Entrepreneurs

Passage 2

In the past, innovative new ideas came from the depths of large corporations' R&D talent pools. These days, the new concepts that are taking the world by storm are usually an entrepreneur's stroke of genius. More and more young business-minded people are turning their backs on the corporate world and the safer path of climbing the corporate ladder and setting their eyes on the riskier but more creative path to change the challenge of being an entrepreneur.

Janus Friis, the co-founder of Skype, a provider of PC to PC calling, sold his company to eBay in October 2005 for US$2.6 billion when he was only 29 years old. Ally Svenson, two years later sold it to the Starbucks chain for £49 million. Joshua Schachter, the 31-year-old founder of del.icio.us, sold his start-up company, a website that combined social networking and media, to Yahoo for US$27 million. His advice for budding entrepreneurs is to get to the market as quickly as possible and develop a successful product, as this speaks louder than a business plan, and remember that happy customers are better at marketing than you are.

Entrepreneurs, however, do not typically follow in the footsteps of other entrepreneurs. So how does one go about becoming one—can it be learned or are you born with it? Research conducted by the Royal Bank of Scotland suggests that the average male entrepreneur is more likely to be the youngest child of a family, while female entrepreneurs are more commonly the eldest child. Both left school at 16 and did not meet academic qualifications. Those polled believed that energy and determination were the most important traits for business success.

Books are a popular way to discover the secrets of success. A search on any of the major online bookstores lists thousands of results under a keyword search for 'entrepreneur'. With books on the market titled 'Anyone can do it', 'The beer mat entrepreneur' and 'Start your business week by week', it seems becoming an entrepreneur is idiot-proof.

Schools are getting in on the act. A one-week entrepreneurialism course is now part of the British high school curriculum. Universities place even greater importance on developing the business ideas of their students by offering financial support and scholarships to them. 28-year-old Carl Dietrich won a US$30,000 prize from MIT for his idea to develop a road-worthy aircraft which can fly 10,000 ft in the air at 125 mph and drive on the road at 65 mph. Ramos Mays and Mark Pydnowski won US$50,000 from Washington University for their idea to develop a smart tattoo which works like a radio frequency identification to track and tag cattle.

Geography also seems to play a part in the likelihood of an entrepreneur making it big on his or her own. Americans have no problems embracing the concept that failures are the stepping stones to success, and it is this mentality that has resulted in them leading the way in breeding entrepreneurs. China, which holds a similar philosophy to the US in terms of 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again', has seen its number of entrepreneurs rise up at a phenomenal rate. One such man is Jack Ma, founder of alibaba.com, a business-to-business website for which Yahoo recently purchased a 40% stake for around US$1 billion.

Business culture in the UK, however, takes more of a 'but what if you fail?' attitude, with many of the opinion that you should get some experience under your belt first, get some money behind you and then consider the venture when you are a bit older. But if it is risk that you are afraid of, remember that there are two kinds of risk that need to be distinguished if one is to be successful: foolish and calculated risk.

The industry you are in also contributes to your chances of cashing in on your bright idea. The information technology sector has been the hottest place to work since the end of the 20th century and has shown some of the highest returns on investment. That doesn't mean you have to move to Silicon Valley though; these days, many companies are shifting a lot of their operations to places like India, China, online communities or university labs. Venture capital flow is one indication of which industry to be in, and in the second quarter of 2004 in the US, 38% of venture funding went to companies in Silicon Valley, which was double that of its nearest rival, Boston.

Not only is IT a hot sector to be in right now, but its applications are wide and varied. As a result, hybrid companies focusing on biotechnology and nanotechnology are also popping up. Venture capital in biotechnology is increasingly high due to the demand for biomedical research software. Dr Chris Evans is Britain's leading biotechnology entrepreneur and has made himself a tidy £1 billion from his ventures.