Some of you may be attending the upcoming Harvard Business School Entrepreneurs Conference on Monday May 19^th in Anaheim, CA. As these things go it is definitely one of the better early stage events. While it does attract its share of service providers, it also seems to attract a nice cross section of entrepreneurs. I think this will be the 6^th year that I have attended. This year one of my other Momentum partners, Matt Ridenour, and I will be speaking on the panels. I am particularly excited about the topic that my panel (first panel of the day at 9AM) addresses: Do You Have the Right Stuff? Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs.

For those of you who have been tracking Momentum for the last 4 ½ years know, Momentum is passionate about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Something about an individual (or group of individuals) taking risks in order to pursue their passion and bring innovation to the marketplace and generate value seems so American. I know we at Momentum are energized to be part of the early entrepreneurial process. Though I’d argue what we do is much harder than being a pure venture capitalist, I’d also suggest it is much more satisfying as we are truly in the co-pilot’s seat with the entrepreneur as they take their first test flight and get to experience first hand all the glory and disasters.

As preparation for the Entrepreneur’s Conference the session chair, Beth Adkisson, asked that we prepare a short list that represents our view of what we think the most critical attributes are of a successful entrepreneur. I have tried to focus on those that distinguish the truly successful entrepreneurs from those who struggle to make their entrepreneurial ventures survive. I have tried to avoid more generic though valuable characteristics of good business people like relationship building or integrity which are important but not limited to entrepreneurial success. OK – here is my list:

1. Vision - can see a better way and the path to get there

2. Drive/commitment - a bottomless reservoir of energy/unwavering commitment to realizing their vision that will allow them to overcome obstacles

3. Passion/Evangelism - can convey their vision to others (i.e. employees, customers, investors, etc) in a compelling way in order to enlist their involvement

4. Self awareness - understand their own “sweet spot” and able to assemble/engage/trust outside resources to fill in the gaps

5. Self confidence - can take lots of rejection and still believe in the vision - “soldier on”

• Clearly, vision is the root of new ideas, and many equate “the vision thing” to entrepreneurship. I think that is fair.
• Passion and drive are critical given how demanding it is to start a company and make it thrive.
• Self awareness is the Achilles heals of many entrepreneurs. Too often entrepreneurs think just because they started the company and did most/everything to get the company off the ground, they should be the best person to run the company long term.
• One of the recurring mistakes of the VC industry is not building an experienced team around an entrepreneur quickly, so that they can focus on the vision/future directions of the company (which is what got them started anyway).
• Self confidence allows you to get back up on your horse after you have fallen off the 20^th or 100^th time.
• Entrepreneurs are gluttons for punishment . . . . . and glory too.

I noticed some good overlap with some of the lists of my fellow panelists. One that I liked and agreed with that was Scott Griffith’s attribute of resourceful. That is a good one. Inevitably, starting a new enterprise is about doing a lot with a little: little cash, little resources, little offices, etc.

Do you agree with my list? What one additional attribute would you add and why? If you have entrepreneurial aspiration, you may want to evaluate yourself against these characteristics.

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