Tag Archives: startups

Meaningful milestones

Some milestones that receive too much attention:

  • Closed an investment round
  • Cleared 100 employees
  • Leased new office space

Some milestones that receive insufficient attention:

  • Closed the first customer
  • Closed the 100th customer
  • Closed the 1,000th customer
  • First profitable month
  • First profitable quarter
  • First profitable year
  • 1st distribution to owners
  • 100,000th dollar distributed to owners
  • 1,000,000th dollar distributed to owners
  • Etc.

On Doers: My interview with Michael Tavani

Last week, Michael Tavani (of Switchyards and Scoutmob) visited GuildQuality’s headquarters to interview me for his On Doers series. I’ve known Michael via Twitter for years, and this was the first time I’d met him face to face. What a super guy. Thanks Michael. I am honored to be a part of this.

Why is entrepreneurship on the decline?

WSJ: Decline of Entrepreneurship

A couple weeks ago, Ben Casselman of the WSJ presented some trends about entrepreneurship in the United States. Nowadays, he writes,

Companies add jobs more slowly, even in good times. Investors put less money into new ventures. And, more broadly, Americans start fewer businesses and are less inclined to change jobs or move for new opportunities.

The changes reflect broader, more permanent shifts, including an aging population and the new dominance of large corporations in many industries. They also may help explain the increasingly sluggish economic recoveries after the past three recessions, experts said.

Stephen Bainbridge added some thoughts as to why entrepreneurship is declining. He writes, “First, the dearth of US citizens pursuing careers in science and engineering. Second, the impact of law and regulation.” A lot of folks seem to be echoing his first point. I don’t buy it, and will share more about why at the end of this post. But, I completely agree about the second point. Bainbridge elaborates:

When you add up the growing costs of regulation and the growing risk of litigation, there’s no wonder smaller firms and start ups struggle. Only big firms can achieve the sort of economies of scale that make such costs bearable.

Regulation and litigation are absolutely stifling the growth of new businesses, and completely favoring large, established corporations. I’ve written some about that (here and here and here and here), and many other people have as well. Even so, all the bellyaching doesn’t seem to be altering the growth trajectory of litigation and regulation.

Here are a few more reasons why I believe entrepreneurship is on the decline:

Continue reading “Why is entrepreneurship on the decline?”