This Forbes article adds onto Part II of the Pozen article by looking at additional reasons why entrepreneurship will continue to grow into the future. One of the most interesting facts within the article states that a recent study estimates that 65% of primary aged school children will be working in jobs that don’t yet exist. This fact reinforces Pozen’s claim that “entrepreneur-friendly external developments” help drive the increase in entrepreneurship; however, it also made me question whether simply having to adapt to the new realities of the future world is entrepreneurship. Where do we draw the line separating proactive/innovative entrepreneurship and simply reactively adapting to the changing vocational landscape around us to survive?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Of Hi-Tech start-ups and Groceries
Here’s an article about one of the ways start ups can improve our society. The start up the article describes is trying to make it cheaper get food delivered to your door than shop at the local grocery store. Some of the societal benefits it mentions are that, if it works, it will incentivize home cooking and eating healthier by making it less costly in terms of both time and money. It also suggests this business can help smaller stores compete with mega-corporations like amazon and Walmart.
Immigrants and billion-dollar start-ups …
According to a recent study published by the National Foundation for American Policy, here are some interesting facts about the relationship between immigration and some of the U.S.’ most successful startups:
- 51% (44 of 87) of American startups currently valued at $1B or more were started by immigrants
- these companies result in an average of 760 jobs each
- nearly half of these companies have a founder (or co-founder) who came to the U.S. on a student visa.
- California is the home base for most of these companies (followed by New York, Massachusetts and Illinois)
- India is the source of the largest number of founders of billion-dollar startups
Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya
“Social Impact Entrepreneurs”
This article provides an interesting statistic: “Currently, women make up 39 percent of traditional entrepreneurs in the U.S., but 49 percent of all social entrepreneurs.”
The article discusses the compelling story of Yasmine Mustafa, whose unique experiences inspired her to create ROAR, “the social good company that makes discreet-yet-sleek jewelry items for women that double as alert systems in the face of violence.” For example, “The first product, called Athena, is as big as a quarter, can be worn on a necklace or belt, and sends a signal to friends and family alerting them that you feel unsafe or are in a dangerous situation when you push it like a button.”
The article also discusses the definition of “social entrepreneur,” stating that one definition is “based on criteria offered up by researcher Greg Dees in 2001. The ventures are formed to create and sustain social impact. Founders have a deep sense of commitment to the people they serve and the outcomes they produce — all while pursuing tenets typical of all strong, nimble businesses, with investments in product innovation, adaptation and a conscientious use of resources.” We’ve read about Dees previously, and it was interesting to see how his definition aligns with social innovators in reality.
“Tampapreneurs”
Not sure if anyone is from the Tampa, Florida area, but this article discusses the rise of the “Tampapreneurs.” It’s especially interesting in that it discusses how the city itself has influenced the services and products that have been recently innovated, as opposed to the idea that an entrepreneur can create a product that automatically fits in all communities.
Tech Companies Need a Patent Law History Lesson
A very interesting read and well-written article!
“Undoing the Motion Picture Patents Co. decision would embolden companies to build up bigger and more powerful monopolies to control the technologies we all use today—just as the Patents Co. was emboldened to dominate the fledgling film market until the Supreme Court stopped it.”
Six Misconceptions About Entrepreneurship
This is an interesting summary on the types of misconceptions people have about entrepreneurship. I think the most interesting is under the heading, “Time is your own.” We often think that business owners have time to do as they please, however, that is often not the case. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, my family was always on call – this article sums that up nicely.
That’s a hard no. Time is always limited, so no one can say they own their calendar, including CEOs of huge companies like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. A carefree attitude about time management is over once you’ve entered the entrepreneurial realm.
Social entrepreneurship is key to sustainable and inclusive growth in Asia
https://e27.co/social-entrepreneurship-key-sustainable-inclusive-growth-asia-20170315/
This article talks about how social entrepreneurship can become the solution and benefits to a cause or social problem that is occurring in Asia. Although there are low levels of social entrepreneurship in Asia at the moment, there is a sudden shift of focus towards using the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means to an end.
“While education is the catalyst to social entrepreneurship, a solid eco-system of public and private partners must come together to breathe social entrepreneurship to life. At the most basic level, this means addressing common barriers faced by youth entrepreneurs: access to capital, lack of business and management skills, and lack of mentorship support.”
Georgia State offers Georgia’s first B.I.S. degree in social entrepreneurship
A step in the right direction. Maybe more universities can soon follow the steps of Georgia State!
“Social entrepreneurship is about augmenting the government’s ability to solve these problems with some unique, innovative solutions,” Markl said. “Some of these things can be simple – an app that sends a text to someone to remind them to take their medication. That could save thousands or millions of lives.”
4 Entrepreneurship Lessons The Great Outdoors Can Teach Us
I thought this article made some interesting points. My favorite excerpt was as follows: “How many times in business have you felt sure of something and ignored your intuition? Maybe your gut told you that a new client would be a time suck, or that taking on a particular project would cost you more money than it would make. Next time, believe it. Trust your gut.” While I believe that many entrepreneurial skills can be taught, I also think that there are certain things that can’t necessarily be learned in a classroom. I like how this article focused on some of these aspects in a unique way.