over $340 billion (Forbes – The Rockefellers: The Legacy of History’s Richest Man, July 11 2014). I don’t admire him for this, because this level of wealth is simply unfathomable for me. Most people, I believe, can’t imagine how Bill Gates lives and he’s not worth anywhere near this.
What I do admire Rockefeller for is his tenacity, starting out as an assistant bookkeeper, to move through industry and business to develop the world’s first trust, Standard Oil, and rise from meager means into a position of such power. According to History.com; his father was a mere con-man, and he didn’t have a lot to spend when he was growing up; however, in his youth he declared that he would one day make $100,000 and live to 100 years. While the latter of those goals did not happen, as he died at the age of 97, the former did happen; 10,000 fold (History: John D. Rockefeller, 2010)
I believe that, if someone like him who came from small means can rise to greatness, I can attain a life that is more than comfortable for myself, under which I can help the world, through tenacity and a drive for success.
My favorite entrepreneur and innovator is Elon Musk for several reasons. As one of the founders of Paypal, he has shown the ability to create new businesses in emerging markets; at a time when digital payments were necessary he founded a processor that was easy and efficient. Elon soon invested into other markets such as space cargo (SpaceX), electric cars (Tesla) and solar power (Solar City) all of which have been very successful. He is not only my favorite entrepreneur because of this success, but because he is passionate about social and environment change. He receives minimum wage as a worker for each business and re-invests this money into each. Although he earns under $40,000 as a “employee” for each company, his market shares put his net worth into the billions. Not only does he care about those who work for him but his customers and the environment. Lately he has been trying to reduce the cost for owning a Tesla – he even is selling the battery patents to other companies for profit and to better the environment. He is also combatting conditions through creating home solar grids, solar mobile stations and solar farms, all of which will reduce emissions and greenhouse gasses. Like Zuckerberg, who cares about social problems as well as Bill Gates, one of the biggest charity donors in the world, he exemplifies how an entrepreneur should act and how to use their power and influence to better our world – not own it.
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My favorite business entrepreneur is Warren Buffet. While some people may view Buffet as an investor, rather than an entrepreneur, Buffet has all the characteristics of an entrepreneur because he looks for areas of business where he sees chances for improvement (called “value investing”). One of the keys that show he is an entrepreneur is his belief in investing in businesses, rather than an asset that, as he says, “will be forever unproductive.”
Buffet doesn’t believe in buying something that he has to depend on someone else paying more for further down the line in order to make a profit. Gold he says, “just sits there”, yet if he were to invest in a company it would still create profits for him even if the stock market were shut down and he couldn’t sell the shares.
Buffet has many of the classic traits of an entrepreneur. He is extremely extroverted, not being afraid to talk to the media or explain his investing strategies (as shown earlier). As well, he is agreeable; he has committed to donating 99% of his worth to charity. It’s hard to conceive of a more agreeable act than donating $72 billion to charity.
My favorite entrepreneur is Elon Musk. I have admiration for his natural tendency to innovate. As a serial entrepreneur, Elon Musk has time and time again proved that he has the vision and expertise to break into a wide range of markets. He has had a hand in how people conduct monetary transactions, travel, and more. What I find truly aspiring about him is his can-do attitude, and never stating that something is impossible. When Elon Musk’s first company, Zip2, was acquired by Compaq in 1999, Musk walked away with $22 million. While most people would have been content to relax and live on that wealth for the rest of their lives, Elon Musk instead chose to continue innovating and making an impact on the world. Elon Musk has the imagination of a child, dreaming of spaceflight and hyper fast travel. Unlike a schoolboy however, he has the capital, drive, and reputation to draw the top talent from around the world to turn his dreams into reality. In the past few years alone, Tesla Motors has gone from a cool idea to an actual tangible product that is positioning itself to change the auto industry forever. SpaceX is revolutionizing space travel, aiming to provide an affordable method of transportation for all. Elon Musk has stated that he wants to start a human colony on Mars by 2040, and while that is a very lofty goal, if there’s anyone who can make that into a reality its him.
My favorite entrepreneur is Neil Blumenthal, who is the co-CEO and co-Founder of Warby Parker, an online eyewear retailer that sells affordable, fashionable glasses. Blumenthal graduated from Tufts University in 2002, and began working for VisionSpring. Six years later, he attended Wharton for an MBA. In 2010, he, along with three other friends at Warton, created Warby Parker, after realizing that it was extremely difficult to purchase inexpensive prescription glasses and there were no online retailer for glasses. Since then, the company has sold over a million pairs of glasses and is now valued at $500 million.
