I met with a “spotter” entrepreneur this week. I was curious to hear about the next opportunity he’s identified. As we chatted, I realized a few things about him:

• Discovery – He’s gifted at finding opportunities others haven’t found. He looks where others don’t look. He sees value in things others have written off by thinking about them differently. He’s good at keeping his finger on the pulse of what’s going on, broadly, to spot trends early.
• Odds – He understands that what he’s trying to do is very difficult and it’s not a sure thing. At the same time, he’s aware that the odds of success are in his favor because the dynamics of the market he’s entering favor him. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s thinking in probabilities.
• Risk and return – He’s done simple math sufficient to understand that the return could be material if he’s successful. He’s considered the return relative to the risk he’s taking on. And he’s thought about how to lower the risk but still realize a material return if all goes well.

This entrepreneur isn’t from a fancy school or anything like that. He’s just a hustler gifted with the above-listed abilities and a great work ethic. I think a lot of this type of entrepreneurs are out there. The top 1% of these spotter entrepreneurs have the potential to build large non-consensus businesses.

I want to continue talking to spotters to understand what traits the 1% have.