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what would be your selection criteria. The qualities of an enterprenur are written everywhere would that be enough for you? Is there anything you know as a quality that an enterprenur should possess that you haven't heard of?

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For what purpose are you looking for/selecting an entrepreneur? To fund him/her? To hire? To imitate? – Keith DeLong Jan 11 '10 at 17:14
If you were to look for an Enterprenur as a partner what qualities do you prefer to see in him? what would be your selection criteria? We all know that there are various qualities of an enterprenur. – FrancisEager Jan 11 '10 at 18:02
You probably want to edit the question title to be non=specific gender. I certainly hope that "him" is due to English as a second language and not something else. – TimJ♦ Jan 11 '10 at 18:58
Done, thank you Tim for your help. – FrancisEager Jan 12 '10 at 8:15

5 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

Here's what I look for when assessing whether to invest my time coaching a young entrepreneur:

  • Track record of success - I want to see that the person has been successful in other endeavors, even if they were not entrepreneurial endeavors. If she is just out of school, I want to see that she got good grades, or maybe she was able to get a degree while working two jobs, etc. If she has been in the workforce, I want to see that she did well in their job.
  • Good communicator - So much of being an entrepreneur is talking to employees, customers, investors. I want to see that the person can communicate her ideas and thoughts well.
  • Good problem solver - Things will go wrong. Terribly wrong. I want the person to be a decent problem solver. At the very least, she has to be able to seek good solutions from someone else and them implement them.
  • Willingness to work hard - Most entrepreneurs (in start-up mode at least) work twice the number of hours as the person with a "real job" across the street. I want the person to understand this and be willing to put in the time.
  • Has the will to succeed - This is one of the biggest things I look for: does the person have an unstoppable wil to succeed, or will she pack up and go home when the going gets tough. I think the biggest difference between an entrepreneur and a generic "business person" is that the entrepreneur will sometimes use sheer force of will to get something accomplished.
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up vote 2 down vote

My answer might be bias since I am an entrepreneur. Looking back, here are top 3 qualities I think are important:

  1. Do it mentality. I have met many 'wantrepreneurs' realize they are not going anywhere with their idea. If you can take the plunge and start to do stuff, you're probably 50% ahead of most people.

  2. Resourceful. First, do it. Second, know how to move heaven and earth to make the idea become reality. You will always need more money, more people, more time, more sales. You just need to make it happen despite all the odds.

  3. Cockroach mentality. Third, keep trying. It's okay to give up on an idea but don't give up as an entrepreneur. Just keep trying and on each attempt, make sure you're not repeating the same mistakes.

If you want VC perspective, Mark Suster of GRP cover this topic at his blog here: Both Sides Of The Table

Hope that helps.

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Your answer is awesome since is based on your practical experience. I never thought of some of these points. Your answer will create more room for further reaction and responses. Also thank you for proactively being timely to contribute to this. – FrancisEager Jan 11 '10 at 18:04
Good that it helps. :) – Hendro Wijaya Jan 11 '10 at 22:56
up vote 1 down vote

I will look for someone that shows passion for our product or service, someone who shares similar goals and is willing to make some sacrifices to achieve these goals. Also, very important I think, I will make sure that this partner has experience or knowledge in an area I don't.

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up vote 0 down vote
  • Integrity
  • Intelligence
  • The ability to communicate
  • A good work ethic.

That is the foundation. You don't really need much more.

(By "intelligence" I don't mean genius or brilliant. It just means the person can function well in the domain we choose for business)

I left a partnership because the person who founded it with me decided that he could double bill clients and justify it because he was "twice as productive as other developers"

Domain knowledge and other things can be learned. Integrity and work ethic are key character traits vital to a company. Just about anything else can be learned/taught.

As proof, take a look around at the businesses that exists today. Many were started/founded by people who are no smarter than the others who failed.

Successful businesses "make it" in spite of strings of mistakes. There are plenty of examples of super smart people failing miserably with their ventures.

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up vote 0 down vote

Here's an "uncomfortable" topic: If you will get materially involved with your partner (and most likely you will) ask him/her if it would be OK to check their personal credit report. There might be some items there that could be explained. However if you see red flags and the partner can't offer sound explanation -- watch out. If this person can't run his personal "business" what makes you think he/she will be capable of it in your mutual partnership.

Many people are very good with words; you need to check the facts.

This method is also a good way to see how transparent your future associate is willing to be with you.

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