|  Serial
Entrepreneurs
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Cletus Olebune
courtesy of nel-mag.org
Are entrepreneurs born or made? "Both" "Sure, training, talent, and that most elusive component, good timing, are essential. But they are not enough. You need to have a true passion for what you're doing. Know your true talent, don't wait to get started, be frugal, and recognize that you are not your business.
Serial Entrepreneur is a special breed of small-business owners - the serial entrepreneur. Serial entrepreneurs thrive on the high-pressure excitement of starting a business from scratch, but invariably, whether they stick with the business for one year or 10, they depart, only to start another. It is all about building toward the thrill of opening night; staying till the 200th performance is beside the point. "Serial entrepreneurs get a visceral charge out of taking an idea to market and making it happen. If love of action inspires them to start companies, their motives for leaving are more complex. Some deliberately plot an exit strategy even as they start a business. Some lose interest when the company gets too big. Others cannot manage a maturing business and are forced out. Still others leave after an acquisition or initial public offering.
What distinguishes serial entrepreneurs? They are more attached to starting something up than to the actual concept, unlike mainstream entrepreneurs, they resist the idea of sticking around with a reduced role in the company they founded. As soon as the risk is over, they want to go back and do it again. Probably the most common reason for leaving is boredom. After the start-up phase ends and a company becomes more stable, the job of the founder naturally changes to be less hands-on and more supervisory. For serial entrepreneurs, that is of no interest. Serial Entrepreneurs like to be in the gutters, with rolled up sleeves.
Serial entrepreneurs tend to have a base industry of interest. Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin brand owner is a serial entrepreneur with a common interest base of the entertainment industry, but many serial entrepreneurs double as parallel entrepreneurs, and seem at home in just about any industry. Common among serial entrepreneurs is that their business plans include exit strategies to allow them to sell out to a bigger company within three years. A serial entrepreneur likes growing a business, and then get out. Those repeat entrepreneurs who do stay after an acquisition or public offering often regret doing so. The slower pace makes them impatient, and they do not like being a small frog in a big pond.
The quintessential serial entrepreneur is full of ideas. Serial Entrepreneurs find having a lot of balls in the air stimulating. There are frustrations, of course –- trying to keep after so many projects can be difficult -– but for most it is not even a conscious decision. It’s just how they work. Ideas that suddenly strike may be right for becoming a business for serial entrepreneurs. This may not be best recommendation to most entrepreneurs who would rather focus on one business. Look around you. How many owners of startup companies have you seen in a different guise? They’re the serial entrepreneurs — the ones with the great ideas who just love starting up companies. Trouble is, they usually get bored running them. Or else they just start up another one and run that as well.
One major upside for serial entrepreneurs in the course of building multiple businesses, of course, is that they are constantly honing skills, making connections, and discovering secondary talents, and constantly leveraging all of those factors. Another clue to what makes serial entrepreneurs tick is that they know when to get out, the most obvious being when a business fails, and most have had that share of experience.
Are serial entrepreneurs always successful in every adventure undertaken? Not necessarily. Like any entrepreneur, Richard has had some high-profile failures, like virgin cola, and a reality television show that never attracted much of an audience. But he has had equally high-profile successes, selling virgin mobile for $1.3 billion in cash and stock. The common misconception is that serial entrepreneur lack focus, but the reality is that most visionary and innovative entrepreneurs are always solutions seekers for everyday people’s problems. They specifically focus on issues that are not being adequately addressed. The scale, the vision, the techniques and nature of everyday problem solutions are what drive most serial entrepreneurs, and not the monetary aspect of it. A society that is driven by the serial entrepreneurial mindset is sure to have solutions to the problems that cause stunted economic, social, and democratic growth.
Serial entrepreneurs share similar trait with movie directors, and writers, Oliver Mbamara, the Administrative Judge, the writer, screen play writer, actor and dancer is someone that comes to mind when I think of a serial entrepreneur with a flavor of parallel entrepreneurship with a social/cultural base. Having followed his works as outline in
www.olivermbamara.com.
One can agree with me that here is a serial entrepreneur driven by the desire to innovate and create from scratch to finish.
So you’ve got a good idea. But do you have the passion and energy to turn it into a great business? Entrepreneurs are the people who back themselves to make something happen. Serial entrepreneurs are the people who back themselves again and again and again. What distinguishes a serial entrepreneur? They’re the businesspeople that like startups, who would much, rather take an idea to market and then move on, who like building towards an opening night but don’t want to stick around for the encore. They’re the people who don’t like day-to-day management. They’d rather be off working on the next good idea. It’s commonly held that serial entrepreneurs tend to come in two sizes: those who turn an idea into a company, run it until they get bored, then look around for an exit and start all over again; the other type prefer to juggle several companies at once.
For start up addicts, you need to know your type: There are startup guys, growth guys, consolidation guys … you name it, there’s a label and a specialist for every stage of a company’s life. For you to be a fulfilled businessperson, you must know which camp that suites you well. For me I love the early stage; hence my involvement with CEO Management Consulting, Inc., specializing in start-up management, from idea bank, business plans, seed capital, to growth management.
Now here is the question, does serial entrepreneurs include an elected or appointed officer with, series or serial kickbacks? May not even qualify as an entrepreneur, how much more being a serial entrepreneur.
One major quality shared by serial entrepreneurs is that they make it a practice to keep on the lookout for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. In essence idea must be disruptive to existing concepts. The idea must be original only in its adaptation to the problem one is working on. So often, people end up competing with existing concepts by duplicating those concepts in the hope that all will work out well, ending up creating a “me too” businesses. Discovering creative ideas and venture opportunities is a learned process. The key to creativity is the ability to discover new relationship and to look at subjects from new perspective. How do we recognize opportunities? What are creative idea sources? And, do you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? The answers are in my upcoming book, “Moving Ahead: Ideas and Solutions for Entrepreneurship” (main title may change on publication) or subscribe to NEL Quarterly Business Leadership Digest, debuting in January 2007.
Sidebar:
Entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey, where one learns as much about self as one does about business, product and customers. You have to meet real entrepreneurs to understand that entrepreneurship is not just about facts, business, and dollars and cents. The intensity of the soul-searching that entrepreneurs go through while encountering opportunities and obstacles, the passion and believing all the way deep into gut and soul is the fulcrum of entrepreneurship. For this reason, I have created a chapter “Healthy Entrepreneurs” in my upcoming book, where I will talk about fitness, exercise and healthy eating, and spiritual energy renewal. It is important for entrepreneurs to stay balanced while remaining true to their entrepreneurial vision.
Cletus E. Olebunne
Executive Director
NEL.
November
2006
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Together we can build a nation where its economic strength is comparable to its individual citizen's capabilities. A 2020 Nigeria economy where manufacturing is the driving force. We are always glad to hear from you.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Cletus E. Olebunne, Is the Executive Director of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Leadership (www.nel-m.org ) An accomplished scientist, and entrepreneur in the global healthcare product distribution. He is the founder of Eastern Pharmaceuticals (www.easternpharmaceuticals.com), a global distributor of healthcare products based in New Jersey. An active member of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), the global pharmaceutical regulatory body, the American Chemical Society, and the American Management Association (AMA).
The NEL organization seeks to:
1 Support and promote a community of entrepreneurs
2 Promote public understanding of manufacturing entrepreneurship
3 Promote and enhance the role models that reflect the ideals of manufacturing entrepreneurship
4 Be the source for information about best practices in business leadership.
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