It really depends on what you mean by both terms. Was Tesla a scientist? Was he an entrepreneur? Neil deGrasse Tyson? 23 and Me co-founder Linda Avey and others had a background (BS) in biology and worked as a research assistant before going into business, and I’m sure some of their early hires were biologists with PhDs.
In any case, you have two related points of tension. First, most people we think of as scientists (that is, people who conduct scientific research in academia) have a different personality type than most entrepreneurs. They’re often less money-oriented and less people oriented. People who go down a career path that leads them to studying the Hox genes for forty years are not the kinds of people who go to business school.
The second part is that not a lot of what’s considered pure science is particularly marketable. Again, it depends on your definitions. Is materials science “science?” Does a materials scientist working at 3M count as a scientist? Does such a person working at a startup count as an entrepreneur if they aren’t part of the c-suite and don’t get involved in the business side of the business?
There’s obvious exceptions that work mainly around disciplines. Is a computer scientist a scientist? A lot of them are entrepreneurs. Biotech is a second example. Note that we generally don’t mean “biologist” here - these aren’t evolutionary biologists or ecologists. You’re not going to get funding for a startup that studies the family dynamics of the naked mole rat.
In short, it’s rare because there’s little overlap in personalities or fields of research. There’s certain applied sciences where it’s more common, as long as you’re willing to stretch some definitions a bit.
It really depends on what you mean by both terms. Was Tesla a scientist? Was he an entrepreneur? Neil deGrasse Tyson? 23 and Me co-founder Linda Avey and others had a background (BS) in biology and worked as a research assistant before going into business, and I’m sure some of their early hires were biologists with PhDs.
In any case, you have two related points of tension. First, most people we think of as scientists (that is, people who conduct scientific research in academia) have a different personality type than most entrepreneurs. They’re often less money-oriented and less people oriented. People who go down a career path that leads them to studying the Hox genes for forty years are not the kinds of people who go to business school.
The second part is that not a lot of what’s considered pure science is particularly marketable. Again, it depends on your definitions. Is materials science “science?” Does a materials scientist working at 3M count as a scientist? Does such a person working at a startup count as an entrepreneur if they aren’t part of the c-suite and don’t get involved in the business side of the business?
There’s obvious exceptions that work mainly around disciplines. Is a computer scientist a scientist? A lot of them are entrepreneurs. Biotech is a second example. Note that we generally don’t mean “biologist” here - these aren’t evolutionary biologists or ecologists. You’re not going to get funding for a startup that studies the family dynamics of the naked mole rat.
In short, it’s rare because there’s little overlap in personalities or fields of research. There’s certain applied sciences where it’s more common, as long as you’re willing to stretch some definitions a bit.