A Nation of Entrepreneurs

Paul Graham states his belief that there could be ten times more startups than they currently are.

If I were worth hundreds of millions of dollars and had a private foundation, I would pour my money into initiatives and programs that would spurred entrepreneurship. If I were a governor or a president, I would push for programs and legislation that would do the same. I guess that it is the role of the Small Business Administration, but my goals would be much more ambitious.

I am not fond of transfers, entitlements, and redistribution of wealth but prefer, instead, structural solutions that are self-supporting over time. Carnegie poured money into building libraries and, in the process, educating the public. Gates focuses has a similar focus on improving education, bridging the technology gap, and advancing world health.

I feel that entrepreneurship is deeply woven in the fabric of America and that the country owes a lot of its growth, success and technological leadership to entrepreneurship. Embedded in our constitution are strong notions of private property as well as congressional protection for intellectual property (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8). I think Europe is more socialistic, because it emerged from a feudalistic society, whereas America was founded by a nation of pioneers in an unbounded frontier and also made greater use of slave labor.

I suspect that over a century ago that a much greater percentage of Americans were actually entrepreneurs than today, before the rise of urban life and large corporations. However, in recent times due to advances in information technology and the Web, it is easier than ever to start one’s own company. Bill Gates remarked that he is jealous of the relative ease of starting of a company today compared to the environment of the mid-70s when Microsoft was founded.

There is so much infrastructure available right now. I am currently a MicroISV operation, but it is easy for me to create a virtual corporation. I currently license royalty-free linguistic data from universities and software libraries from component vendors like SyncFusion. I can get some design work at sites like GlyFX or outsource some of my marketing efforts at Shareware Promotions. There are sites that help me with just about everything from documentation, software registration, customer support, and so on.

This infrastructure is not just limited to the digital world. In the past thirty years, we have all sorts of support centers for small businesses like Kinko’s, Fedex and Office Depot arrived on the scene. There are warehouses that will do drop-shipping for home-based mail order business, thereby eliminating the need for an proprietor to worry about inventory and fulfillment.

However, the problem today is the search cost to discover all the various services available. If only, there were a standardized way of find out what’s available. If a government or private corporation could provide an inexpensive, one-stop center for all small business needs from financing, product developments, and so on. This center would not do it all, but partner with the major suppliers and business services, and integrate their various services under one roof.

My hope is that, someday, entrepreneurship will be perceived to be “easy” and “low-risk.” There is a standard place to go to that addresses all of the needs of an entrepreneur. The mundane aspects of business—accounting, payroll, ordering, and fulfillment—can be easily outsourced, and one could focus on the enjoyable aspect of the job, which is the core product or service.

More people will become wealthy and lead happier lives. It wouldn’t be a zero-sum, where one’s wealth comes at the expense of another, but, rather, the direct result of an increase in total national wealth contributed through entrepreneurship.(I know that money doesn’t make people happy, but I do believe that, in addition to more material items, wealthier people tend to have better health, more available time, more and higher-quality friends, and more opportunities.)

There is also the issue of education: The educational system is primarily focused on training people to work as employees for companies, so young adults enter the real world without thinking that entrepreneurship is a realistic option. There is essentially no instruction on entrepreneurship in K-12 and very little in universities; most entrepreneurs come straight from an entrepreneurial family. (I don’t know what the state of education is today; most adults, like myself, were educated, decades ago, when entrepreneurship was definitely much harder.)

Comments

[Roger Jack]

Great post! I agree with you 100%. We need to become a nation of entrepreneurs, if we are to have a major role in the evolving global market. China and India are working very hard to catch up so we can no longer afford to be complacent.

[The Socialist Coder]

Wesner, while I admire your thoughts on .NET I completly disagree on your ultra liberal view.
Most of people will have a big life accident that will impair their ability to work for several monthes.

What if there is no social system?

Is it normal that a single guy like BG earns more than several countries while there is so many poor people in USA?

Is it normal that 70% of your population is ultra fat because your industry make $ on fast-food and cola ?

Is it normal that many 70 to 80 years old US guys are obliged to work?

