Who is an Entrepreneur?

It’s hard to “box” an entrepreneur as there are so many different kinds of them. However, there are several characteristics that will make it easy to spot one. I have picked 11 really interesting quotes about an entrepreneur.

Here they are (in no particular order)

#1 Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach

“An entrepreneur is someone who does not expect compensation until he has created value for someone else.”

#2 Jean-Baptist Say, French Economist

“Entrepreneur is someone who takes resources from a lower level of productivity and raise them to a higher level.”

#3 Peter Drucker, Renowned Management Guru

“An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service.”

#4 Ray Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries

“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.”

#5 Michael Gerber, Author and Entrepreneur

“The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us. We’re born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience. It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies.”

#6 Tom Peters, Management Thinker Extraordinaire

“An entrepreneur is occasionally exhilarating, and almost always exhausting. Only unbridled passion for the concept is likely to see you through the 17-hour days (month after month) and the painful mistakes that are part and parcel of the start-up process.

#7 Victor Kiam, Former owner of New England Patriots

“Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise. They willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”

#8 Joseph Schumeter, Austrian Scientist

“An entrepreneur is the ultimate innovator and earns his profits, however temporary, from successful innovations.”

#9 Robert Callington

“An entrepreneur is someone, who practices business judgment in the face of uncertainty of the future.”

#10 Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter

“The key is to just get on the bike… and the key to getting on the bike… is to stop thinking about ‘there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off’ and just hop on and peddle the damned thing. You can pick up a map, a tire pump, and better footwear along the way.”

#11 Nolan Bushnell, founder of Chuck-E-Cheese and Atari

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer.. not a dreamer.”

Your turn: What definitions of entrepreneur have you come across that you find worth sharing. Please add them in the comments section.

Photo courtesy: dl_the_huntress on Flickr