Interview with an entrepreneur to gather information in the field of

Entrepreneurship

Biographical Information
1. Name:

______________________________________

2. Surname:

_______________________________________

3. Gender:

male

4. Company name:

_______________________________________

5. Street address:

_______________________________________

6. Telephone number:

_______________________________________

7. Industry sector:

_______________________________________

8. Products/Services:

_______________________________________

9. Turnover (estimate):

_______________________________________

10. Pofits (estimate):

_______________________________________

11. Number of employees:

_______________________________________

12. Date company was started:

_______________________________________

female

Thinking back when you started your business, how important do you feel were the following aspects
as reflected by the statements.
Please state on a scale of 1 to 4 the importance of each aspect where
1 = not important and 4 = very important
Not important
Very important
I...........I...........I..............I
1
2
3
4

1.

Knowing a person while you were growing up who had

started or owned a business...................................................................

a) Anyone later, after you were 21 years old? Yes/No

2.

Parents, relatives, or close friends that were entrepreneurial........

3.

Having role models........................................................................

4.

Your education / experience in Business.......................................

5.

Having a business or self-employment during your youth.............

How important was sales or marketing experience to start

your company?.......................................................................................

The circumstances your experienced, to become interested

in entrepreneurship................................................................................

8.

To spot the opportunity..................................................................

9.

Your lifestyle needs or other personal requirements.....................

for success.............................................................................................

11. Finding or having partners.............................................................

12. A start-up business plan of any kind..............................................

13. Time spent since conception to the first day of business...............

14. Ability to bootstrap the venture capital (bartering, borrowing).......

and patent experts..................................................................................

16. Your family situation at the time....................................................

6.

7.

10. Evaluation of the opportunity in terms of critical elements

15. Having experienced advisors, lawyers, accountants, tax

Continued from page 2

Not important
Very important
I...........I...........I..............I
1
2
3
4

17. Knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of your

venture....................................................................................................

18. Experience the most triumphant as well as worst moment............

would fit in with you................................................................................

21. Attributes among partners and advisors........................................

22. Tolerate predictability/ (unpredictability?)......................................

23. Time spend with your business now than in early years...............

(assumption that business is in growth stage)........................................

25. Having a strategy to harvest, maintain and expand.......................

to work....................................................................................................

27. Planning to eventually retire (depending on respondent age)........

28. Changing your goals during your career.......................................

29. Lessons learned from both success and failure.............................

19. Knowledge regarding the most difficult gaps to fill and

problems to solve as you began to grow rapidly.....................................

20. Key people as partners, advisors or managers, you knew

24. The ability to be more managerial and less entrepreneurial now

26. A predetermined number of days a year you wanted

30. Knowledge of the most demanding conflicts or trade-offs

you faced (e.g. business vs. personal hobbies or a
relationship or children)..........................................................................

31. Strategies when you ran out of cash (assumption, that the
business did run out of cash)..................................................................

32. Lessons learned of a venture that did not work out for
you or someone you know......................................................................

33. Consider the identification of the thing that enabled

you to make it.........................................................................................

Continued from page 3

Not important
Very important
I...........I...........I..............I
1
2
3
4

34. The most critical concepts, skills, attitudes and know-how

you need to get a company started and grow to a
sustainable entity....................................................................................

35. The stress handling ability as an entrepreneur..............................

36. Personal rewards and satisfaction as an entrepreneur.................

37. Identification who should try to and should not try to

be an entrepreneur.................................................................................
Thank you very much for your participation!!