Horowitz: Most Important Entrepreneurial Qualities Are Courage and Brilliance
Brilliance and courage. Two qualities all great entrepreneurs must possess, according to Ben Horowitz, a founding partner at Silicon Valley powerhouse venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, who spoke at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) conference Jan. 20. Horowitz explained that the entrepreneur is much more important than the idea because if the entrepreneur has a poor idea he will quickly recognize such and change course.
Horowitz cited examples of PayPal, Google and other hugely successful companies that were founded by brilliant entrepreneurs. And although the importance of brilliance is obvious, Horowitz said other important virtues seen in successful people—such as honest and integrity—all flow from courage.
Without courage, honesty, integrity and other virtues quickly fall by the wayside during times of stress. For example, Horowitz explained, an entrepreneur without courage will not remain honest when honesty might harm the company. And without courage, he or she won’t have the strength to take a risk and walk away from a sound opportunity in order to pursue another that many think is foolish at the time.
Horowitz pointed to hugely successful entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates who both dropped out of Harvard, and Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison who also dropped out of college. All four were on a course to success and walked away. Based on results, the decision may now appear to have been an easy one, but at the time it was a huge risk.
[Image via Kevin Krejci/Flickr]
