Komisar describes a great entrepreneur as someone that works hard and knows how to take advantage of new opportunities. These opportunities need not be created by the entrepreneur, he says, but by others and the market around them. It is also important to note that even great entrepreneurs fail for reasons beyond their control.

Transcript



Based upon my own experiences as an entrepreneur--and I've worked with entrepreneurs now for 20 something years--I think that as entrepreneurs, as investors, as business leaders, we do ourself a discredit when we claim too much of the success is our own, when we don't give credit to market forces, to good fortune, to situations that create the opportunity for success. And what I'm indicating here is not the notion of blind, dumb luck as being the difference between great entrepreneurs and weaker entrepreneurs. That's not what I'm suggesting. What I'm suggesting is that hard-working, smart people fail many times for things outside their control. And they succeed many times because of opportunities that are created outside their control that they're able to take advantage of, the notion of the prepared mind, taking advantage of chance. And I think, to be a great entrepreneur, you have to be really smart. You have to work really hard. And then you have to take advantage of the opportunities as they are created, not necessarily by you, but by others and by the market around you.

1. A Venture Capitalist Innovation Process
2. The TiVo Transformation
3. Innovation Advice from George Lucas
4. A Cautionary Word on the Deferred Life Plan
5. Necessity-Driven Entrepreneurship
6. Lessons Learned from Failures
7. A View On Industry Bubbles and Investment Partners
8. Optimizing Career and Life Opportunities
9. Different Entrepreneurs Excel in Various Company Stages
10. Skills Of Great Entrepreneurs
11. The Supportive Silicon Valley Ecosystem

Randy Komisar answer questions on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students on March 3, 2007. Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, talks about how innovation occurs at Kleiner Perkins. Instead of giving projects a thumbs up or thumbs down, the firm uses a set of filters to review and improve these projects. Through this process of iteration, innovation and problem solving occurs between investors and entrepreneurs, he notes.