An entrepreneur is defined by Oxford Languages as “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” In other words, an entrepreneur is someone who has an idea and goes through different hardships in the process of developing a business. According to the Census Bureau, during the COVID-19 pandemic more than 4.4 million new businesses were born due to furloughs, layoffs, business closures and other reasons. At the same time, various social media platforms made it easier for people to promote their businesses and communicate with their clients. Thus, introducing a group of new entrepreneurs who have been categorized into different types.
The quadrant is designed to segment entrepreneurs into 16 different combinations based on the 4 types of ‘DNA’, matching their specific business and personality traits, and all lead down different paths to success. Each individual quadrant describes a type of “entrepreneur”.
The Builder DNA group was described as one who creates scalable and sustainable business that attracts talent without much effort. A Builder particularly measures success through infrastructure, described as one with controlling temperament.
The Opportunist is the kind that wants to get rich quickly and then retire. An individual that will jump to any deal where they can to make money fast. They tend to be very optimistic, which is really important when you have a business.
Measure of success: based on the money they make when they are not working.
Specialists are very interesting because they are one who do not like taking many risks. On occasions if you do not take risks you might find yourself stuck. It is extremely curious when entrepreneurs in a general definition are said to be risk takers.You could say these entrepreneurs like to play it safe in conservative actions when it comes to their venture.
Innovator DNA group is the one that comes natural to the entrepreneur. They create something as a hobby and people that surround them tell them “Hey, you should sell that product”. They are driven by the mission not the money as said by the author. They like creating, but don’t always like the business part. Fun fact: A well known entrepreneur with these characteristics is Mark Zuckerberg.
Joe Abraham also spoke in a TEDx Talk about a common error which is saying all entrepreneurs are the same or are categorized as “one size fits all”. Abraham also spoke from his experience working with an incubator. He gave entrepreneurs his work plan for them to apply to their own business, but sadly, many of them failed. He concludes saying that once entrepreneurs are treated like individuals and not as a “one size fits all” group there will be a change in businesses all over the world.
Even though there are many types of entrepreneurs, you may not identify with any of them. That’s OKAY, everyone is different and uniqueness is one of the things that make entrepreneurs successful. For example, each time the smartphone industry has a new product they just focus on that new feature that makes their product better than the rest in the market. This strategy is also known as differentiation or looking for what sets you apart.
After analyzing what Abraham said, one can apply it to their own surroundings and recognize how different entrepreneurs are. Entrepreneurs have characteristics that can fall within the types of entrepreneurs mentioned before but I would not say they are the only a few types of entrepreneurs.
In order to be an entrepreneur you do not need to have a business degree or any degree for that matter, you need an idea and an obsession with it. Two great examples of entrepreneurs who did not have a degree were Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. Zuckerberg began developing his social network site from his college dorm, but decided to leave college to concentrate on his project. Steve Jobs also dropped out of college and worked as a videogame designer, later on he reconnected with a former highschool friend and started working on their own computer logic board… and the rest was history.
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