The 12 keys to entrepreneurial success

By Jean-Marc Patouillaud, General Partner at Partech

As General Partner of Partech, I get to meet different entrepreneurs everyday. Having met thousands throughout my career in VC, it has become clear to me that there are several key qualities that recur in all successful entrepreneurs. Below are what I believe to be the best 12 that can help lead to entrepreneurial success.

1) Vision

Vision is a big word, sometimes vague, but entrepreneurs must ask themselves, “Why am I here? Why am I doing this?” In my experience, 1 in 4 entrepreneurs that I come across don’t even know how to answer these fundamental questions… questions that should be driving their ambition. You must be ambitious even if it doesn’t work out.

2) Co-Founders

Even if there are several counter-examples and various opinions on the subject, I think that it is still better to begin an entrepreneurial adventure with several people rather than on your own. There is always strength and support in numbers. When it comes to structuring the roles of Co-Founders, it is not necessarily the CEO-Commercial / CTO-Developer duo that is the ideal combination but rather the Visionary / Operational that works better.

3) Frugality

Being ambitious does not mean spending everything. A good entrepreneur is an entrepreneur who is frugal with the right mindset and who aims high without doing anything ridiculous with money. Like crossing a desert with just a few jerry cans of water.

4) Recruitment

The key sentence here is “hire slow, fire fast”, you shouldn’t rush to recruit, it’s better to waste three months finding the right profile. In the same way, right away when you realize a hiring is unsucessful, act immediately, as every day spent with an incompatible or unqualified person can put your business at risk. Recruitment also shows who you are. The A’s recruit the A’s, B’s recruit the C’s.

Read the whole blogpost here.