Speech at LSE - EPOCH

The following are some notes from my talk to students competing in the EPOCH event this week hosted by LSE.

Nature, Nurture - Neither?

I am not a typical entrepreneur, in fact when I was sitting in a lecture theatre during my Economics degree at the University of Melbourne, the thought of starting my own business was far from my mind. It was a given that if you studied Commerce at Melbourne you would become an accountant for one of the big six (as it was then) or a management consultant or merchant banker.

Last week, when thinking about this talk, I realised that I still didn't really know the meaning of the word entrepreneur. 82ASK, the handy SMS text message service defined it as "one who assumes the risk for a business venture, " while dictionary.com includes definitions like "gambler".

So I came to be here by accident. I was not one of these kids who sells sweets to other kids at age 13, nor did I have a family business to take over. How I ended up in an entrepreneurial environment had more to do with an enquiring mind and a conviction that things could be done better. I realised when I was at Unilever that if I didn't turn up for work for a day, a week, a month, a year that the company would not go bust, that my contribution was negligible.

I don't have any 'rules' for entrepreneurs that are not rules for any business, however I do think you need to really look deeply at yourself before embarking on a course of entrepreneurialism. Not everyone is a leader. Not everyone makes a good CEO. Some people will add more value as a great lieutenant or team member than as the guy or girl at the top.

Becoming an entrepreneur is a life decision. Your relationships with partners and friends will be strained. Your social life will end. And if you are going to make that kind of sacrifice, you might as well make it for something that you are passionate about.

Some reading :

The E Myth, Michael Gerber
The Biggest Game of All, Leo Hindery Jr
The Beermat Entrepreneur, Mike Southern.

What's on my mind?

I've maintained a couple of blogs in the past, mainly for companies that I have been involved with, but the time has come to blog from a more personal point of view.

The views that will be expressed in this place are not the views of any of the companies I am involved with.

I can't guarantee that there will be a post a day or even a post a week, but I will try to make it slightly interesting. Let me know your comments.