What type of entrepreneur are you?

We will shortly be piloting our Entrepreneurial Pulse research study, amongst a select group of fifty start-up entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial Pulse aims to be the UK’s most significant research investigation into the different types of entrepreneurs and the impact of mindset on their behaviour and performance.

When we first announced that this research would happen I asked for comments…. and they came back aplenty. But there was one absolutely consistent theme.

Most well-trodden entrepreneur research aims to identify the elusive entrepreneur x-factor or bottleable essence.  While a laudable objective, this work assumes the principle that all entrepreneurs are the same, sharing the same DNA and a dominant entrepreneurial gene.

So our investigation starts in a different place – with the proposition that there are different ‘types’ of entrepreneur. Understanding their differences is vital to providing tangible insight and value for a number of different and varied groups, namely:

• Investors –  who want to know how to build more of a guarantee into their entrepreneurs’ success
• Advisors –  who need to know how to best take advantage of – and compensate for – entrepreneurs’ strengths and weaknesses
• Entrepreneurs – who themselves need to better understand what makes them tick, so they can adapt to sustain success leadership teams who need to know how to complement each others’ skills and win together

Whilst the pilot programme is undertaking a modest number of entrepreneur interviews, ultimately our ambition is to have tens of thousands of entrepreneur interactions.

We believe that different types of entrepreneurs share certain mindset traits, while exhibiting different characteristics and qualities. So what this programme aims to do is deeply understand entrepreneur differences, exploring what make Dyson different from Jobs and why.

We will climb inside their minds to understand what ‘type’ they are and would like to be. Whether they recognise their type, how they can adapt and what sort of support they need to continue to thrive.

The research is being conducted by Brunel University in association with the British Design Fund and Entrepreneurial Spark.

If you would like to find out more, or to take part, then please contact john@britishdesignfund.co.uk