From getting their start in a rocky economic climate, to a focus on education, to use of technology and a unique collaborative approach; millennial entrepreneurs embody a distinctive set of circumstances that shape the way they do business. We loved this list from Entrepreneur, excerpted below, detailing five traits millennial entrepreneurs bring to the table.
The list comes to us from Entrepreneur contributor Zach Cutler, founder and CEO of Cutler PR, a tech PR agency in New York and Tel Aviv.
I started Cutler PR in 2009 at age 22 — just three months out of college. I began the business in my bedroom, with $200. I was scrappy and focused on results, and I hustled to make my company a success. As a millennial entrepreneur, I did things that in many ways were different from the actions of previous generations of entrepreneurs.
Here are a few of the top characteristics that set today’s millennial entrepreneurs apart:
1. We grew up on entrepreneurship.
Past generations idolized climbing the corporate ladder, whereas for millennials, business success has often been envisioned in the form of enterprising endeavors.
“Gen Y is the first generation to grow up with entrepreneurial role models,” says Donna Fenn, author of Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success.
Our parents looked to the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, like Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca and GE’s Jack Welch, for career inspiration, but we grew up watching Steve Jobs lead the renewed Apple, Mark Zuckerberg create a social media sensation and other young innovators break new ground. We saw entrepreneurs, not corporate titans, as the rock stars — and we all wanted to be them.
Not only did these role models attract us to entrepreneurship through role models, but events simultaneously repelled us from the traditional corporate lifestyle: We watched corporate scandals unfold, experienced elders get laid off or fired and other facets of the downside to corporate life reveal themselves.
We were inspired to create our own paths.
Read the rest of the article here.
