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Three kinds of frontier founders
The three archetypes
The prodigy is young, takes no for an answer from no one, and has no prior experience in the industry. With no history of what is possible, they focus only on what they can do and are limited by no one else's ideas.
The breakthrough scientist has done research that breaks through the walls of what's possible, then uses it as the foundation for a company.
The repeat founder has already succeeded, and the success makes them more ambitious instead of complacent. They want to do far more with their lives.
Why frontier work needs them
Frontier projects run much longer and are much harder than ordinary ones, so they need someone willing to dedicate their life to the work. These three types have worked very well, though founders outside them have been backed too.
Why do outsiders sometimes beat the experts?
Newcomers don't carry the assumptions that experts treat as settled. On December 8, 1903, Samuel Langley's government-funded Aerodrome crashed into the Potomac River. Nine days later, the Wright brothers, who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, made the first powered flights at Kitty Hawk. The first flight lasted 12 seconds.
How do research breakthroughs become companies?
Genentech started in 1976 when venture capitalist Robert Swanson partnered with biochemist Herbert Boyer. Boyer and Stanley Cohen had shown in 1973 that genes could be cut and pasted into bacteria, a technique called recombinant DNA. Genentech used it to make human insulin in bacteria, and the work was licensed to Eli Lilly in 1978. The first genetically engineered human insulin, Humulin, was approved in 1982.
Why do repeat founders tend to win again?
A 2010 study by Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner, and David Scharfstein tracked venture-backed entrepreneurs over time. Founders who had succeeded before were more likely to succeed again than first-time founders or those who had failed. The paper appeared in the Journal of Financial Economics under the title Performance Persistence in Entrepreneurship.
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