Entrepreneur is not a synonym for gambler

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.

Comments

[Jeff Cornwall]

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