What is an Entrepreneur? Our good friends at Webster’s offer a rather interesting definition: one who organizes, manages and assumes the risk of a business or enterprise. What is an enterprise? a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated or risky. If you notice…both involve “risk”. Anyone who has ever contemplated the start of a business activity knows full well the risks that are involved. The risk of failure or the burden of a struggling business venture, are enough to keep many potential entrepreneurs on the sidelines. Unfortunately, many great ideas, products and concepts will also remain in obscurity along with that potential entrepreneur.  Possibly, the one trait that will separate a successful business from an unsuccessful one is the ability to manage and overcome “risk”.

Some of the greatest minds in history have addressed this issue through time. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “In the middle of every difficulty; lays opportunity.” Our 28th president, Woodrow Wilson once said “I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail.”  Vincent Van Gogh addressed risk with these words “Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.” Obviously, each of these great men had a sense of how important the individual spirit is in overcoming risk.  This spirit can be found in almost every successful business and entrepreneur. But each also stresses the need for vision, planning and perseverance as well as fortitude. It takes courage to be successful.

Just imagine for a moment all the great technological achievements of the last 50 years. Many of them would have never been accomplished if the risk involved had not been overcome. I would be typing this on an old Smith Corona typewriter and not a PC; and my research would not be just a “click” away; and this blog…well I guess you know where I’m going here. Advances in medicine, communication and information would have remained on the drawing board if the risk had not been overcome. Entrepreneurs not only assume and manage risk; they overcome it!

The risk of the business world is becoming an everyday fixture in our daily media coverage. AIG, Fanny and Freddie, Ford, GM and Chrysler…are all trying to organize, manage and overcome risk. Some will fail and some will prevail. The current economic concerns are certain to have an impact on almost every existing business and will certainly dissuade many entrepreneurs from diving into these troubled waters. We salute those who have more faith than fear. We salute those whose ambition will stare down the risk. We salute the true entrepreneurs and their unwavering spirit. For those who are still sitting on the fence with a new idea, concept or product…….Maybe you should ask Mr. Bill Gates if the reward was worth the risk?

Einstein, as brilliant as he was, wouldn’t have been able to start a business or even manage a business successfully.

He proved that to his disappointed father, an entrepreneur who built two successful businesses and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Einstein tried, and was miserable at it. He ended up packing his things and leaving in frustration. Yet Einstein had a lot in common with today’s new breed of entrepreneur. He envisioned the experiments to prove the world’s greatest scientific theories, as entrepreneurs today envision businesses never before imagined, or possible, in the history of mercantilism.

There are lots of examples of today’s entrepreneurs envisioning businesses that never existed before, like eBay, Google, and many others.  Even Microsoft, when it first started, was a one-of-a-kind business. Bill Gates, Pierre Omidyas (founder of eBay), and Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Founders of Google) are well-known modern day Einstein’s who can create as well as envision.  Two of today’s relatively unknown entrepreneurial Einsteins, Evan Williams (co-founder of Twitter) and Woody Norris (inventor) are best understood by viewing their talks on www.TED.com.

Einstein trusted his vision. He relentlessly pursued his vision and in doing so, he actually fulfilled his vision.  On the gut level, this describes today’s new entrepreneur who is primarily a dedicated visionary. In this global marketplace, the entrepreneurial boom has just begun. More new businesses are going to be created in the next 20 years than ever before in the whole history of civilized man. More creative people will take the path of pursuing their dream by forming a company – and more of you will succeed.

The opportunity to form a company and create a business that uniquely sustains your lifestyle, allows you to be creative and helps your customers, all at the same time, is now available to you and a million others. ALL of you can be successful beyond your wildest dreams. To attain success you must have a vision, be dedicated to your vision and take the RISK of actually doing it. Many of you have already taken the plunge and many of you are just now considering it. At Harvard, we form more than 5,000 companies per year for people like you, and we’ve been doing it for 28 years. Communication among us, the entrepreneurs, is what this blog is all about.

Illustration by Josh Lowe