Summary

An entrepreneur's overall evaluation of an opportunity operates off a set of tenets that are built into their psyche, or drilled into them from training and mentors. These are often represented by sayings like "You never get anywhere unless you take a chance" and "Passion and persistence are the keys to success." In my experience, these don't always work, so don't rely on them totally to validate your entrepreneurial dream and passion.

Real technical entrepreneurs must have three things: the ability to identify or recognize an opportunity, the ability to review or assess an opportunity, and last but not least, the ability to successfully execute and realize an opportunity. While these tasks seem straightforward on paper, the skills you need for each one are very different, and it is difficult to be good at all of them. To be a successful technical entrepreneur, you need to have all three, in the right order and at the same time.

The people who typically excel at opportunity recognition...