INSEAD Leadership Summit - What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur?

Monday, 31 May 2010 | Student Reports

The Wall Street Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute invited INSEAD MBA student Jean- Luc Nahon to blog about his experiences at the INSEAD Leadership Summit 2010.  

What makes a successful entrepreneur?

It's a question that MBA students are always asking. And at the Summit, we heard answers from four experts, all INSEAD alumni: Yoav Z. Chelouche MBA'79, Managing Partner, AVIV Ventures; Julie Meyer MBA'91D Founder and CEO, Ariadne Capital Ltd; Mika Salmi MBA'92D, who established one of the world's first online entertainment companies; and Michael Ullmann MBA'78, Chairman, Prodigy Finance Ltd.

Together, they agreed that successful entrepreneurs usually have the following key skills or - if they don't - are able to gather these skills around them.

• An ability to get close to the information. It helps you to understand of course, but - just as important - it enables you to react more quickly.
• A gift for experimentation. Make lots of small mistakes, and you'll learn from them, thus reducing future uncertainty.
• A mastery of communication. If you can't come up with entirely new concepts, take existing ones and present them in a new way.
• Market vision. That goes without saying perhaps, but you can use your vision not only to build your business, but also to build partnerships and even turn foes into friends.

Maybe the real question is not ‘what?' but ‘who?' Who exactly should set themselves the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur? Well, as the panel reminded us, passion, perseverance and adaptability are prerequisites. In the end, however, it's not so much a question of innate personality any more than it is of skills. What really counts is self-awareness. Those who understand what they are good at and what they like will do better as entrepreneurs - and probably at most other things in life.

The Blogger

Jean-Luc Nahon is a French engineer who spent 6 years in the software development industry in the USA. For his MBA at INSEAD, Jean-Luc focused his studies on marketing, product management and strategy. After he graduates in July, he is looking for a position where he will be able to leverage his passion for technology, new media and communication. You can follow him on Twitter @Johnny_Lucky.