Entrepreneurship Skills

What skills do you need to start and grow a business? What are your strengths? What are your skills gaps? If you needed to outsource, hire, or partner with others, what skills would you look for?

This Entrepreneurship Skills Self-Assessment will help you to find your key skills and identify your skills gaps.

You will assess yourself in seven functional skills areas:

Strategy and Tactics: General business planning skills
Design: Aesthetics, usability, and experience
Marketing: Messaging, writing, design
Sales: Closing customers
Financials: Financial projections & accounting
Fundraising: Raising external capital
Operations: Day-to-Day management. Recruiting.

For each skill, you will rate yourself on a 0-7 scale:

No ability
Please don’t make me
Uncomfortable
Manage to do it
Some experience
Comfortable
Highly experienced
Expert. Can teach to others

First Name

Strategy & TacticsGeneral business planning skills, both long-term and short-term

No experience in business or planning

I do not have the first idea what to do

The idea of planning makes me uncomfortable

I will do it, but I will not enjoy the process

I have some experience as part of a team

I am comfortable with strategy and tactics, but have a little experience.

I am highly experienced, and have helped manage a company

I am an expert. I have been the CEO and/or have taught this to others.

DesignAesthetics, usability, and experience.

No experience thinking about design, usability, or the customer experience

I have no sense of design

The idea of picking colors and shapes and sizes is uncomfortable

I will do it, but I will not enjoy the process at all

I have no experience being the designer of a product or service

I have intentionally picked a color scheme, sketched a logo, etc.

I have years of experience doing design work

I am an expert designer. I have taught this to others

MarketingMessaging, writing, design.

No experience with marketing

No one ever understands what I am talking about

It takes me a half hour to explain what I'm doing, and still few understand

Most of the time people understand what my startup does

I have some experience writing marketing materials, but not much

I am comfortable writing marketing copy

I am highly experienced, with more than 5 years marketing experience

I am an expert, have been the CMO. I can teach this to others

SalesClosing customers.

I have no ability to talk to strangers

The thought of asking someone from money is abhorrent

The thought of asking someone for money makes me uncomfortable

I'll try, but I have little confidence in my abilities

I have a little bit of experience selling

I am comfortable walking up to a stranger and making a sales pitch

I am highly experienced, making sales for years

I am an expert, having managed a sales force. I can teach others

FundraisingRaising external capital.

I have no ability to talk to strangers

For whatever reason, I can not ask others to fund my business

I am uncomfortable asking others for money

I'll try, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm afraid of looking foolish

I have a little bit of experience, but it's not working

I am comfortable making investor pitches and have raised some money

I am highly experienced, raising plenty of funding from investors before

I am an expert, raising money for multiple companies in my past

FinancialsFinancial projections & accounting.

I have never used a spreadsheet

I do not enjoy spreadsheets or numbers

The idea of making a spreadsheet from scratch makes me uncomfortable

I will do it, but I will not enjoy the process at all

I have created some spreadsheets in the past, but nothing like this

I am comfortable with creating financials, but have little experience

I have years of experience creating financial models

I am an expert, have been the CFO. I can teach this to others

OperationsDay to day management and recruiting

I do not know the first thing about running a business

I do not like telling other people what to do

I am uncomfortable being in charge. I have never been in that position

I will do my best, but I have little to no experience managing a company

I have a little bit of experience running part of a company

I am comfortable running a small business or division of a larger business

I am highly experienced, as CEO, COO, or Managing Director

I am an expert. I could teach operations at a business school

My critical skills gapWhich skills gap presents the highest risk to my success? Why?

Identify your skills as an entrepreneur

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