Deakin University SEB725: Research Paper on Serial Entrepreneurship

This research paper delves into the realm of serial entrepreneurship, examining the distinct characteristics and journeys of successful individuals who have launched multiple businesses. The paper begins with an abstract, keywords, and an introduction that defines entrepreneurship and distinguishes between typical and serial entrepreneurs. It then explores the concept of entrepreneurship, highlighting its impact on innovation, economic growth, and job creation. The core of the paper focuses on two prominent serial entrepreneurs: Wayne Huizenga, known for founding Waste Management Inc., Blockbuster Video, and AutoNation, and Ritesh Malik, a young entrepreneur with multiple ventures. The paper analyzes their entrepreneurial traits, such as self-confidence, hard work, patience, risk-taking, insatiable curiosity, and determination. The paper concludes by emphasizing the key traits and characteristics that define serial entrepreneurs, offering insights into their success and providing valuable information for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Research Paper on Serial Entrepreneurship
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Abstract— This paper has been elaborated
on discussing about serial entrepreneurship,
highlight the traits and characteristics of two of
the widely recognized serial entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is an important aspect of
modern society as it helps in the growth and
development of society, economy and a country
as a whole. However, there is a significant
difference in between typical entrepreneurs
and serial entrepreneurs.
Keywords— entrepreneurship, entrepreneur,
serial entrepreneurship, economy, traits, society,
innovation, characteristics.
I. INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is all about starting a new
business or company and entrepreneurs are the
ones to establish the new business with innovative
concept and idea [1]. He or she is defined to be the
owner of the new company. It is to note that
entrepreneurship is known to be the driving force
behind the economic growth in the recent years.
Entrepreneurship is very import for the economy
of a county and in absence of entrepreneurship,
there would not be any new invention or any new
business that would help the economy of a country
to grow and expand further. However, it is to note
that there are two types of entrepreneurs- one is
the typical entrepreneurs who start one new
business and the other is the serial entrepreneur
who starts more than one businesses. This essay
shall elaborate on presenting a brief about two
serial entrepreneurs and would perform a research
on their journey of entrepreneurship. It shall
further discuss about their entrepreneurial
characteristics and traits.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Entreprenuership
It is to note that about two-thirds of all the
innovations taking place in the world are because
of the entrepreneurs. In absence of the boom of
inventions, the world today would have been a
much dry place to live in [2]. It is the inventions
that have provided an easier way of getting the
things done through standardized and better
technology. It is very import for the economy of a
county and in absence of entrepreneurship, there
would not be any new invention or any new
business that would help the economy of a
country to grow and expand further [3]. With the
same, it is also to mention that one of the
significant advantage of entrepreneurship is that it
allows job creation, economic growth as well as
social growth.
B. Serial Entreprenuership
Before moving forward with the main aim of
the paper, it is important to known was a serial
entrepreneurship actually is. It is to note that “in
contrary to the typical entrepreneur, who would
often have an idea of starting a company and then
play a significant part in the regular functioning
and operation of the new venture, a serial
entrepreneur would come up with his or her new
ideas and then get the things started, but then
again, he or she would give the responsibility to
someone else and move on to a whole new idea
and new venture” [4]. Also, unlike the most
business owners who spend a lot of their time in
their particular industry and just focus on whatever
they already know, the serial entrepreneurs are
way more active in many industries and at the
same time, they desire for gaining more
knowledge than what they already have. Also, they
do business in varieties of sectors and industries.
According to Baek, “someone would consider
launching a company in an industry in which they
don’t have years of experience, but serial
entrepreneurs are actually very successful” [5].
