Does Birth Order Matter On Becoming An Entrepreneur?

Do you think it matters whether you are first-born or last (the baby of the brood) when it comes to becoming an entrepreneur?

According to Jeffrey Kluger in a Time magazine article, he thinks it does. It's murky but the conclusion is such that birth order affects fundamental personality traits and we all know that certain characteristics such as the ability to sell something and to take on well-thought-out risks are vital to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Of all the things that shape who we are, few seem more arbitrary than the sequence in which we and our siblings pop out of the womb. Maybe it's your genes that make you a gifted athlete, your training that makes you an accomplished actress, an accident of brain chemistry that makes you a drunk instead of a President. But in family after family, case study after case study, the simple roll of the birth-date dice has an odd and arbitrary power all its own.

I am the youngest of four children and definitely fit the bill on what Kluger says on later-borns also are more willing to take on risk (I am the only entrepreneur within the family). For instance, research by Ben Dattner, a professor at New York University, shows that firstborn chief executives prefer to make incremental improvements, while later-born CEOs are more likely to make transformational changes.

Read more here and feel free to weigh in with your thoughts. Curious to know whether you agree or disagree based on your birth order or that of others who you track.