While agreeing that his experience as a department head provided experience in that area, it did not resolve a number of other critical issues relating to his experience. To believe past management experience ensures future entrepreneurial success is like assuming a shift manager of the congressional kitchen is qualified to be president. The people best-qualified to succeed with an entrepreneurial venture are usually past entrepreneurs. Each of these groups has its own agenda. Entrepreneurs must be adept at addressing the needs of these other groups in addition to their own.
Successful entrepreneurs are proficient at motivating and consensus building.
Their charisma elicits respect and admiration. If they were effective department heads, financial team leaders, or sales managers in a previous life, they should magnify the demands of that job by a factor of 10 to obtain a realistic estimate of the effort involved to launch any new business. The stress and pressures will be considerable, especially in light of the fact that a regular paycheck is no longer guaranteed, so their lifestyle may change significantly. During the formative stages of their business they will need to complete a detailed market assessment, create a selling strategy, evolve this information into a marketing plan, expand this material into a strategic business plan, effectively court debt and equity financiers, secure experienced directors, recruit a top-notch management team, and ensure employee satisfaction during the turbulent times that lie ahead. And that's only the beginning.