Serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway, who sold His second company, L2, which was funded with $158 million in 2017, argues that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone and that founders of successful firms need to have certain traits.
In a recent episode CEO DiaryHost Steven Bartlett asked Galloway, a bestselling writer and MBA professor at New York University, whether anyone can start a business and be a successful entrepreneur.
Galloway said no.
“There are certain traits that most people don’t have,” he said, adding: “First of all, you have to be really aggressive in taking risks and be willing to fail. You’re willing to take huge risks.”
Scott Galloway. Photo by Tobias Hase/Picture Alliance via Getty Images
Galloway cited the example of MBA students he’s spoken to who have received offers from big firms like Google and JPMorgan, wondering whether or not they should work there for a few years before starting their very own businesses, or turn down the offer and start their very own firms as an alternative.
He tells these students to “go work for Google.”
“On an adjusted risk basis, the most unreliable platform for generating wealth, opportunity and long-term economic security is corporate America,” Galloway said. “If you have access to these platforms, unless you hate them and are terrible at them, you should go that route.”
Galloway found that almost all entrepreneurs had no alternative — they likely didn’t have access to the same profession opportunities available to MBA students at New York University Stern.
He also said that risk aggressiveness alone is not enough. Galloway emphasized that successful entrepreneurs find ways to make the risk repay and can sell. They can persuade investors, users and employees of the company’s vision with a compelling narrative.
Galloway called storytelling “the single greatest skill you can develop or pass on to your children that will stand the test of time.” It’s a skill that pulls people in.
He cited Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Jeff Bezos of Amazon as two examples of this skill in motion.
“The core competency that will give you real impact and economic security is storytelling,” Galloway said.