I’m currently taking entrepreneurial finance as one of my MBA electives and I wanted to share some takeaways that I have from each class. I will post within 24 hours after the lecture. I have no idea how good the class will actually be (since i’ve only done one session) but I figured I’d share anyway…

Session #1 - Key Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

This session was definitely an introductory class - Not too many takeaways but the prof did mention some pretty cool and motivating things. In class, entrepreneurship was defined as “the process of changing ideas into commercial opportunities and creating value. An entrepreneur is an individual who thinks, reasons, and acts to convert ideas into commercial opportunities and to create value.” Although these are great definition, I believe it’s simpler than that. In my opinion, entrepreneurship is simply a state-of-mind, and entrepreneurs are the people who adopt the characteristics that form this state-of-mind. Registering a company and selling a product might allow you to go tell your friends that you’re an entrepreneur, but the question is: “Are you a REAL entrepreneur?”

Below are 10 key characteristics of an entrepreneur according to the Business Week entrepreneurship article; “Portrait of an Entrepreneur” by Jeanne Dugan.

1. Focused, steadfast, and undeviating
2. Positive outlook
3. Opinionated and judges quickly
4. Impatient
5. Prefers simple solutions
6. Autonomous and independent
7. Aggressive
8. Risk taker
9. Acts without deliberation and reactive
10. Emotionally aloof

Obviously a person doesn’t need to have all of these characteristics to be labeled an “entrepreneur”, but one thing is certain - as entrepreneurs we need to understand that taking (calculated) risks is part of the game. Unfortunately, on average entrepreneurs fail 3.8 times before succeeding and one common reason is that new companies grow too fast, which makes them more likely to play the bankruptcy card. On the bright side, the good thing about taking risk is that if you’re successful, you get a reward. In general, the more risk you take - the greater the reward (hell yes)!

That’s pretty much it from session 1, the rest was all introduction stuff.

Session #2 is about the Principles of Entrepreneurial Finance

Peace,
DIA

PS - Note that all info is summarized from my Entrepreneurial Finance class at Hult IBS, and the Entrepreneurial Finance 4th edition textbook by Leach & Melicher (highly recommended).