Bohemond of Taranto - Serial Entrepreneur
Bohemond I (1058-1109) was born the son of a duke, worked his way up to be a prince on his own, but died living in his mom’s basement.
Born in Taranto, southern Italy, he was the eldest son of Robert Guiscard, the Norman war leader who had marched in and conquered Southern Italy in the 1060’s to become the Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily.
Bohemond’s father had a long list of military accomplishments, and early on the son must have decided he was going to grow into the very big shoes of his father. So, the lad set out to conquer, um, kinda whatever was around.
Bohemond was a lifelong rival of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and they fought over who would rule in the toe and heel of the boot of Italy through the early 1080’s. A decade later, Bohemond joined the First Crusade in 1096 and sorta swore a loose fealty to Alexius.
The crusaders were to return possessions that had formerly been a part of the Byzantine empire, like the ancient city of Antioch. Bohemond’s fingers clearly were crossed when he took that oath, because when the crusade arrived at Antioch, he refused to help take the city unless he could be its ruler. The other crusaders acquiesced, and he led the attack. After the siege, he would become Prince of Antioch
As prince, he sorta lost interest in the whole “going to Jerusalem” part of the crusade bound for Jerusalem. Also, he wasn’t that interested in sitting around ruling Antioch, the place where he’d just been made prince. Instead, he focused his energies on conquering more places.
In 1100, Bohemond attacked his new neighbors, the Seljuk Turks. He lost the gamble and was taken prisoner. They tried to ransom him back to his Norman cousins, but nobody would pay up. Bohemond was eventually released from captivity in 1103.
To the surprise of no one, he got involved in another disastrous campaign hundreds of miles east of Antioch, the Battle of Harran in 1104, where he lost more territory to the Turks. Fighting the Turks was turning out to be difficult, so Bohemond turned his attention toward his old rival, Emperor Alexius in Constantinople.
In January 1105, Bohemond pitched the pope on a new crusade. In a medieval strategy pivot, his ultimate goal would be Jerusalem, but along the way, his crusade would conquer the Byzantine Empire. He got his venture funded.
The pope launched this crusade in 1106, but it went so badly that historians don’t even count it in the list of official crusades. Bohemond was defeated in the Balkans in 1108 and forced to recognize Byzantine overlordship of Antioch.
Bohemond was beaten and broken. He had gambled repeatedly, sometimes winning big, but losing it all in the end. The prince never returned to Antioch and died back home in Italy in 1111.
A serial entrepreneur is someone who starts one business after another, rather than founding one venture and staying focused on it for many years. In the best case, this person is really good at seeing new opportunities and getting them going from zero to one.
If they’re great at the first stages and can partner with others to take over the business as it matures, then the right people are working on the company at the right stage and everybody wins.
On the flip side, the serial entrepreneur might just love the thrill of starting from scratch when anything is possible. Once it stops being all launch parties and funding pitches and starts to be working on the idea, they bail. Maybe they can’t stay focused. Maybe they’re just a rich kid burning through family money.
All entrepreneurs must be masters of hype, so you have to look past the bluster and see if there’s any “there” there. The proof is in the results. If they built real value, then they’re the real deal. If they leave a string of disasters, then they might really be a serial “floptrepreneur.” Take a look at the facts before you join them on their next campaign.
Bohemond had great success when fighting alongside his dad. He then had a few huge wins that got him fame and prestige. Then he lost, and lost, and lost again. He might have had someone ghostwrite Le Arte de les Dealeux for him, but if he did, that manuscript is lost to history.
