4 thoughts on “And here’s a competing view on millennial entrepreneurship …”

1. I found this article to be very interesting! I was really shocked to read that, “[t]he share of people under 30 who own a business has fallen by 65 percent since the 1980s.” As mentioned by the author, I often think of millennials as very entrepreneurial, so to read that the number of younger individuals who are actually creating start-ups is drastically declining was a bit surprising. The statistic that 60% of millennials consider themselves entrepreneurs surprised me a little, though it made a bit more sense considering the author also said that 90% of millennials recognize entrepreneurship as a “mentality” rather than an “activity”. The author further mentioned that student loans likely have something to do with the drastic decrease in young individuals starting companies and that really resonated with me. When I think about my monthly loan payments that will begin rolling in shortly, I can’t imagine taking on the risk of starting up another company right after graduation.

2. What will be interesting to see is the entrepreneurial activity among this same group three to five years from now. Action always follows thought. The entrepreneurial mentality that millenials have now could very well lead to more businesses in the future.

3. The article develops a distinction between entrepreneurship as a mentality and entrepreneurship as a practice among millennials, and argues that millennials are not the generation entrepreneurs portrayed in the media. I agree that the media embellish millennials as entrepreneurs and that reality is quite different. Based on the statistics we saw in the first day of class, the number of people starting their own businesses or ventures are much older than millennials. Moreover, the article argues that student debt and risk-aversion among millennials may explain why millennials are not as entrepreneurial as people expect. I think this is the reality for most millennials when other statistics, such as the rising number of millennials living at home with parents, are taken into consideration.

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/30/the-real-reason-so-many-millennials-are-living-at-home/?utm_term=.39d01397536d

4. “The media portrayal of young people casting off the shackles of employment to start their own companies is, for now, an illusion. But unlike other popular illusions in the press, rising Millennial entrepreneurship is a vision of the future that is worth rooting for.”

   I don’t disagree with the article – the portrayal of millennials fleeing employment to open their own companies is overplayed (consider the number of movies that focus on this premise). I do think that there is a spirit of entrepreneurship with millennials that is unique to the generation, which at least keeps the start up dream alive.