I was speaking with a group of young founders. One of them raised his hand and asked, “What kinds of things are entrepreneurs good at?”
“All kinds of things,” I answered instinctively. “Entrepreneurs usually work in very small teams, and they don’t have lots of coworkers. Because of this, entrepreneurs do lots of different jobs at the same time, and they have to be good at almost everything.”
Within seconds of giving my response, I thought to myself: What a cliche and stupid answer! Couldn’t I be more specific?
The same founder in the audience seemed to agree because he raised his hand again. “I kind of meant something different,” he said when I called on him a second time. “I wanted to understand what kinds of things I should be practicing now if I want to be a great entrepreneur in the future. Are you saying I need to practice being good at everything?”
I laughed because, of course, that was exactly the problem with my answer. Yes, entrepreneurs have to do lots of different jobs, but it’s out of necessity. In an ideal world, entrepreneurs only need to be good at one thing. Unfortunately, it’s a difficult skill to appreciate because it’s usually the last thing an entrepreneur has to learn.
Ask any entrepreneur to write a resume, and you’ll quickly see the challenges of trying to define any sort of standard entrepreneurial skills. For example, I just had to submit a resume (as part of a grant application), and the end result was someone who was clearly unhireable. The “skills” section included half a dozen different programming languages, web design, database administration, and the entire Adobe creative suite. I also listed experience with a handful of complex SaaS platforms, proficiency with Google and Facebook advertising, social media marketing, four different CMS platforms, and another 15 or 20 different random skills I’d picked up somewhere along the way.