I would love to find some decent survey research on this question: How many major entrepreneurs can you name? I’m guessing most people can name 1-2 at most, and none at all if you net out Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, and Richard Branson.
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This is one of the best things about being an entrepreneur….under the radar
What’s your definition of “major”?
By major if you mean 7 figures or above, I can name a handful that I know of personally.
If you mean 9 figures of above, then it becomes harder. The same applies for serial entrepreneurs, as well.
For example, where would you place someone like Marc Andreessen or John Carmack?
As you will see I love asking the next statistical question…
Is there a correlation between the number you can name and your own entrepreneurial success?
Self-help business books are built on this assumption, but is it true?
What about Jerry Yang? Most people would know Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Elon Musk is another obvious one. Maybe a bit premature to name Mark Zuckerberg but he has the name recognition.
I agree with Karthik…define “major”.
I admit that at first I thought this would be a bit hard, but once you get into the head space it becomes pretty easy. Pick a succesful company with a famous leader, and its a good bet that you have an entreprenuer.
Walmart – Sam Walton
Disney – Walt Disney
McDonalds – Ray Crock
Ok, that last one may be bit less well known, but I think a lot of people would have gotten the first two.
Counter examples: I have no idea who started Burger King, and GE’s most famous leader, Welsh, was not an entrepreneur.
Paul, I may not fall under the average case scenario, but I think that even if you just look to tech, there are several “notable” entrepreneurs that many people can probably name:
Google: Larry Page / Sergey Brin
Sun: Vinod Khosla
Dell: Michael Dell
Thoughts, anyone?