With the same, as per the study of Business
Insider, serial entrepreneur are defined as the
“performance persistence in entrepreneurship”. It
also claimed that these entrepreneurs are much
more likely to become successful as compared to
the first time entrepreneurs or the ones who have
earlier failed in the part as of the fact that they
possess “persistence in selecting the right industry
and time to start new ventures” [6]. It is to mention
that the successful serial entrepreneurs are often
highly visionaries. They could easily recognise the
chances and opportunities and then they gradually
learn regarding an industry and then start
surrounding themselves with some of the highly
skilled and experienced team for implementing
their vision. With the same, serial entrepreneurs
are also very smart and they adapt the changes
very quickly. They are always passionate
regarding innovation in the general sense and they
are never focused on just one specific type of

industry. “Once a serial entrepreneur achieves
success at one or two things, he or she tends to do
the same again and again as they become attracted
to the adrenaline and the rush of solving the new
issues and launching the new companies with new
and innovative products” [7]. With the same, these
kind of entrepreneurs also continue to challenge
themselves to do the same again and get an
immense deal of satisfaction in doing so.
C. The two serial entreprenuers
1) Wayne Huizenga
One of the greatest serial entrepreneur is
Wayne Huizenga. He was born on 29th December
in the year 1937 in Chicago, Illinois. He is an
American business tycoon and earns a net worth
of about 2.7 billion dollars as per the year 2018.
He is the founding father of three multi-billion
dollar companies that are all the part of the
Fortune 500 companies. These three companies
include the Waste Management Inc., founded in
the year 1958; the Blockbuster Video, founded in
the year 1987 and the Auto nation, founded in the
year 1995. Waste Management Inc. is widely
recognized as the biggest waste managing
companies in United States. Blockbuster Video is
also one of the leading movie rental chains in
America and the same time, Auto Nation is
considered to be the largest automotive dealer in
U.S.A. Apart from all these, Wayne Huizenga
also owns a total of three sports franchises and
they are- the Florida Panthers, the Florida Marlins
and Miami Dolphins. He also had his hands in the
founding of the six successful NYSE listed firms
[8]. During his teenage he moved to Florida with
his parents and soon when his parents got
divorced, he quit his school in order to earn his
living. He used to drive a truck and work at a
nearby gas station during those times. Later, he
entered into the Army but for a short period of
time. After he dropped out of school, he worked
with one his fiend at his garbage collection firm.
Within just two years of time span, Wayne
Huizenga started his very own company by the
name “Waste Management Inc.” [9].
It is to mention that Wayne Huizenga is a
very hard working boy. His day used to start at 2
a.m. and would go on till night after knocking on
the doors in order to market for his newly found
business. Very soon the business started to get
expand and it included a total of 40 trucks. Wayne
Huizenga then decided to merge with the other
companies in Chicago. The firm went one of the
publicly listed companies and this allowed him to
buy more than one hundred fifty local and
regional garbage services. This further made the
business of Wayne Huizenga, the biggest ever
waste disposal company in America. Similarly, he
attained immense success with his “Blockbuster
Video” which would launched in the year 1987.
He opened different movie rental stores and soon
it became the largest movie renting chains of the
nation by the year 1994. Later, he also made and
gained the auto dealership that he brought under
the name of “Auto Nation”. Auto Nation too
became the biggest automotive dealer of America
as well as one among the Fortune 500 companies.
At present, it has a total of 370 dealership under
its name. Wayne Huizenga has been highly
successful as a businesses and none can deny this
fact. He is widely been recognized for his
immense success and achievements that he earned
all by himself. In the year 1992, he received the
“Horatio Alger Award” for overcoming the
adversity for gaining success and later, in the year
2004 and 2005 respectively, he achieved the
“Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year” and
“World Entrepreneur of the Year” award.
However, he is still growing strong and it seems
like there is absolutely no chances of him to slow
down any time soon.
