Mark Loschiavo, executive director of Drexel University's Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship, and Timothy Ericson, CEO of CityRyde, were quoted in an article for Entrepreneur about how experience isn’t necessary in order to be successful as an entrepreneur.
"We started from nothing," says Ericson, CEO and co-founder of CityRyde, a bike-sharing consulting firm. "We basically spent our first two years becoming experts in an industry that was totally new to us."
Ericson, who had experience in business and information technology before founding CityRyde, is one of many entrepreneurs to start a business either with no "domain" experience--experience in the industry in which they're looking to start a business--or with strong domain experience but little entrepreneurial know-how.
Loschiavo says this can be a stumbling block for entrepreneurs with strong domain experience but no business experience.