Entrepreneur Myths
by Damir Perge
The entrepreneur DNA - is it real? Based on my experience of investing into more than 25 startups, I don’t believe there is an entrepreneurial gene. Environment and state of mind have more to do with becoming an entrepreneur than genetics. If anyone tells you they were born to be an entrepreneur, bitch-slap them a little for me.
When I was younger, people said I was born to be a soccer player. My father was a great athlete and a great player, and I may possess some athletic genes but my success on the soccer field was a result of playing four to five hours every day, 365 days a year – in sizzling heat or snow. My teenage son has tremendous talent for soccer but doesn’t love it enough to play for hours every day. He chose another sport. And he practices three to four hours per day because he realizes you can’t be good at an anything unless you practice every day. To me, entrepreneurship is like a sport.
Education isn’t the solution either. I funded one PhD entrepreneur in the hardware sector who was a very resourceful, creative and frugal entrepreneur, regardless of his education. And I funded another PhD entrepreneur who was a domain expert when it came to his field in the software sector, but he was not much of an entrepreneur.
A few years ago, I gave a speech on entrepreneurship to a group of MBA students at Oxford. The students wanted to know the secret to why Silicon Valley is the epicenter of technology innovation and the reasons for its success. Having lived in Silicon Valley, I realize it’s not about
the geographical location. It’s not a specific area you can find on the map. Silicon Valley is a state of mind. When you go there, you feel the spirit of entrepreneurship.
I told the Oxford MBA students how I had funded entrepreneurs across the U.S. and that great entrepreneurs are everywhere. However there were two key things you can learn from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs: (1) They had acquired an “entrepreneur state of mind,” and (2) They saw failure as part of an entrepreneur journey – not an end in itself.
As the Oxford MBA students listened intently, I looked into their eyes and could see most of them where not willing to risk the costs of failure. A lot of people fudging talk about being an entrepreneur, but most don’t want to risk failing. That’s the problem: fear of failure.
Entrepreneurs are not born – it’s a state of mind
Anyone can become an entrepreneur, so don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it. The key question is whether you’re willing to reframe your mind to become an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life, personalities, cultures, education levels, psychological traits, etc. One key element that makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is the ability to unleash their creative mind, and anyone can do it if they are willing to try.
Upcoming Books by Damir Perge
Entrepreneur and former Silicon Valley venture capitalist Damir Perge applies the lessons he learned as a soccer player to business, entrepreneurship and investing.
Watergeddon: The Catastrophe We Can Avoid.
Coming in 2022
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Damir's Mind
Damir’s cross-pollination of business, engineering, science, sports, art, entertainment and technology is based on the influences of Nikola Tesla, Walt Disney, Pele, Albert Einstein, Sun Tzu, Norbert Wiener, Taiichi Ohno, Henry Ford, Shigeo Shingo, Andrew Carnegie, John Von Neumann, Picasso and Mick Jagger.
Damir’s hobbies and interests include venture capital, private equity, chaos, fractals and complexity science, technology, Internet of Things (IoT), animation and film development and production, writing and publishing, product design, lean and just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, business strategy and business modeling, social technologies, military strategy and history, mathematics, art and soccer.
About Damir
Damir Perge is an entrepreneur, former venture capitalist, producer and complexity scientist. He is the author of Entrepreneur Myths: The Startup Reality: How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Starting and Growing Your Business.
He is the co-founder of entrepreneurdex, an accelerator using the principles from complexity science to launch, accelerate and scale startups and growing businesses; and co-founder of Madman Pictures.