Is it normal that oil companies influence your president to do a war?

Is it normal that most of your medias are controlled by ultra liberal interests?

Is it normal that your country pollute almost as much as the other part of the humanity?

Do you know how many children die every day because of the poor countries debt that WallStreet banks are maintaining? (this debt which represents less than 2% of the 2001 stocks exchange crash)

Don't you think that 9/11 is more a matter of 'poor vs. rich' than 'fanatics vs. the rest of the world'?

Do you think that the stronger should always win?

Who are you to think that you can rule the planet and don't abide by ONU caveats?

In most European countries health care and education are free thanks to social structure. Our rich are less richer than yours but all our children are healthy and have almost the same chances, even the non-caucasian ones.

You are clever enough to know that money is a balance:
If one earns 50B$ then 5B people have 10$ less. For those who are living with less than 1$ a day it does matter!

Don't be afraid of China and India soaring but be happy that the half of human beings are trying to recover their lost dignity.

NB1: Sorry for my English.
NB2: I'm an independant software architect & trainer and I'm happy to pay 60% of my income in taxes. I stay anonymous since I'm partly collaborating with som US companies.

[CountvonCarstein]

I agree that it is much easier to start a company these days due to the services and infrastructure that have sprung up with the internet and the business services industry. However, I have to disagree with your desire for "low-risk" entrepreneurship. The whole point of entrepreneurship is risk taking to achieve higher returns on the investment of time and money. There is less risk, and thus less pay, in simply getting a job.

[Jason]

Where exactly in the constitution did you find support for "congressional protection of intellectual property?"

[Wesner Moise]

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

[Steven J. Ackerman]

While I agree that if you run a sole proprietorship things might appear to be easier, all you have to do is hire one employee, and things get much harder...

Every day, this country makes it increasingly harder to own and operate a business. All expenses are increasing exponentially, and income is being squeezed by foreign competition. And if you are trying to be a manufacturer, forget it. Somehow, we're all going to get rich selling hot dogs to one another - I just don't know who's going to make them...

Our workman's comp insurance has tripled - with no claims in 18 years. Our business insurance has doubled - with no claims in 18 years. And they routinely cancel our policy, forcing us to devote a large portion of our day to try and maintain coverage.

Personally, I blame the MBAs for a lot of the problems with their "next quarter's profits" focus at the exclusion of any long term planning, and of course the legislators and lawyers for being the robber barons that they are...

[jk]

Think about it: Everything you're talking about has been made possible by cheap energy.

As we slide down the backside of Hubbard's Peak, I think it'll become clear how fragile this infrastructure you're describing really is.

[Lloyd Dupont]

I strongly disagree with you socialist coder.
And I bet you're french (I'm french my self ;)

Let's take an exemple:
"Is it normal that a single guy like BG earns more than several countries while there is so many poor people in USA"

On exemple of the wrong thinking, communist propaganda french have come to think.
The 2 issue (1 BG is reach, 2. America has a lot of poor people) are unrelated. Worst than that if you take too much money from the rich, nobody is rich enough, nobody could afford create entreprise, hence job, hence paying people the money they deserve! All you get is a lot of minimal salaries and a lot more disatisaction (which I see a lot when I go back to France).

Other than that I confess I agree you about health (except on the 'most people' have health problem), but he was denying this either!

[Lloyd Dupont]

I strongly disagree with you socialist coder.
And I bet you're french (I'm french my self ;)

Let's take an exemple:
"Is it normal that a single guy like BG earns more than several countries while there is so many poor people in USA"

On exemple of the wrong thinking, communist propaganda french have come to think.
The 2 issue (1 BG is reach, 2. America has a lot of poor people) are unrelated. Worst than that if you take too much money from the rich, nobody is rich enough, nobody could afford create entreprise, hence job, hence paying people the money they deserve! All you get is a lot of minimal salaries and a lot more disatisaction (which I see a lot when I go back to France).

Other than that I confess I agree you about health (except on the 'most people' have health problem), but he was denying this either!

[Adwords Management]

entrepreneur is a lost term these days. There are very few. I suppose you can thanks our government and educational system for that though. Nice post