Traits and characteristics
From the above story of Wayne Huizenga it is
clear that he has a very strong self-confidence. He
was confident enough that he has the ability to
prove himself. He also possessed a solid dose of
shield that protected him from self-doubt and
made him impervious to criticism. He was
extremely hardworking as it is evident from the
time when he used to start at 2 a.m. and would go
on till night after knocking on the doors in order
to market for his newly found business. With the
same, he was patience enough to become
successful. Right from his teenage period he
worked hard to achieve the success that he gained
today. It is also a significant trait of a serial
entrepreneur. Cotterill too in this context have
claimed that “Patience goes hand-in-hand with
self-confidence and passion, and most serial
entrepreneurs don’t have a problem being patient
[10]. This is because they are so passionate about

their idea or vision, they are willing to wait as
long as necessary to see it through.” He is also a
risk taking person. It is also a trait that can be seen
in majority of the serial entrepreneurs. Wayne has
skipped and quit his school which is a great risk in
itself. Also, he has sacrificed his social and family
lives and have given his all time in working hard
and making a mark.
2) Ritesh Malik
Similarly, Ritesh Malik, a 25 years old
boy, graduated from the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R
Medical University, India in the year 2013 is
considered to be one of the successful serial
entrepreneur of modern times. During his medical
school, he developed a significant interest in
entrepreneurship. In the year 2010, be started
bunking most of his semester and attending the
Marketing Science 101 courses at the London
School of Economics where he learnt about the
buzzing and booming of the Silicon Valley with
sustainability and start-ups. Although he came
from the family of doctors, he took a bold path of
entrepreneurship. “In 2012, a major breakthrough
came when Adstuck (a company Ritesh co-
founded in his final year of medicine) sold its
flagship product (ALIVE) to Times of India. He
had now over $ 6 million in his bank account.
And yes, it only took him 4 months to make that
money. Ritesh is also the Founder and CEO of
Guerilla Ventures, an angel fund that was founded
in 2013, with a focus on hardware companies.”
Traits and Characteristics
The traits that Ritesh Malik possessed in
himself is that of insatiable curiosity. He was long
been curious about facts and although being
coming from the family of doctors and quit
moving on that path and too the bold decision of
entrepreneurship. It is a significant factor that
distinguishes the serial entrepreneurs like Ritesh
from the other typical entrepreneurs. With the
same, the dogged determination as well as
perseverance are two of the most significant part
of the DNA of entrepreneurs that Ritesh too have
illustrated. He recognized when to move on and
did the same while bunking his semesters. Also,
he easily recognized the chances and opportunities
and then he gradually educate himself from the
London school of Economics regarding an
industry and then surround himself with some of
the skilled and experienced team for
implementing his vision. With the same, it seems
to be like he was always passionate regarding
innovation in the general sense and had never
focused on just one specific type of industry [11].
With the same, he is also a risk taking individual
which is a sign of a great serial entrepreneur. He
took the risk of taking a diverse path of
entrepreneurship where all his family members
were doctors. He used to face huge criticism
before taking his path but he never quit. Also, he
bunked his semester just to attend the classes on
Silicon Valley which is a risk in itself. He is very
smart and adapt the changes very quickly [12]. He
is always passionate regarding innovation in the
general sense and it is clear that he too have never
focused on just one specific type of industry.
III. CONCLUSION
Hence from the above analysis it is to
conclude that there is a significant difference in
between a typical entrepreneur and a serial
entrepreneur. However, both plays a significant
role in the development of a economy. It is the
inventions that have provided an easier way of
getting the things done through standardized and
better technology. It is very import for the
economy of a county and in absence of
entrepreneurship, there would not be any new
invention or any new business that would help the
economy of a country to grow and expand further.
With the same, it is also to mention that one of the
significant advantage of entrepreneurship is that it
allows job creation, economic growth as well as
social growth. Working as a serial entrepreneur is
very much rewarding but at the same time, one
must be willing to put all his efforts and engross
himself in diverse industries with diverse people
and diverse cultures. They continue to challenge
themselves to do the same again and get an
immense deal of satisfaction in doing so. It is
important to mention that how the businesses get
conducted differs. The approach that is used for
the trucking companies can never be used for the
real estate ones. Hence, understanding the culture
of different industries and then adapting the same
is very important. The traits and characteristics
that a serial entrepreneur possess are effectively
highlighted giving the examples of the
entrepreneurship journey of two successful serial

entrepreneurs- Wayne Huizenga and Ritesh
Malik.
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