Entrepreneur Types A Founders Alphabet
Entrepreneur Types: This list of kinds of entrepreneurs is partly for real and partly for fun. There is a huge raft of research about what makes a successful entrepreneur, and types of entrepreneur. What I have drawn from the research is that there is no perfect personality profile of what it takes to startup a business or a nonprofit or behaviors that will lead to success.
Entrepreneurship is an elusive subject. Over the years research on the personality traits of entrepreneurs has used economics, psychology, sociology, and business management to answer questions like: Who are entrepreneurs? What motivates them to start a business? Which traits do they have? Do successful entrepreneurs have similar traits? What distinguishes successful ones from failures? Researchers have coined the term, “The Big Five” for the traits most likely to make for startup success. They are agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and extraversion. As a practitioner, not a researcher, I question the list, and I think that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator may be more helpful.
The entrepreneur types listed as an alphabet below are ones that I have observed over many years as an entrepreneur myself. Each has an advantage and each has an Achilles heel that may be an impediment to success. For every profile for success you might identify, you’ll probably be able to come up with examples of successful entrepreneurs with the opposite traits. The list below may spark helpful ideas about entrepreneur types, but it is also for fun!
Entrepreneur Types
Or you could take this fun quiz, to what type of entrepreneur you are. It will only take you six minutes to complete. You still may none the wiser about entrepreneur types, but it will help you figure out what it is that you are doing right and what you’re doing wrong, maybe.
On the other hand, my own take of what traits a successful entrepreneur is likely to possess are also described in the Venture Founders Insights listed below. You can read and compare to reach your own conclusions, to see if you fit any one of the many entrepreneur types.
