At INSEAD we know that about 30% of the INSEAD grads will end up in entrepreneurship (a few years after they earned back their study loan at McKinsey or an Investment bank) while some claim that only 10% of the population have the character traits of an entrepreneur. Often in class therefor we asked ourselves: “Are you a born entrepreneur or can you become one?” Personally I think that entrepreneurship in the true sense asks for a very skillful manager who is familiar with HR, finance, management, product development, marketing and the works but the bottom line is IMHO: do you have enough risk loving genes in your body? Can you put all you eggs in one basket and start running knowing that everybody around you will declare you insane? The skill set you need but the mentality you just cannot learn: Entrepreneurial minds are born (nature) and the most successful ones will be very skilled as well (nurture)
