Others believe that a great business idea is essential for success. However, professional investors do not necessarily agree with this perspective. In their view, the idea itself is not as important as the ability to turn it into a reality. In fact, execution is much more critical than the idea for success.
Some suggest that entrepreneurs must have a strong mental fortitude and be able to withstand all sorts of setbacks, even prepare for losing everything including family. However, all these psychological impacts are things you only face after they happen. Talking about them before starting a business is not meaningful. In essence, only failures need to face the consequences, while successful entrepreneurs use these experiences as bragging rights.
The key question you need to ask yourself before starting a business is whether you have leadership skills. People with leadership skills can always find followers, even if they seem like scammers, maniacs, or fools in the eyes of others. For example, Jack Ma made a living by selling yellow pages, Steve Jobs aimed to defeat Microsoft, and Ren Zhengfei was cheated out of 2 million yuan when he first started his business.
The final outcome of a startup depends on many factors, but leadership is the most critical. With leadership, the likelihood of success is high, or at least you can make money. Without leadership, the probability of failure is much higher.
Unfortunately, most people lack leadership skills. Although leadership is essentially an ability that can be learned and improved, it is one of the most challenging skills to develop among all human abilities. Therefore, it is difficult to train yourself to be a leader when you have an entrepreneurial idea. It is already too late.
Of course, this does not mean that the door to entrepreneurship is closed. There are always more ways than difficulties. You can form a startup core team with people who have leadership skills, just like Chua Sock Koong and Jack Ma, Avie Tevanian, Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, and Sun Yafang and Ren Zhengfei.
Leadership is the key to entrepreneurship. It is not about money, products, or ideas. Organizing a core team with leadership skills is the true beginning of entrepreneurship!