Josh Kopelman: ‘Entrepreneurship is a mindset, not a profession’

First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman spoke at Wharton in February.

By Chadwick Prichard

Back when Josh Kopelman was a 20-something entrepreneur, he was handling $50 million deals but he wasn’t old enough to rent a car. That’s just one of the anecodotes the First Round Capital managing partner told at an event hosted by Alpha Kappa Psi, Penn’s business fraternity.

Below, event organizer Chadwick Prichard‘s takeaways from the event. Read about another recent Alpha Kappa Psi event featuring Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson here.

• Entrepreneurship is more often than not a mindset, rather than a profession. The most successful entrepreneurs recognize a problem that needs to be solved and can’t sleep until they do something about it.
• Irony can be funny. Kopelman once flew out to the West Coast to close a deal for $50 million as an entrepreneur, and since he was under 25, Hertz would not let him rent a car. He was responsible enough to handle $50 million, but not a rental car.
• Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart. Kopelman sold his company Half.com to eBay for $350 million at the height of the internet boom in February of 2000. The bubble burst just a few weeks later in March.