I identify as an ambivert, positioned between being an extrovert and an introvert. Extended periods of speaking often leave me feeling exhausted, and I particularly struggle with conversations involving aggressive personalities. I tend to be a reflective thinker, processing information at a slower pace after conversations.
In my role at work, which involves technical client interaction, I’ve been actively trying to participate more in discussions, but the progress is slow and painful. I’ve noticed that public figures like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban project confidence in their speech, in contrast to the more reserved and calm demeanor of Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg.
While I understand there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, I would greatly value any insights or personal observations, even if they are subjective.
I studied entrepreneurship because I was interested in the scientific view on successful founders. I focussed on their childhood and wanted learn more about items that predict future success. I can list a few of them:
There are many more…. From my perspective you shouldn’t pay too much attention to famous unicorn founders. There is a reason why their companies are called unicorns.
The average successful founder is 43 years old, learned 20 years all details of the industry he is working in, comes across a problem and uses his industry-network so solve it and make a business out of it.
Hope this helps 😊
Thats so interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Any more input on
Like what hobbies did they have? Like for Steve Jobs I only know he was pretty much invested into health and diet but thats probably partly due to his health issues and may have only come later in his life.
It doesn’t really matter what hobbies they had. The more divers the better. Sports, music, community work, hunting, dancing, computer games etc. One aspect was very surprising for me: if they weren’t good at it, they stopped and started looking for a new hobby.
Why do you hate the letter e
Your list is what people want to believe. It makes for a nice narrative and sells the idea that people like Musk or Zuckerberg are somehow exceptional or that they have a methodology that can be studied and learned.
However if you actually look at common factors between a lot of successful founders it’s more just a case of coming from money and/or plain ole dumb luck being in the right place at the right time.
A lot of these household name founders have succeeded despite them, rather than because of them.
Entrepreneurial parents is one that matters a lot. A lot of descisions are based on asking yourself, what would ‘name’ do in this situation. If you have no managerial experience, then you need some type of reference.