Entrepreneur and co-founder of DreamIt Ventures, Steve Welch, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his passionate and insightful book We Are All Born Entrepreneurs.
The author describes the common traits shared by successful entrepreneurs, including a lifelong desire to learn new and innovative ideas, and how these traits lead to the essential skills that turn passion into real achievement.
Thanks to Steve Welch for his very informative responses. They are greatly appreciated.
Steve, you wrote a book called We Are All Born Entrepreneurs. What is the book about?
Steve Welch: The book uses my story and that of other entrepreneurs to help others learn from their successes and failures. At the same time it explains why so many of us have a deep-rooted passion for entrepreneurship.
Do you consider yourself a successful entrepreneur?
Steve Welch: I have certainly had some successful ventures, but I have also had some unsuccessful ventures. However like most good entrepreneurs, I think I have consistently learned from my successes and mistakes.
What was the background to writing this book We Are All Born Entrepreneurs?
Steve Welch: As I started to work with so many young entrepreneurs at DreamIt Ventures I became frustrated with what was clearly being emphasized at the MBA School. Too often I saw entrepreneurs focusing on raising money, as if raising money was the validation of a viable business. I bootstrapped my first business, as did most of the entrepreneurs in this book. I told the many stories in “We are All Born Entrepreneurs” to show that there are many different paths to success. However successful entrepreneurs develop the skills necessary to succeed and then adapt to the individual circumstances of their venture. Sometime this means raising money form outside sources, often it does not.
We know from experience, and from interviews with other entrepreneurs, that most people are afraid to start a business on their own. Is fear of entrepreneurship a reason not to start a business?
Steve Welch: Fear is certainly a nature part of starting a business. I have not found a successful entrepreneur who does not remember fear being an emotion that they felt in their early ventures. So much of life and early stage ventures is timing. I was 23 when I started my first big success, Mitos. I had no children, no mortgage and parents that would not let me starve to death if I failed. This is a good time to start a business, because the consequences of failure are not that great. More important the benefits of success out weigh the negatives that come with failure. Whether succeed or fail, entrepreneurs learn the most on their first venture. The earlier this happens, the more they will be able to draw on these experiences throughout their lifetime.
From the stories in the book, what is the most common reason among people for starting a business? Determination? Good planning? Desire to make things work?
Steve Welch: Successful entrepreneurs find purpose in what they do. They use this purpose as a foundation to constantly learn and turn their inherited traits into the skills needed to succeed. They accepted failure as part of their learning process and are adaptable. No one gets an idea right from the start, but successful entrepreneurs build a plan, execute on that plan, but most importantly adapt to that plan as new information became available.
Steve Welch (photo left)
Many people think that successful entrepreneurs got lucky, and that they on the other hand, would never get lucky. Is luck part of the entrepreneurial success?
Steve Welch: There is certainly a randomness to the world and a number of variables that are outside ones control; however that is why self-awareness and adaptability are so important. If you are able to adjust to a constant moving landscape you increase your chance of success dramatically.
You write say that the paths of the entrepreneurs are different. In the same time, many people are afraid to start a business because they feel they don’t have a unique idea. Should not having an innovative idea be a reason not so start a business?
Steve Welch: Absolutely not. I know a lot of people that have started a business in which there was nothing unique about them at the get go. Many markets are constantly expanding and need increased capacity. I know many people in the distribution business that does not have any unique value add, but they execute efficiently and make a good living. I also have many friends that have used more traditional business as a springboard to other innovative products and services once they had a customer base. Often this is much easier because the customers know you and you know the customers. I think what is key is that entrepreneurs focus on bringing value.
In today's economic downturn, many people think that the good times to start a business have passed, and it is harder to become successful today. Is the current economic crisis a challenge, an opportunity, or both?
