Hi There!

Welcome back to another daily blog post of Ask Ash, where I ask WatchMojo founder & CEO Ashkan Karbasfrooshan on various topics ranging from what is going on in the news to career advice for students and entrepreneurs.

The EUROS have been going on for the last week. As Ash is a big fan of football, I thought that it could be interesting to talk about the similarities between entrepreneurs and sports athletes, and think about the possibility of companies going to head-to-head, as professional sports teams do.

1) What are some similarities & differences between entrepreneurs and professional athletes?

Both need a tremendous amount of confidence and persistence.

Both have to balance personal objectives and ambitions with a broader team dynamic, to truly excel.

Entrepreneurs tend be generalists who are jack of all trades who experiment and tinker until they find something to focus on… 

On the other hand, athletes need to become specialists from an early age and then really block everything else off and focus themselves 100% to that objective because there are finite opportunities and openings to be a professional athlete. 

Entrepreneurs don’t really have a shelf life: Sam Walton founded Walmart in his 60s! 

2) If businesses went head-to-head like professional sports teams do, what criteria do you think would be used to determine who is the better business?

Well, businesses do compete but indeed not head to head, directly. Consumers choose whether to buy a Coke or Pepsi, a Samsung phone or an iPhone, so in the end, we look at things like sales, profits, market value, and market share… so in a head to head contest, market share may be a good tangible gauge through goodwill (or brand equity) is also a good indicator but more intangible. 

Lastly, if you want to submit questions to Ash directly, you can do so by clicking the link here:

https://watchmojo.com/suggest/AskMojo%20-%20WatchMojo’s%20founder%20Ash