What makes successful entreprenuers?

What differentiates successful entreprenuers for others? Is it their personal network? Hard work? Vision?

Jeff Cornwall says it is the ability to spot opportunities. Business Pundit agrees.

Jeff:

If we look at what differentiates successful entrepreneurs from the unsuccessful ones, the most important craft is opportunity recognition. This is a process that we have learned how to systematize and teach to entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs who have the most success are those who are able to find a real niche in the market that offers enough of a margin to meet their needs and aspirations. Successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of "failing on paper." They carefully assess their idea to make certain that it has an adequate market and enough profit margin before they ever launch their venture.

As more and more entrepreneurs are being trained worldwide, it is this one skill, this one technology, that is having the biggest impact on their success.

Opportunity lies in the "eyes of the beholder." If you "look" for opportunities, you will "find" them.

I am tempted to compare entreprenuership with photography. Cos, photographers just look for opportunities (sunrises, places with natural beauty etc.) to shoot. I will say Photography is 80% right place and right time and 20% skill.

Coming back to entreprenuership, Prof. Venkataraman taught us cases in which he asked us if there was opportunity that the protagonist could after. Most of us in the class thought there wasn't. He then tweaked the numbers here and there and showed us the opportunity that we were looking for. I guess successful enterprenuers "see" this opportunity to change the game - and numbers in their favor.