Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
With the economy in shambles, people scared for their jobs, and layoffs to the left and right, I was struck by a story that Scott Painter (currently CEO of Zag and TrueCar, and prior CEO of CarsDirect) made in a recent private gathering I was at of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and service providers. He explained how he often speaks at classes at business schools and entrepeneurship classes, and asks the audience to stand up, asking: Are you an optimist or a pessimist? If you’re a pessimist, sit down. Are you willing to risk everything you have for your company? If not, sit down. And so on… Until he only has one or two students, out of 50, still standing. His point, was that there’s a number of traits that make you a good entrepeneur–and if you don’t have them, you might as well find a nice comfortable day job instead of trying to start a company.
I’ve noticed that a lot of would-be entrepeneurs are “sitting down” because of the economy lately, because they’re pessimistic of the world view, of where things are going. Which, is probably a good thing. Every single venture capitalist and successful entrepreneur I know tells me — a “true” entrepreneur figures out a way to thrive, get funding, make a company work, whatever–no matter what the economy. By definition, an entrepreneur is an optimist–who finds those hidden opportunities while everyone else is scared, doesn’t understand the market, etc. They don’t do this on faith and bravado, but because they truly see an opportunity to thrive, regardless of the economy. The entrepreneurs who are still “standing up” have to be optimists (realists, but also optimists) who can look at where there are opportunities, and create companies and opportunity even in the economy we have today.
