Have We Reached Peak Entrepreneurship?

Real Clear Policy ^ | March 7, 2017 | Julio M. Ottino & Mark P. Mills

[2ndDivisionVet]

In today’s hyper-partisan era, one goal crosses the political divide: the need for more entrepreneurs.

Encomia are everywhere: Politicians praise them, Hollywood lionizes them, venture capitalists chase them, universities foster them. Entrepreneurs, from Henry Ford to Elon Musk, are embedded in American lore. In an earlier era they were popularized in Horatio Alger rags-to-riches terms; today it’s the garage-to-tech-titan stories that have legendary status for Millennials.

Could it be, however, that we’ve hit peak preoccupation with entrepreneurship?

Although entrepreneurial magic is often discussed in “tech” terms, the reality is most startups involve such things as restaurants and lawn services or electricians and car services — much of which require no college degree. By contrast, the vast majority of tech entrepreneurs emerge from universities.

Have colleges and universities received the message? The battle to have schools take entrepreneurship seriously has been won. Consider how much has changed.

When boomers left high schools, circa 1970, there were just 16 colleges and universities offering courses in entrepreneurship, and college-centric startup “incubators” were essentially non-existent, according to Kaufmann Foundation data. Now, over 1,500 universities offer such courses and college-based incubators are everywhere. Unsurprisingly — and whether it’s cause or effect — the share of today’s freshmen who say they want to be entrepreneurs has doubled since 1970. But even with that doubling, the actual share of college students declaring such a goal remains just 3.3 percent.....

[Deplorable American1776]

My deplorable son (ConservaTeen) runs a business (lawn mowing and pool cleaning). Mrs DeplorableAmerican1776 runs a home based business and I am on my 4th business (2 I closed, 1 sold).

[.45 Long Colt]

Whatever. That’s not responsive to what I said. My comment was in response to the notion that accountants simply need a course. Moreover, CPA’s do way more than taxes. In fact, the tax department is far and away the smallest part of the major firms.

I’m both a CPA and an attorney, but I stopped practicing years ago because I am a born risk taker, so I’m a businessman. I was entrepreneurial as a teen, so maybe it’s just my nature. I’m thankful for my education and professional experience, it served me well, but I like building businesses.

[Impy]

Pelnty of democrats have zero interest in seeing more entrepreneurs.

[antidisestablishment]

I sorry. I didn’t realize how that post would come across. My first job was at a CPA firm and a good CPA is the first thing I look for when starting a new venture—they are worth their weight in gold.

Your risk comment better expresses the point—the CPA world is risk averse, so it’s hard to reconcile that with entrepreneurship.

I’ve known entrepreneurs of all stripes and started numerous businesses. The only trait common among them was they took the risk. The successful ones educated themselves before and during, but rarely through college-though many had degrees.

Anyway, sorry about the tone of my first post. God bless you, FRiend, and bring you success in all that matters.