The Entrepreneurial Mind: The "Entrepreneurs are Gamblers" Myth. I've got to agree with Jeff Cornwall's post - very, very few of the entrepreneurs that I know could be classified as reckless gamblers. Quite the contrary.
I seem to recall reading some research on this several years ago that also confirmed the conclusion of the post - good entrepreneurs carefully evaluate risk/reward tradeoffs and are definitely not blind risk takers. I think there is a distinction between the real business-oriented entrepreneur and the inventor/technologist who is passionately (and blindly) commited to their invention/innovation. Not to say that you can't blend the two traits in one individual but it's rare.
None of the above is to say that I haven't spent some wasted hours at the tables in Vegas with some entrepreneur friends, but that is a story for another day.
I like your distinction between the types of entrepreneurs. I often use the metaphor of couples who carefully plan for their marriage and meet with the preacher to really make sure their marriage has a fighting chance (business-oriented entrepreneurs) versus those that fall passionately in love, elope to Las Vegas, and wind up divorced within a year (your inventor/technologist type). The latter type of entrepreneurs always seem to end up in my office when everything is falling apart and expect me to fix an unfixable mess!!
Jeff Cornwall
Posted by: Jeff Cornwall | November 25, 2003 at 04:31 PM