A brief history of entrepreneurship

From ancient merchants to the modern startup, here are the lessons to be learnt for a present-day entrepreneur

- Lorenzo Jooris

Entrepreneurs have been around forever. So, when you’ve landed on a great idea and you’re getting ready to set up your company, you’re in a long line of innovators stretching back thousands of years.

But what can we learn from the entrepreneurs of the past, and what kind of opportunities exist for entrepreneurs of the present? Here’s a whistle-stop tour through entrepreneur history – from the hunter/gatherers through the four industrial revolutions – to see what key lessons a modern-day entrepreneur can imbibe.

Earliest entrepreneurs

Even 20,000 years ago, tribes were exchanging goods. Evidence exists of basic trading of volcanic rock which could be used to create hunting weapons being exchanged for other goods. In its simplest form, this is about finding something which someone else wants. Not so different to today’s entrepreneur who is trying to find and solve a customer problem that has not yet been addressed. In the centuries that followed these earliest entrepreneurs, we start to see trade routes open up around the world and the invention of money allowing the entrepreneur to increase their potential market – no longer relying on a bartering system. If you have something that people need, you can exchange it – in the modern case, for money.

Takeaway: It all starts with a great idea and then finding those customers who want what you’re selling.

The first industrial revolution – basic factories

What can we learn from the first industrial revolution which began in the mid-18th century, when societies moved from basic agriculture to the early factories?