Entrepreneurs: Made not Born.

Entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and other business professionals have long attempted to determine why certain individuals pursue their own ventures while others prefer the stability and certainty offered by a more traditional corporate job.

Citing genetic research and an individual’s early disposition towards such activities, many believe entrepreneurs are born.  Research conducted at the Northeastern University School of Technological Entrepreneurship corroborates this idea.  Two-thirds of the study’s participants attribute their start-up mindset to innate personal tendencies.  Forty-two percent stated that they had launched their first venture during childhood.

Entrepreneurs are “Effectual” Thinkers

Several weeks ago, Hacker News referenced “What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial?,” a research paper authored by Saras D. Sarasvathy, an Associate Professor at the Darden School of Business.  The key finding of her research is that entrepreneurs are predominantly “Effectual” instead of “Causal” Thinkers.

Causal Thinking vs. Effectual Thinking

To think Causally is to start with a predefined goal, plan a path to achieving that goal, and then organize resource resources to achieve it.  Causal Thinkers will, in a sense, start with a product idea for a given industry, write their comprehensive business plan, and then to the best of their ability, execute on it.  It’s an approach that’s based upon building a business around a promising idea.

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