When you think of an entrepreneur, a powerful, extremely motived, self-made man or woman immediately comes to mind. But what type of person do you picture when you hear, internet entrepreneur?
After looking at Mark Zuckerberg, Seth Godin, or Garrett Camp, you have a whole new appreciation for what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how the internet has changed the rules of the game. Thanks to The Web, entrepreneurs have more of an advantage than ever before:
- Little start up costs
- Access to a huge (essentially limitless) marketplace
- Instant connectability with and feedback from their customers or users
- Don’t have to be charasmatic or engaging – only have to know the language of the internet.
Personally, I found the last point to be the most interesting. Our class looked at 3 self-made millionaires and only one of them would be considered “engaging” at a party. Though some internet entrepreneurs fall short when it comes to social skills, the web has leveled the playing field and anyone (granted they have good computer skills) can become an entrepreneur.
So if you’re sitting there reading this post, stop hiding behind the excuse of not having the personality of an entrepreneur. As we’ve seen time and time again – sometimes it’s not about personality, it’s about C++.
2 Responses to “What Makes Internet Entrepreneurs Different?”
Hi
I am student working on my doctorate in business administration. I am planning to do my dissertation on an aspect of Internet entrepreneurship (How do motivation and creativity influence Internet entrepreneur’s ability to generate strategic innovations). Do you or any of your colleagues have a list of articles or books on the subject? If you do it would be greatly appreciated if you could share it with me. I have found there are a fair amount of articles on the subject but many of them appear to be international in focus or they are not from scholarly, peer-reviewed publications.
I like the last bullet point as well, I am not much of an extrovert so building a business online is more my forte. I am new to this indusrty so I’ll hope to read more tips from you and will be visiting the three entrepreneurs you listed in your post as well.