Do you find yourself suddenly unemployed? Are you so tired of your cubicle that it is time to move on before you lose your mind? Did a once in a life-time opportunity to launch a start-up just get plopped in your lap? Not all entrepreneurs end up as entrepreneurs as part of some grand plan or life-long dream. It may just be the events of everyday life that put you in that position.
Information Week recently ran a profile of several “accidental” entrepreneurs who started their businesses after life dealt them a twist, as it often does. They looked to their personal interests, their techie hobbies, to find new paths for their careers.
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
These startups may work for the founders, but i
still don’t understand the revenue streams
or long-term profit potential.
i get the feeling the journalist has to provide all positive-spin interpretations to make this appear like a good idea.
To me, a good startup plan addresses the issue of growth. A startup does want to be in the 80% of companies that are not growing, with stagnant (steady) revenues, and little potential for growth in the future.
Is it just me, or doesn’t this seem like a set of tools to allow people to post mundane statements about their day, and the fleeting thoughts that occur to them throughout the day?
I’m not undestanding the business potential for “tools to allow people to online-journal”.
“Dear Internet,
Today i woke up to a beautiful sunrise!
I’m looking forward to a busy day meeting interesting friends!
I’ll post more at dinner, so stay tuned!”
I think it is great. People are finding ways to make money doing something they were having fun doing anyways. All of these tools create ways for the next generation to express themselves. I think it is brilliant.
I understand the issue of growth however, if you never even attempt to catch the wave, how are you going to ride it? It is obvious that the next generation uses websites instead of paper journals, websites instead of photo albums on coffee tables, and websites instead of shrinks in some cases. These people have found a way to be gatekeepers and make money off the growing trend of life being documented on the internet. Why not find a way to harness this?
Erin,
I think it’s great too.
But I’m more curious about WHY it works as a business model.
As a person interested in business creation,
I want to understand the success factors for creating a new business.
So, i filter out the business that seem to be successful by circumstance.
The article posted doesn’t tell us how money is made, or what the growth model is.
It seems like it’s an interview with a 12 year old’s lemonade stand. “See, i started a business.”
My next leap of faith will be creating a restaurant concept new to Atlanta with the intention of buidling up and franchising.
Necessity is the mother of invention. It’s amazing how the average Joe can survive when he has to put food on the table. I admire these hardworking and innovative accidental entrepreneurs. Did you the inventor of the Potato Chip was an accidental entrepreneur?
“In the summer of 1853, Native American George Crum was employed as a chef at an elegant resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. One dinner guest found Crum’s French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. Crum decided to rile the guest by producing fries too thin and crisp to skewer with a fork. The plan backfired. The guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes, and other diners began requesting Crum’s potato chips”
That article is almost frustrating. It seems like entrepreneurs shouldn’t really even have plans! Some people create brilliant ideas, write business plans, and spend years trying to get a startup off the ground. Other people write mean blogs, get fired, and have people knock down their doors to sell advertisements and essentiall set the entrepreneur up for life! I would prefer the second example….
I do believe that often times people become accidental entreprenuer. Sometimes entreprenuers don’t even have a plan. The class case on Bongo Java, the founder had an idea in his head and was able to get things together. He didn’t have a background of being a business man, he had a great concept and was able to get all the pieces to come together. Many people are entreprenuers who never had plans to become one.