But at the same time, there's been a shift away from the dot-com entrepreneurial spirit of identifying and grabbing market share and managing short term toward an initial public offering. That suggests today's entrepreneurs don't need new skills. We are still in the process of learning what works and what doesn't work in this new environment. I expect that we will ultimately see a blend of new ideas and traditional business concepts. But there certainly is luck involved because you can do everything right and still not have a success.
Entrepreneurs have to be ready for failure.
And then John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane went down and took over the airwaves, so his company lost some momentum. Companies also can get derailed by competitors hitting the market with similar products. But if you ascribe your success to your own brilliance, chances are good you'll lose all the money you just made. Inventors also tend to have emotional attachments to their inventions. CEOs need to be detached to be able to move on.