Entrepreneurs: Deleting the Rose-colored Glasses
by Miki Saxon
Entrepreneurs come in all forms, but most aren’t from the golden circle—right race, right gender, right families, right schools, right friends—although that’s who the media tends to focus on.
I don’t know what the actual breakdown is, but for convenience I’ll call it 10% golden circle and 90% the rest (probably not far off).
While the 90% are just as creative and talented as the 10% they usually have a very different entrepreneurial experience.
One that is far more difficult and fraught and, as a result, more often fails and with more catastrophic repercussions.
An article in The Economist takes an unbiased look at entrepreneurship in terms of the effort and cost, not just in money, but in physical and mental health, sans the magic of the golden circle.
I’ve known entrepreneurs from both groups and although the words used to describe the experience are similar the actuality is not.
It is one thing to work 80 hour weeks in a well-resourced environment with similarly-minded people and another to spend those 80 hours alone, using a café internet connection, living on ramen and peanut butter, with no support network or cheering section rooting for you.
Yes, people from the 90% succeed and some of the 10% fail.
The importance of the article is to debunk the stupid, inaccurate romanticism with which popular culture has imbued and colored the startup world and those who dwell there.
Flickr image credit: John Martinez Pavliga
