The difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur is that a business owner wants to open another shop and an entrepreneur wants to transform an industry. That’s how a recent piece in The Economist describes it. “True entrepreneurs find worth in the worthless and possibility in the impossible”.
Daniel Isenberg is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and academic, whose interest in what makes an entrepreneur has led him to study examples (both successes and failures) across the globe. In his book Worthless, Impossible and Stupid, Daniel makes the point that entrepreneurs are “contrarian value creators.” They see value where others see nothing. And he isn’t afraid to point out that it is profit that so often drives ideas. It’s about changing the world and the monetizing of ideas. Facebook is a multi-billion dollar company. It doesn’t need to be. But it is.
