The Consulting Question or the Entrepreneurial Question?

Over the past few weeks I'd been working on a business problem with someone who had decades of experience in the consulting industry. Our approaches towards solving the problem seemed to be notably different for the first part of the discussion, but at the end of the day the data uncovered by each ended up being the ying to each other's yang. From this experience came two conclusions: 1) That the consulting and entrepreneurial mindset were different and that 2) neither necessarily proved superior to the other. This made me wonder what it was that made our approaches so different, how our experiences played into it and whether a start-up or consulting practice could possibly survive without having both mindsets in the game. These were some observations:

1. Consultants are problem driven while entrepreneurs are opportunity driven. Consultants are ready to delve into mountains of data until they start finding some kind of pattern and go from there. It's guaranteed to work every time but risks missing out on the big picture. Think tuning an engine (figuring out the fuel to air mix, timing of each stroke, etc) instead of asking whether it's the right engine for the car, whether it's the right car for the user and what an alternate engine might be. The entrepreneur is much more opportunity and customer driven and is eager to go out and start talking to customers, understanding the potential of the product and then looking at the numbers to see if their findings make sense. Think of a multi-function product like compressed air; sales to existing clients may be stagnant due to a price point issue but what else can you do with it?! The downside: it can be hit or miss and might fail to consider small changes that can have big impacts (ie: changing the price would be so much easier/cheaper than chasing a new market.)
2. At the end of the day a winning solution is an innovative idea that is supported by evidence (or perhaps evidence that is supported by innovative ideas). It is unclear to me which way of thinking is more likely to succeed but I did learn something very useful last week: That the creative tension that results from having both on a team can not only be highly productive but essential.