Entrepreneur is a Dirty Word

When I meet new people, and explain Healthie and what I do there, some of the most common responses are “It must be cool to be an entrepreneur” or “I want to be an entrepreneur.” I always smile, nod, and cringe internally.

I am not an entrepreneur. I build healthcare software.  No one is an entrepreneur. Despite literally millions of LinkedIn profiles with that title listed, “entrepreneur” is so generic and non-descriptive, that it ceases to be a real thing. You can be the founder of a specific business. You can even be a “serial founder” if you really want to call yourself that.  Those words describe actual actions taken.  “To Found” is a verb. “To Entrepreneur” is an absurdity.

When asked about your job/career, You would never say that you are a “business person” or a “human.” Calling yourself an “entrepreneur” is equally as generic and unhelpful. Worse, the word “entrepreneur” has been latched on to and weaponized by the Grant Cardone, Kevin Zhang, fake Lambo-owning, get-rich-quick-course-selling crowd. They talk about their glamorous lives as “entrepreneurs” and use the concept to take advantage of people.

They can only do this successfully because so many legitimate people currently call themselves “entrepreneurs.” When I searched the job title “Entrepreneur” on LinkedIn, many of the results are people who have built real businesses, who have created amazing products and teams. These are people that I respect, look up to, and want to emulate as we build Healthie. Frankly, the fact that they refer to themselves as “entrepreneurs” undersells their achievements.

We should be using words and titles that focus on specific actions taken and work completed. The more we do that, the easier it becomes to recognize and celebrate builders, while leaving scammers and charlatans behind. Let’s stop using the word entrepreneur.