Harvard Business School has a good working definition of entrepreneurship, even for those who haven’t started their own startups yet. It is – Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled. 

How can this be applied to winning as a startup employee? 

Just focus on the outcome 

This is the “pursuit” in the HBS definition. Focusing on the outcome makes it crystal clear what actions you and others need to take. Internal processes and protocols – politics, if you will – shed away. The team will project a sense of purpose and conviction. 

Velocity is critical

If the startup were your own small business, you don’t have the luxury of time. Reason is that you are burning cash every day. Velocity is critical. One caveat here is you need to be reasonably confident that you are moving in the correct direction, otherwise you are just getting nowhere faster 😉

Presume it will be hard

In the Last Lecture, one of Randy Pausch’s gem is that the best of gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap. I love it. Those of you who have analyzed big data sets to get to aha moments will surely appreciate this. So keep on pushing. Because that’s what it takes to win in an early startup.  

Act like you are in charge

Startups are relatively flat organizations. Ideas and execution matter. Now add to these a dash of acting like you are in charge. Said another way – it’s not someone else’s problem, it’s your problem. This is the “beyond resources controlled” in the HBS definition. Do this and you will pleasantly discover that you will end up in charge.