For all the concerns they cite about the plight of small business, from tax burdens to health care costs and so on, what pols of all stripes are missing is that America is experiencing a wave of entrepreneurialism unlike anything we’ve ever had before. Inspired by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, by the incredible success of Steve Jobs and Apple, by nimble new industrial designers, by the myriad app-makers and startups populating Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley, and every place in between, a generation of people–young and old–are enthusiastically and optimistically setting out to build new businesses and to invent new ways of doing business. Some of them tap into new platforms like Kickstarter, Etsy, and Indiegogo. Some tap into incubators like TechStars and Y Combinator. Sometimes these entrepreneurs are moonlighting, sometimes they work within huge corporations, and sometimes, yes, they are in a garage or a coffee house or a co-working space. But that doesn’t make this phenomenon any less real.
Wendy and I were talking the other night about the fact that very, very few of our friends are working for anyone other than themselves. It was kind of shocking when we started going through the list. Cabinetmakers, consultants, marketers, designers, app makers…the list goes on. I can’t remember the last person who came to our house with a real 9-5-ish job.
Wondering, as always, what it will be like for my kids…