I admire that he disrupted the eyewear industry. Prior to Warby Parker, very few people purchased glasses online because they were unable to try them on. Warby Parker created a system that allows glasses to be shipped to customers for free for trial. I also admire his dedication to “doing good.” One of Warby Parker’s two missions is to “build a business that could solve problems instead of creating them.” The company is committed to having a net zero carbon footprint and part of the profits from each purchase go towards providing eyewear to the developing world.
My favorite entrepreneur/innovator is Elon Musk. He innovates to change the world for the best. He does not work to improve life for certain countries or people but for everyone on the planet. He doesn’t do it only for the money but has an underlying purpose. He wants to do things to better our environment and make sure mankind will survive and prosper. He is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX where he is working on space exploration. He started SpaceX with the dream to create a “true spacefaring civilization”. He is also the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, where he aims to bring practical electric cars to the world to reduce carbon footprint and help the environment.
I admire Elon Musk because for his persistence, creativity, and drive. Throughout his career, the odds were against him. People told him his goals were crazy and would be impossible to achieve, yet he still created companies such as SpaceX and Solar City and put in all his time, money, and effort. This is also an attestment to his creativity. He is making products and Ideas that others haven’t thought of yet, and truly will change the world.
There are countless entrepreneurs that have drastically changed the way society goes about their lives. Personally, I had the initial intention to write about Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Mobile USA, or Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Nevertheless, I think Steve Jobs is worth my third and last blog post of the class. Although many will argue that he has all five traits that are listed in the article, however I believe he is truly made up of three. These include extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness. Many do not know it, but Steve was not only a genius who had an intuitive instinct for simplicity and design, but he was also a very rude and ambitious person as well. I haven’t had the opportunity to read his autobiography, however apparently he was ruthless to his employees. He would scold them over the smallest little details. Within the sphere of Apple, he was feared. People were scared to talk to him because his mind was very narrow when wanting to complete his vision of a finished product, hence the conscientiousness—he was on top of everyone to make the most perfect product at its most efficient output. He is also ruthless in that he’s persevered through countless hardships—dropping out of college, starting with a failing business, cancer, etc., however managed to leave a permanent footprint in the way society thinks and how companies produce and design their products. All in all, I admire his openness – his ability to think years in advance and create a pipeline for intuitive products and designs that would shock the world. I’ll never forget the time when a friend of mine first got the iPhone. It amazed me. The thought of a touch screen phone was something out of movie that I didn’t think was possible. Nevertheless, everything he came out with never ceased to amaze billions of people around the world. Although he is gone, he will certainly not be forgotten.
My favorite entrepreneur is Robert Herjavec. After having read his book Driven, I really understood and appreciated what it meant to be an entrepreneur. Born in Croatia, Herjavec was the son of a hardworking immigrant factory worker who made $76 a week. Herjavec and his family moved to Canada with only $20 and lived in the basement of a family friend’s home for 18 months. He eventually graduated college and after working many low-income jobs, Herjavec landed a position at Logiquest. It was after being fired from Logiquest in 1990 that Herjavec started BRAK Systems, an internet security company, in Canada. He eventually sold his company to AT&T for 20 million.
What I really like about Robert Herjavec are his experiences as young immigrant. At a young age, Herjavec was quickly forced to understand the value of money. He values an education and has a very open mindset when it comes to entrepreneurship. Most people know Herjavec from the Canadian show Dragon’s Den or the American counterpart, Sharktank. However if you read his book, you will understand how unique of an individual Herjavec is. One of my favorite Herjavec quotes is “A goal without a timeline is simply a dream”. He emphasizes the importance of hard work and creativity, two things I really admire. To add to that, qualities that really make Herjavec a great entrepreneur are his compassion and energetic attitude. He welcomes young entrepreneurs with a positive outlook on the business world and aims to inspire others. His words really do make an impact on individuals, and rather than sugar-coating the hardship of entrepreneurship, Herjavec is very honest and straightforward. He really is someone to look up to, especially immigrants who aim to become entrepreneurs.
When people think of Thomas Edison, they think of the man who invented the light bulb. They think of words, such as prolific innovator and genius scientist. They daydream of conceptions of a recluse who spends his days in isolation, scheming the blueprints for his next big invention. However, many fail to see the other side of him. They fail to see the businessman Thomas Edison, and by doing so, they fail to see his entrepreneur spirit.
Thomas Edison was my favorite entrepreneur, not because he was arguably one of the most prolific and scientifically talented, but because he was a go-getter. At the age of 12, his dad gave him a watch, only to watch it promptly be dismantled and reassembled before him. When their friends heard of this event, they all hired Thomas to fix their watches when needed, an experience that marked his first true business venture.
