What Are The Lessons From Successful Serial Entrepreneurs?
The serial entrepreneur is the type of experienced entrepreneur who has made one or more ventures before and has succeeded in some of his ventures while failing in others. A successful serial entrepreneur usually has an idea, equity capital, a business plan, a network, experience, and determination.
A successful serial entrepreneurs has an almost ideal entrepreneur profile, the only thing missing is technical knowledge. However, not every new venture has a very high chance of success.
The business world has a very dynamic structure. While it is seen that new businesses are constantly being established and existing ones are trying to survive and grow, it is also observed that other businesses are closing or changing hands at the same time.
Considering that 80% of newly established businesses close within 5 years and new businesses continue to be established, it becomes clear that entrepreneurs strive to create successful businesses.
While one of the reasons for this change is the formation of new sectors in today’s conditions and closures due to the obsolescence of some sectors, businesses may also have to close down due to reasons such as intense competition, low profitability, and failure to meet customer expectations. Some businesses may also change hands within the framework of the entrepreneur’s profitability expectations.
What Distinguishes Serial Entrepreneurs From First-Time Business Owners?
Serial entrepreneurs are individuals who have sold or closed at least one business and have newly established or acquired business ownership. In other words, entrepreneurs who have no previous business ownership experience are inexperienced, while entrepreneurs who have had other business ownership experience before the business they currently own are serial entrepreneurs.
Portfolio entrepreneurs are people who already have ownership of two or more independent ventures. Portfolio entrepreneurs have experience running two or more businesses simultaneously.
The key difference between series and portfolio founders is that the latter group still owns and manages the original business and can leverage resources at the existing firm when starting a new business.
It is thought that there may be differences between business perceptions and behaviors of inexperienced and serial entrepreneurs depending on their level of professional knowledge and experience. In this context, our article investigated whether there are differences between the business perceptions and behaviors of inexperienced and serial tradesmen and artisan entrepreneurs.
What Are The Common Patterns And Strategies Of Serial Entrepreneurship Success?
Serial entrepreneurship refers to the phenomenon in which entrepreneurs have previously founded at least one business but later sold or closed it and then moved on to start a new business. Serial entrepreneurs may exit an initial business when they perceive that their entrepreneurial opportunities have run out.
Since the serial entrepreneur is expected to grow businesses to a certain stage and then exit these ventures, such ventures are expected to be smaller than ventures involving portfolio entrepreneurs. Portfolio entrepreneurs may start a new business for a variety of reasons.
Some of these reasons may be related to regulatory circumvention, for example, labor laws that may only come into force above a certain size level. Strategically, they may create a new business entity as a way to diversify their operations.
Serial entrepreneurs tend to focus on achieving a specific goal and display attitudes and behaviors related to reducing uncertainty, while portfolio entrepreneurs, who appear motivated by wealth creation and are happy to deal with the uncertainty of owning multiple businesses simultaneously, maybe more creative and innovative.
It is seen that portfolio entrepreneurs attach more importance to human capital resources, creativity, and innovation compared to inexperienced and serial entrepreneurs.
How Can Aspiring Entrepreneurs Apply Lessons From Serial Entrepreneurs?
There are many tips and lessons that young or beginner entrepreneurs can learn from other entrepreneurs. These may include using resources correctly, setting realistic goals, and developing network power. Moreover, utilizing the experiments from past mistakes is an important tip for entrepreneurship.
Serial entrepreneurs often obtain funding from the sale of a startup. While inexperienced and serial entrepreneurs hold equity interests in only one independent business, portfolio entrepreneurs own equity interests in significantly more independent businesses than serial or inexperienced entrepreneurs.
While the majority of inexperienced and serial entrepreneur firms are sole proprietorships, a large proportion of portfolio entrepreneurial firms are private limited companies, and it is also seen that inexperienced entrepreneurs use significantly fewer information sources than serial and portfolio entrepreneurs.
All these activities continue to be carried out by entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are subject to two main classifications: inexperienced and serial entrepreneurs.
Inexperienced entrepreneurs are individuals with no prior experience in the ownership of a business (both minority and majority), founders and purchasers or heirs of an existing independent enterprise who already hold a minority or majority stake in a newly established, acquired, or acquired enterprise.
Can You Share Inspiring Stories Of Serial Entrepreneurs’ Achievements?
Serial entrepreneurship, one of the most frequently heard concepts among investment models and business types in recent years, is when an entrepreneur manages multiple projects instead of a single project. Many famous names work this way and create successful stories.
As the world’s most popular serial entrepreneur, Elon Musk has become both one of the world’s most successful serial entrepreneurs and a source of inspiration for beginner entrepreneurs, as the manager of many different ventures and business models such as PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity.
Musk explains the secret of his success as dreaming big and making these dreams come true. According to him, big dreams can be made realizable and when realized can change lives.
He believes that to realize these dreams, it is necessary to take risks, face failure, and work tirelessly. Elon Musk’s success story is seen not only as a businessman but also as an example and inspiration.
He is considered a leader and visionary who influences millions of people by pursuing his dreams, directing technological developments, and striving for a sustainable future.
What Are The Pitfalls Serial Entrepreneurs Should Avoid?
Serial entrepreneurs may have sought new opportunities through the acquisition, establishment, and/or purchase of another business. Serial entrepreneurs, by definition, move from one particular economic activity to another to achieve personal goals.
The pitfalls that serial entrepreneurs should avoid can be listed as follows:
- Insufficient resources when working on more than one project
- disregarding past experiences
- trouble building a team
- failing to apply unsuccessful risk management by taking excessive risks
- setting unrealistic goals.
See you in the next post,
Anil UZUN