How to recognize an entrepreneur

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You may realize you or someone in your team falls into the category of an entrepreneur in a startup working on an innovative product idea

Let's start by trying to define what is an entrepreneur:

Anyone who is creating a new product or business under conditions of extreme uncertainty is an entrepreneur whether he or she knows it or not.

You don't need to be running a multimillion-dollar company or have a certain title to be an entrepreneur, I have seen entrepreneurship in product managers or individual leads owning certain small modules within a large enterprise who believe in a vision and have a zeal to overcome extreme uncertainty.

If that is an entrepreneur then what would be a startup, I like the way Eric Ries has defined it:

A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

I would like to emphasize that if the conditions to create a new product are uncertain, it doesn't matter if you are part of a larger enterprise, a non-profit or a venture-backed, it falls under a category of startup.

Now since we have envisioned a persona of a startup and an entrepreneur let's try to understand what is a product. A startup is not just about a product, a technology, or a brilliant idea. We often do get mistaken for thinking the technology we have developed or application is our product. A startup is greater than the sum of its parts; it is an acutely human enterprise.

Everything that encompasses any source of value for the people who become customers is a product.

To open up a new business that is an exact clone of an existing business all the way down to the business model, pricing, target customer, and product may be an attractive economic investment, but it is not a startup because its success depends only on execution.

Innovation is the heart of a company's success: Startups use many kinds of innovation like, scientific discoveries, repurposing an existing technology for a new use, devising a new business model that unlocks value that was hidden, or simply bringing a product or service to a new location or a previously underserved set of customers.

Market knowledge is key to weave the entire solution together, you may have great vision/idea, great technology, brilliant team, and best execution. You are playing a lottery if, you did everything on the basis of a preconception without validating what market needs. Personal opinions should be set aside to see true vision and strategy to achieve success.

Products change constantly through the process of optimization. Less frequently, the strategy may have to change (called a pivot), it requires a lot of courage to change the path to reach the vision but entrepreneurs do that to stay on course. However, the overarching vision rarely changes. Entrepreneurs are committed to seeing the startup through to that destination. Every setback is an opportunity for learning how to get where they want to go.

In real life, a startup is a portfolio of activities.

A lot is happening simultaneously: the engine is running, acquiring new customers and serving existing ones; we are tuning, trying to improve our product, marketing, and operations; and we are steering, deciding if and when to pivot. The challenge of entrepreneurship is to balance all these activities.

After reading this article, you may spot individuals who fit into this definition of an entrepreneur working for a startup, whether they realize or not. If you spot such individuals in your organization empower them and don't let them get buried under bureaucracy, hierarchies, and processes.