Thomas was pulled out of school at an early age to be home schooled by his mother. His teachers and peers often dismissed Thomas’s relentless barrage of questions and were quick to label him as a troublesome child because of his demeanor, but in reality, it reflected his intellectual nature. Whenever Thomas wanted to know how something worked, he would ask why it happened. When the person said that they didn’t know, he would look them in the eye with his inquisitive gaze and ask again, “why?”
It is personality traits like this that make me admire Thomas Edison. He is inquisitive by nature, and independent in his thinking. He has a genuine passion to learn about how the world works, something that I believe is tantamount to succeeding not only as an entrepreneur, but also in life. His persistent efforts to sell his inventions to the highest bidder and constantly negotiate terms with competitors shows that he settles for nothing but the best. So the next time you think of Thomas Edison, don’t think of the hermit who soullessly executes experiments. Think of the passionate salesman who is always questioning the world for answers and demanding the best bargains.
An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. Elon Musk is a perfect definition of an entrepreneur. He is my favorite entrepreneur. He taught himself computer programming and sold a video game at the age of 12. He has that early seed of entrepreneurial activities and eager to learn. He acquired different fields of knowledge from physics to economics and computers to space. He was involved early in the entrepreneurial activities after he got his first bachelors degree and got involved in the internet, web and renewable energy and space.
He has been involved in many firms. Musk and his brother started a company called Zip2 and sold it to compaq for $341 million dollar which they started from their father’s money, i.e. $28,000. He wanted to become CEO of the company but the board of directors did not allow it. That eager to rise and be a leader has definitely helped him seek more height in the present days. He also invented paypal and spaceX. These two different fields also show his multi talented attributes an entrepreneur posses. After so much of the height and money, he was almost penniless and bankrupt in 2010 but he did not give up. He borrowed money and ask friends to help and risking everything he started working on the Tesla concept, which is now a leading 100% battery driven luxury automobile company. He is a risk taker, another important trait of an entrepreneur. Again he is also founder and CEO of the spaceX firm. He is also founder and chairman of solarcity, an energy services firm. Because of his immense talent and always hungry for growth, risk taking traits, he is a true leader and an entrepreneur.
My favorite business entrepreneur is well known as Bill Gates. He is a classic example of the right man for the right job. In his childhood, he performed very well is school and ready encyclopedias so that his parents worried he would become a loner. When he truly began igniting his inner passion is when he got introduced to a computer at the age of 13. He made many small programs like a Tic-Tac-Toe game and some school schedules and even got kicked out of school for a short time because he used a bug to extend his computer time. Throughout his life it can be seen that he likes and is not afraid of taking risks. In early childhood, he was a very good Monopoly player, and later in his life, for example, he called Altair saying that he had a computer language for them when in reality he did not, so what he does is quickly rewrites BASIC computer language. I also like his attention to detail and his perseverance. When he opened Microsoft, he personally checked every line of code and worked 16-hour days for at least 5 years. What I like most about him though is his caring heart such that he does not just hoard up the money he makes but instead tries to improve the health and education of people around the globe.
My favorite entrepreneur is Sumaiya Kazi, founder and CEO of Sumazi. Sumazi is based in San Francisco, and is a social intelligence firm. I follow her on Facebook and her personality attracts me in the sense that she is very outgoing and energetic. I also like that she always shares her professional and personal achievement with her followers. She also targets her fitness goals which really inspires me. It gives me the message that no matter how busy you are, you have to take care of yourself.
Sumaiya also lectures in different conferences, seminars and her way of articulation really attracts me. I also like the fact that she shares her personal stories as well. It makes me believe that entrepreneurs are not always about work and office and leading teams. They also have families and other responsibilities to fulfill. I think she is a good role model for everyone.
It’s not that I don’t admire Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. I am definitely inspired by some on the uncanny innovations they have made. They also have a thirst for the best and using technology to drastically improve the lives of everyday consumers. With their efforts, the concepts of future from Hollywood movies in the past are seeming closer and closer. However, today I greatly admire the efforts of John Legere, the CEO and the president of T-Mobile US. He has brought T-Mobile from the bottom four of the big cell-phone carriers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The thing I admire the most about him is his business strategy to not attract customers and take down the competitors. T-Mobile bought a lot of spectrum from Verizon to improve the quality of their product. The company also offered to pay termination fees of the customers from other carriers. T-Mobile also studied that was the most things customers dislike about cell-phones and eliminated them, which are contracts. They also offer some of the best prices for full priced smart phones. They also brought back which the cell phone consumers love, unlimited data plans on top of unlimited data for music streaming and rollover minutes for all plans. Lastly, T-Mobile emphasizes the customer support the most. The company goes above and beyond to make their customers happy and that is not only at call centers on the phone, but also at the T-Mobile stores. John Legere was able to bring back a dying company after Cingular left the market and Verizon and AT&T monopolizing the market by enforcing changes in the plans that the customers just didn’t like. Legere told The Times, “The concept really was, from Day 1, not just to survive but to go all the way”. I think this quote itself shows the tenacity in him, which has led to the revival of T-Mobile.
