Zynga Founder Mark Pincus on Entrepreneurial Success

by Steve O'Keefe on October 29, 2010

What is the secret ingredient for successful entrepreneurship? There is one, according to John and Carrie Vanston, authors of the new book, MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends. And it’s not what you might think.

Is it tenacity? Nope. Drive? No. Training? Not a major ingredient. Neither is education, wealth, creativity or connections. None of these things show a very strong correlation with entrepreneurial prowess.

Surprise: The one trait that ties together more successful entrepreneurs than anything else is “exceptionally good health.” That’s according to the University of Washington’s Dr. Karl Vesper, who reviewed numerous studies of entrepreneurs looking for underlying patterns.

While he might not recognize it as the most important benefit he provides to over 1,000 employees, entrepreneur Mark Pinkus knows his health and their health is important. It’s the reason his company provides not only excellent health care benefits, but also such perks as onsite dentistry and a free company cafeteria.

Pinkus, whose company, Zynga, has created such popular games as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, was interviewed recently by Kermit Pattison for Fast Company. Pattison specializes in interviews with business leaders. The way he covers Silicon Valley, you would think him a fixture in the San Francisco Bay Area. But he plies his trade from a healthy distance — out of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Asked about Zynga’s food court, Pincus explains:

I started to realize that from a productivity standpoint good food has a multiplier effect. You waste time trying to find food everyday. You feel crappy about a lot of the food you eat. There are positives about building community — food brings people together. If have enough good food in one place, it gives people from different parts of the company reason to sit down together.

Pincus is passionate about entrepreneurship. When he hires managers, he looks for people with that entrepreneurial mindset. “You can be an entrepreneur inside any size company. The best companies today value great entrepreneurs and work hard to retain them and motivate them,” Pinkus told Pattison.

MINITRENDS is built on this same premise: that one can be an entrepreneur in any size company. It’s your job to keep alert to new trends and to choose which directions to embrace and which to steer clear from, whether you are a sole proprietor, part of a small business, or a manager for a large business enterprise.

You’re not going to be successful at that job if you don’t take care of yourself. So learn the real secret of successful entrepreneurs and pay attention to your heath, because you won’t last long in this business without it.

STEVE O’KEEFE
News Editor, Minitrends Blog

Source: “Leveling Up Your Staff: Zynga’s Mark Pincus on Entrepreneurial Companies,” Fast Company, 10/27/10
Source: “Stay Healthy,” MINITRENDS, p. 179.
Image by Identity Photogr@phy (Clare Bell), used under Creative Commons license.

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