Entrepreneurs in America are seen as heroes (or evildoers, depending on the perspective), and are largely responsible for single-handedly creating a country in which freedom, opportunity and smart working are rewarded.

So what makes them special? What different traits do they posses, if any?

An entrepreneur simultaneously different from “normal” individuals, yet almost the same. In other words, entrepreneurs possess subtle differences in thinking (contributing to action) that differentiates them from others.

I believe an entrepreneur is one whom possesses the following characteristics:

• Wants to solve problems or satisfy needs/desires to improve other’s lives and to create value. This means that an entrepreneur can identify a “market pain” and devise solutions to alleviate that pain.
• Ability to set BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals per Jim Collins’ books), which really means that one can inspire others, build an organization out of nothing and be visionary in leadership.
• Literally build something out of nothing. In other words, an entrepreneur refuses to let a lack of resources negatively affect big ideas. He finds ways to borrow or get free tools to perform his tasks.
• An inexplicable drive and passion for creation, achievement and voluminous energy. For me, this “inexplicable drive” is the desire to become financially free, to create something that adds value to people’s lives and to teach myself more about business and people in general.

Every day, though, individuals wake up and have an idea about how to improve other’s lives. Employees do this every day, in many cases. So an entrepeneur doesn’t necessarily have to start his own business. Entrepreneurship can be creating and implementing new ideas within a preexisting business, devising solutions to make your life easier and sharing it with the neighbors, etc.

For me, entrepreneurship exists all around us, and is not just embodied by the Carnegies or J.P. Morgans of the world. While I certainly admire them and strive to attain a portion of their successes, an entrepreneur simply does not wait for opportunity to come to them. They get it themselves. They seek to create value and attain higher standards.

This notion is touched upon in the Our Man in Nirvana blog, which has an entry entitled The Art of VC: All Entrepreneurs are Above Average, confirming many of my earlier points and paralleling my arguments. It’s an informing read.

That being said, I don’t agree with the online book that’s been circulating called The Entrepreneurial Code: Lessons Learned From a Failed Ivy League Entrepreneur, written by Chris Cononico. From what I’ve read, it argues that one must have a solid idea to successfully start a business. This is simply not true.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. I’ve written about this before, and I concluded that ideas are not what matters in the end. Execution is essential. And while the writer does admit that a lack of clear leadership within the company was a contributor to his failure, he seems to be stuck on the idea of ideas:

Unfortunately, you can’t be an “entrepreneur” without a business idea and I didn’t have one. Nevertheless, I was far more excited by the prospects of building my own company than I was about starting at the ground floor of someone else’s firm. It felt good to consider that I might have some control over my future. It also felt good to think big.

Wrong. Read Good to Great and Built to Last.

Collins points out in BTL that Sony’s founders simply wanted to start a company, yet had no idea what they wanted to do. Cononico had that same desire, but I take it that he didn’t remain as flexible as Sony’s founders.

Sony’s founders had a purpose: to eliminate the stigma that Japanese exports were cheap and of low quality. As Collins writes:

When Masaru Ibuka founded his company in August 1945, he had no specific product idea. In fact, Ibuka and his seven initial employees had a brainstorming session — after starting the company — to decide what products to make.

What was Sony’s first product? A rice cooker, which failed!

There is a “great ideas myth” out there about entrepreneurship. It does not take a great idea to succeed. It takes vision, execution, leadership and drive.

As Collins notes, “(Sony) kept itself alive in the early days by stitching wires on cloth to make crude, but sellable, heating pads.”

Thoughts?