StartupCafe

I was at an event recently when I got talking to a guy who said that only when you’ve started a business and after it has failed should you then be called an entrepreneur.  Now I understand that he’s highlighting that failure can be valuable in providing important lessons but is it necessary to fail before you can be described as an ‘entrepreneur’?

At school I was taught that the key feature that differentiates an entrepreneur from your average human was the ability / willingness to take risks.  At the time I think the focus was on the financial risks accepted by the entrepreneur – the amount s/he invests, takes out in loans, the assets used to secure loans etc.

But what about the other risks?  Risk to reputation of failure; risk of spending time with inadequate dividend or profit to compensate for this non-renewable resource?  When a person takes risks by initiating/managing a venture and money is taken out of the equation…must the description of entrepreneur elude him/her?

To be honest, when I think of an entrepreneur, I think of someone who creates something out of nothing, like a magician or a salesperson.  I also think of someone who instigates a venture, and obtains and manages resources to create something of value.  My definitions sort of contradict each other.  I don’t often take into account financial risk or revenue generation when deciding whether someone should be called an entrepreneur.  Clearly I’m confused; but I don’t like what I remember as the standard textbook definition that was taught at school. 

Is there a modern definition of the word?  And what would that be?

I didn’t expect to find a satisfying answer in the following location, so with no good reason and with a deliberate swagger I made my way over to the Urban Dictionary and came across definitions which were:

Sad: a person who rises to the occasion but fails, only to bring down his community worse

Funny: french for “unemployed.”

Probably true: loves starting things then delegating them to others; hates bosses, rules, authority and taxes; probably doesn’t really know how to spell entrepreneur.