I have come across a couple of people who have left their comfortable corporate jobs to start on their own. Though all of them had different personality traits but there were a couple of common traits as well. Here is the common minimal character set between all self appointed CEOs that I know.

Shameless at negotiations
In one of my earlier jobs I was trying to find a software vendor for an application we needed. In a short time I found the perfect software and ended up negotiating the asking price to get a discount of about 20%. When my entrepreneur boss / CEO saw the discounted price he asked for an additional 60% discount. I was shocked. I felt that it was not negotiation but stealing! However, my boss thought that it was his right to get this discount and he confidently argued with the vendor for about an hour to get this discount. That day I was truly amazed.

Energetic
Just try saying ‘Your business model has no substance’ to any entrepreneur and you will know what I mean by energetic. You will be bombarded with arguments, market data etc just to prove that the business has the potential to really kick a**. But you will get this reaction only if the entrepreneur in question considers you to be of any significance and thus tries to alter your opinion. Most likely you will end up getting either a shrug or a cold stare.

Perpetual optimism
You might doubt for a second whether earth really goes around the sun but under no circumstance a true entrepreneur doubts his business model, even for a second. Confidence in business model and never dying optimism are his second nature. The business may be suffering, employees may be leaving in hoards but an entrepreneur keeps a positive outlook. This helps to keep his and his employees’ morale high and, more importantly, investors’ confidence intact.