This talk was given at TEDxRiceU in April 2012. Global cleantech entrepreneur Bryan Guido Hassin uses Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey as a framework for entrepreneurship lessons he has found valuable as professor of entrepreneurial leadership at Rice University. The video is online at http://youtu.be/1apQfxfXSfU
4. My journey has taken me around the world, seeing
entrepreneurship with a global perspective
Houston
Nairobi
Lausanne
Lausanne
Houston
Austin
Houston
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5. This is how people believe entrepreneurship happens
IPO, retire
• Preceded by
Raise huge hockey stick
VC $$$ growth
Wunderkind • With detailed
has divine business plan
inspiration
• Or MBA has
genius insight
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6. But this is not how entrepreneurship usually
happens
• First time • < 2% of • < 1% of
founders ventures ever ventures IPO
average 40 raise VC $$$
years old • < 27% of Inc.
• Ventures 500 ever had
rapidly evolve a biz plan IPO, retire
from original
• Preceded by
vision Raise huge hockey stick
VC $$$ growth
Wunderkind • With detailed
has divine business plan
inspiration
• Or MBA has
genius insight
TEDxRiceU Source: Effectual Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship.com 6
7. I believe entrepreneurship looks much more like the
archetypal Hero’s Journey
Gift of the Call to Refusal of the
Goddess Adventure Call
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
Transformation Supernatural
Aid
Death / The Dark
Rebirth Forest
Challenges, Te
mptations
TEDxRiceU Source: The Hero with a Thousand Faces 7
8. The Hero’s Journey is fundamental to the human
experience
Call to
Adventure
Masterful
Wise Sage
Conscious Return Known Rational
Subconscious Unknown Irrational
Death / The Dark
Rebirth Forest
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9. The entrepreneurial journey begins with a call to
adventure
Call to
Adventure Common Entrepreneurial
Calls to Adventure
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
• Wanderlust
• “I want to be my own
Death / The Dark boss”
Rebirth Forest
• “I hate my boss”
• Desire for financial gain
• Opportunism
• Desire for impact
Successful entrepreneurs
start with their
means, not divine
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10. Entrepreneurs seek supernatural aid and wise sages
to cross the threshold into the unknown
Call to
Adventure Common Sources of
Entrepreneurial Aid
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
• Mentors
• Angel investors
Death / The Dark • Advisors
Rebirth Forest
• Partners
• Clients
Successful entrepreneurs
augment their means to
take the plunge
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11. Entrepreneurs must rapidly iterate through
challenges while constantly beset by temptations
Call to
Adventure Common Entrepreneurial
Challenges
Masterful
Return
Wise Sage • Funding
• Market traction
• Attracting employees
Death / The Dark • Self doubt
Rebirth Forest
Common Entrepreneurial
Temptations
• Consulting for cash
• Too-good-to-be-true
partnerships
• Bad clients/investors
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12. Entrepreneurs constantly transform their business
and themselves to make it out of The Dark Forest
Call to
Adventure Common Entrepreneurial
Transformations
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
• Business model pivot
• Different target market
Death / The Dark • Product update
Rebirth Forest
• New distribution channel
• Hiring / firing
Successful entrepreneurs
transform
themselves, not just their
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13. Entrepreneurs return victorious with many
definitions of success
Call to
Adventure Common Entrepreneurial
Successes
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
• Sustains lifestyle
• Creates jobs
Death / The Dark • Noteworthy achievement
Rebirth Forest
• Exit by acquisition
• IPO
• Changes the world
Successful entrepreneurs
know what success
means to them
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14. So what can the Hero’s Journey teach us about
entrepreneurship?
Gift of the Call to Refusal of the
Goddess Adventure Call
Masterful
Wise Sage
Return
Transformation Supernatural
Aid
Death / The Dark
Rebirth Forest
Challenges, T
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emptations 14
15. It takes a team to form a collective hero
Teammates provide complementary skillsets and act
as secure bases
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16. Know thyself
Paul Atreides gaining self awareness by taking the Water of Life - Dune
True self knowledge can be painful to obtain but is
invaluable during the entrepreneurial journey
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17. Seek wise sages who have practical, relevant
experience
Yoda was (and always will be) a badass – Star Wars
Mentors who have been there, done that are worth
$186,000 to first-time entrepreneurs
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18. Don’t choose the best path through the forest; create
your own path
Ender Wiggin changing the rules of the game – Ender’s Game
Successful entrepreneurs maximize upside by
controlling their environments
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19. Don’t choose the best path through the forest; create
your own path
New
End
Means 1
2
Means Means
1 3
Starting
Means
Fixed
End New
End
New
End
2 3
Successful entrepreneurs start with their means and
imagine new possibilities
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20. Don’t choose the best path through the forest; create
your own path
Gandalf’s new path over the forest – The Hobbit
Successful entrepreneurs use partnerships and
embrace surprises to expand their means, creating
new options
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21. Work on significant, meaningful problems
It takes a villain as evil as Voldemort to induce heroic
acts as great as those performed by Harry Potter
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22. Faith and persistence are the entrepreneur’s greatest
assets
Neo feeling what is possible once he finally believes – The Matrix
The darkest hour is just before dawn; you’ve got to
believe
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23. Back to my story: some entrepreneurs are turning to
me as the sage rather than the hero
I’ve spent my life as a warrior; being a wizard is new and
unknown to me (back into the Dark Forest!)
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24. Another entrepreneur and I are now teaching
LAUNCH (entrepreneurship) at Rice
Entrepreneurship cannot be taught in a safe
classroom; it must be developed experientially
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25. By mentoring and coaching, we guide students along
their own entrepreneurial journeys
Call to
Adventure • Practitioner
professors
Masterful • Local
Wise Sage
Return entrepreneur
case studies
• Mentor network
Death / The Dark
Rebirth Forest
Seven new ventures have been launched this
semester!
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26. Potential Entrepreneurs: answer the call to adventure
Life is too short not to spend every moment of it
pursuing your dreams
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27. Entrepreneurs: answer the call for mentorship
Mentorship: it’s an entirely new adventure!
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