Quote: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-legere-tmobile-20141029-story.html#page=1
As we have focused on Entrepreneurship throughout this course and learned about a variety of companies, I would like to speak about my favorite Entrepreneur, Larry Ellison. As you know Larry Ellison is one of the founders of Oracle and his dedication and diligence has been instrumental in the evolution of the software industry. Larry Ellison has an incredible life story and his incredible resilience is a trait that I admire. Larry Ellison is a native of the South side of Chicago and he dropped out of the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago and he eventually started one of the most innovative companies, Oracle. My favorite trait that Larry Ellison exemplifies is his resilience as he has had to deal with many obstacles, and perseverance has helped Oracle grow into the company it is today. Ellison’s ability to persevere has also help Oracle withstand many business obstacles such as lawsuits and economic downturns to emerge even stronger and be the leading software company in the world.
My favorite entrepreneur is Bill Gates. He might be typically known person because he is the richest person in the world. However, I admire him not because of his fame and fortune. I admire his traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. I think he has these traits because of a documentary called “Pirates of Silicon Valley Documentary.” He had a vision and dedication to go forward immediately as there is an opportunity. I was specially surprised that Bill Gates decisively say that he had a program named “DOS” when he was dealing with IBM. However, according to the documentary, Bill Gates pretended he had software for IBM. At the end he did sign copyrights and contracts that made Microsoft bigger than before. This might sound like “bluffing,” but this is his decisive action to grab opportunity ruthlessly. And I think this is breakthrough business mind that can break the “chasm” between early stage and middle stage. So he has extroversion trait. Also he has agreeableness and conscientiousness. In fact, a recent Forbes article highlighted his efforts to improve on his communication and public speaking skills. This implies that Bill tried hard to be open to communicate properly. And his business mind and seeing vision related to openness because if he couldn’t see a vision in computer software he wouldn’t be able to found Microsoft.
My favorite entrepreneur is Bill Gates. He might be typically known person because he is the richest person in the world. However, I admire him not because of his fame and fortune. I admire his traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. I think he has these traits because of a documentary called “Pirates of Silicon Valley Documentary.” He had a vision and dedication to go forward immediately as there is an opportunity. I was specially surprised that Bill Gates decisively say that he had a program named “DOS” when he was dealing with IBM. However, according to the documentary, Bill Gates pretended he had software for IBM. At the end he did sign copyrights and contracts that made Microsoft bigger than before. This might sound like “bluffing,” but this is his decisive action to grab opportunity ruthlessly. And I think this is breakthrough business mind that can break the “chasm” between early stage and middle stage. So he has extraversion trait. Also he has agreeableness and conscientiousness. In fact, a recent Forbes article highlighted his efforts to improve on his communication and public speaking skills. This implies that Bill tried hard to be open to communicate properly. And his business mind and seeing vision related to openness because if he couldn’t see a vision in computer software he wouldn’t be able to found Microsoft.
My favorite entrepreneur is Steve Jobs. Although his leadership tactics have been somewhat controversial, he has changed technology in many ways. He launched what was basically the first home computer with the help of Steve Wozniak. Then he introduced the first graphical interface for the home computer, which is still used today and changed computing forever. Then he helped start the “post-pc” era of tablets and smartphones, which drastically changed society as we know it. The iPhone was a simple device that was so much better than any smartphone before it even though it initially had less features. It was loved due to its ease of use and good design.
Engineers and programmers all made this possible for him, but he was able to think outside of the box and change the way that technology is sold. Instead of focusing on technical specifications and catering to tech savvy people, he aimed technology at the common man. He helped make technology mainstream and tried to make it more friendly and approachable for everyone to use. Apple is known for their design and ease of use, which revolutionized the industry. Apple even influenced Microsoft to start making tablets and phones due to the good experience of hardware and software working together. Although he made some mistakes with Apple, he was one of the most influential people in consumer technology over the past 40 years.