3 Types of Entrepreneurs: Compliers, Negotiators & Bulldozers

Quite amusing but sometimes the bulldozer is just a self-entitled jerk who thinks the rules don't apply to them (eg. people who cut in front of lines, people who drive pass a long line of cars waiting to merge and wait until the very end, people who come late to synagogue who KNOW that if you come late you're supposed to wait outside).

Maybe a great example of this is AirBnb. Apparently spam is evil if everyone else does it but not if you're AirBnb. Bulldozing much?

On the other hand, I've "bulldozed" at times and have felt really guilty afterwards. For example, a few friends and I went to a busy restaurant on a Saturday night and the wait was something like 1.5 hours. It was literally a mob by the door. Names are being called out for the next table and I realize that, at times, no one is responding (because they've changed their mind and left). So I waited until a name was called and no one responded in the first 10 seconds, and claimed that name. We probably waited 10 mins total.

We were happy to disobey the rules, cut and sit early but everyone felt a tinge of guilt afterwards.

"They don’t understand the entire raisin-de-etre"

Just to say that raisin-de-etre should be spelled "raison d'être".

raisin, by the way, means grape ;-)

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While it seems self-evident that a willingness to plow thru obstacles is a good trait for entrepreneurs to have, I think the specific example selected for the article is a poor choice. I have a word for the kind of person that would voluntarily attend and then disturb the religious observances of dozens of people because of a minor, fleeting, personal inconvenience, but it isn't "entrepreneur".

Bulldozing through a velvet rope to gain entrance to a club or restaurant is one thing. Bulldozing through a velvet rope because you were late to the opera or because you want to skip out of rabbi's sermon is another.

(Also, the title is misleading. The point of this article seems to be that there is only one type of entrepreneur.)

1. There are obviously more that those three types of Entrepreneurs. Hopefully you weren't making that assertion.

2. I'm a bulldozer, but not because I'm forceful or a bad person. I just see that reality has different levels of rules, and I pay attention to the most important (undeniable, or carrying heavy fines for malfeasance along with a high chance of getting caught) rules. To be clearer:

p(I get caught)*(cost of fine for getting caught) +moralCostOf(thisNaughtyAction)= expected cost of being naughty (taking conscience into consideration).

Some people are willing to pay more to be naughty. Some people overestimate/underestimate the probability of getting caught. Some people have no moral cost for a particular naughty action.

Anyways, there are thresholds that could predict whether or not I'd be naughty, given what I think the expected cost of being naughty is, and how much I'm willing to pay to be naughty in that particular case.

My chief gripe with sweeping analogies like this one is that they glorify the irreverent, "disruptive" entrepreneur. It's probably the evocative nature of the word "disruptive" that serves to create and perpetuate this fallacy. And while there's something to be said for seeing opportunity where no one else can, I'm not sure asking entrepreneurs to be "bulldozers" (proverbial or otherwise) makes for great advice.

While the concept of "naughtiness" or that "gleam in your eye" itself is quite subjective and open to much debate on where the line is to be drawn, it would augur well for the community if we tempered our effusive praise for the brash, maverick stereotype with words of caution. Every gatecrasher hasn't had the good fortune of staying until the party was over.

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