---
title: "A great entrepreneur can come from anywhere"
description: "Learn why great entrepreneurs can emerge from any background. Explore how having a beginner's mindset, not credentials or connections, drives startup success in tech."
categories: ["startups"]
keywords: ["Theory Ventures","entrepreneurship","startup success","beginner's mindset","Silicon Valley","venture capital","tech startups","open mind","innovation"]
ai_summary: "Explore how a beginner's mindset, rather than credentials, fosters entrepreneurial success in diverse backgrounds."
date: 2012-11-02
lastmod: 2026-07-31
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/great-entrepreneur-anywhere/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---

<p>There’s a Pixar movie that captures the ethos of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurship culture which it summarizes this way:</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>While not everyone can be a great chef, a great chef can come from anywhere</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The magic of the valley is that there is no path, no formula, no stencil for how to be successful. There is no university one must attend, no incubator one must join, no technology one must master to be successful. Every entrepreneur has a different route to their successes. </p>

<p>But I do think there is one common element among entrepreneurs: an open mind - a mind receptive to new ideas, new people, new disruptions, new pivots and new ways of challenging commonly assumed precepts. </p>

<p>Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki said it best in his book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: </p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anyone can have an open mind, a beginner’s mind - so a great entrepreneur can come from anywhere. </p>