What are the defining characteristics of an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is anyone who takes risks and starts a venture. I always say that an entrepreneur is someone who jumps out of a plane without a parachute in the hope that he or she will figure it out on the way down. The question then arises: is a dry cleaner or a dhabawallah an entrepreneur? Yes, but there’s a difference between a dry cleaner and a tech executive. So the definition needs refinement. A replicative entrepreneur simply duplicates business processes. If you’re selling samosas in a stall in Bombay, you’re not innovating, you’re replicating. Can a person be taught to jump out of an airplane ‘without a parachute’? There’s something innate in that. Some people will take risk, others won’t. But the skills necessary to start a business — how you put together a financial plan, incorporate a business, accounting, marketing and management —can be taught. Even a person who is afraid of taking a risk may become an entrepreneur. Let’s say a person has been working all his life for th