Steve Welch: It is both. There certainly are challenges especially for businesses to fund raise. I think these challenges are far out weighed by the opportunities. There is so much working for entrepreneurs. 1) Communities and cultures across the globe are focusing on helping people develop the skills needed to start a business. 2) The costs of starting a business have plummeted. Whether software or physical products partnerships are easier to develop and Alpha and Beta products can get out the door at a fraction of the cost of a decade ago. 3) Perhaps most important the cost of reaching customers across the globe have decreased. This allows products targeted at a very specific niche to achieve profitability in a way they could not have a decade ago.
You started your first business quite young. What factors pushed you to start a business instead of taking a 9 to 5 job?
Steve Welch: One of the most common experiences of the entrepreneurs through out my book was their memory of a supportive friend or family member at a young age. I was no different. I had supportive parents that even at a young age allowed me to succeed and yes fail at my ventures. The lessons I learned as young as 12 years old prepared me for my ventures later in life.
You seem to be quite focused on helping other entrepreneurs succeed. Why is that?
Steve Welch: I have always found purpose in entrepreneurship. Helping others succeed is my own selfish way of filling my own need for purpose. To me there is nothing more exciting than seeing a need in the marketplace and working to bring value to society by filling that need. What is exciting about DreamIt is that we are helping 10-15 companies a year go through that process.
Was founding DreamIT Ventures a result of this purpose to help others succeed as entrepreneurs?
Steve Welch: Yes. I was fortunately to meet up with two other successful entrepreneurs, Mike Levinson and David Bookspan whom shared my passion for helping get businesses of the ground.
How does DreamIt Ventures help and support entrepreneurs?
Steve Welch: We provide, a small amount of money, mentorship, space, donated legal and accounting and most importantly a community atmosphere in which each year 40-50 entrepreneurs are working in the same space to develop their businesses.
It was created as a pre-seed venture fund that nurtures enthusiastic, bright and motivated people with big ideas who can build a prototype, beta or market-ready product or service within three months. By providing the tools needed to flourish, this new model for funding simultaneously accelerates the development of new businesses and increases their likelihood of success.
In essence, DreamIt allows start-up companies to progress forward by eliminating as many risks as possible. For some participants who enter the program with an idea on a napkin, the three months is used to develop the product and eliminate the risk of building it. For companies with an early-stage product, the time period allows them to test, understand and refine its value to potential customers.
How different is entrepreneurship around the world? Do things happen in much the same way?
Steve Welch: Amazing enough the skills developed to succeed are almost universal. What tends to be dramatically different are the cultural norms especially around risk. America for example, admires risk taking and we accept failures as part of the learning process. We celebrate those that are successful based on their own merits. Many other societies punish failure. Meaning that people in society that try and fail are looked down upon, often for life. In America we expect people to try and fail and we really respect those that try again.
What is shocking is how the Asian cultures recognize the importance of this and are working to change these societal norms often through government policies. They are working to bring capital to early stage entrepreneurs and focusing on their own immigration policies to recruit talent to their prospective regions. I would argue that above all else the reason America has been so successful over the last century is that our relatively decentralized society that allowed individuals to be rewarded for successful risk taking resulted in the best and the brightest from around the world coming to America.
Like current, which follows the path of least resistance, Entrepreneurs flow to the areas of the greatest opportunity.
Who should read the book? Do you have any specific demographic in mind as readers?
Steve Welch: Certainly aspiring entrepreneurs, however I think there are many lessons that managers within any business can learn for and use to improve their own organizations. Oh yeah and parents, it is clear that successful entrepreneurs all had positive influences early in life the encourage them. Some parents even had extraordinary ways of teaching their children about business as early as 8.
Besides reading the book, how can potential entrepreneurs learn more information and ideas?
Steve Welch: Most importantly surround yourself with people that have gone through the startup process or are going through the process.
What is next for Steve Welch?
Steve Welch: Yes, but exactly what is unknown.
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My book review of We Are All Born Entrepreneurs by Steve Welch.
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