grassroots entrepreneurism working doc
TRANSCRIPT
Grassroots Entrepreneurism An working document of insights & ideas and a thesis for transforming the American economy
December, 2010
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Entrepreneurial Economy
• BELIEF #1: Entrepreneurship is the leading force for sustainable economic development
• Economic growth / transformaMon will depend on innovaMve entrepreneurs, not incumbent corporaMons – “the net source of new jobs will be predominately created from an entrepreneurial
climate, not from revitalizing old industries” (George Solomon, co-‐director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence at George Washington University)
– The Kauffman FoundaMon has found that from 1980 to 2005, nearly all net job creaMon in the U.S. occurred in firms that were less than five years old. • both on average and for all but seven years between 1977 and 2005, exisMng firms are net job
destroyers, losing 1 million jobs net combined per year. By contrast, in their first year, new firms add an average of 3 million jobs
– Of all the US businesses that exist today, half of them did not exist in the year 2000
• “We're seeing the beginnings of the entrepreneurial economy, a system built on nimble, low-‐overhead, odenMmes small companies with fluid workforces, rather than the massive conglomerates that have upheld the economy for decades.”
Entrepreneurial Economy
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Business CreaMon • BELIEF #2: The widely-‐held belief that capital markets (“VC,
Private equity, IPO”) are the only way to grow scalable new enterprises is flawed.
• First, roughly 600,000 new businesses launch in the United States each year. Only about 1,000 new businesses receive their first venture capital funding each year. That means only .167% of new businesses receive venture funding.
• VC funding is also concentrated in select regions of the US, leaving out enMre swaths of the naMon/world – PWC Data
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Most firms don’t go public
• Second, over 70% of U.S. firms with more than 500 employees choose to remain private rather than lisMng on a stock market – U.S. Census Bureau
• The number of IPO’s in the US is declining – See link re: declining IPO market: hmp://www.pascalsview.com/pascalsview/2010/08/connecMng-‐the-‐dots-‐how-‐new-‐job-‐creaMon-‐ipo%E2%80%99s-‐and-‐venture-‐capital-‐in-‐america-‐are-‐inMmately-‐linked.html
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Private firms as employers
• Third, privately held firms account for more than two-‐thirds of U.S. private-‐sector employment
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Small Businesses contribute to employment, trade and innovaMon
• Fourth, there are 29.6 million small businesses in the US, and they employ over half the private sector workforce. They represent 97.3% of all exporters of goods and they generate the majority of the innovaMons that come from US firms. They exist in every city in the country.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
High Impact Enterprises • BELIEF #3: High growth entrepreneurs’ enterprises create a disproporMonate share of all new jobs created by new firms
• While 70% or more of an industrialized economy’s jobs are generated by SMEs, an overwhelming number of jobs come from a small subset of SMEs, “Growth Entrepreneurs” who do most of the work of new job and wealth creaMon.
• “entrepreneurs that have the most innovaMve ideas, the power to inspire through their stories, and the most scalable businesses in their respecMve countries” (Endeavor)
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
MulMplier Effect • BELIEF #4 – Entrepreneurial acMvity has a mulMplier effect • GEM 2010 survey shows that, in the economies analyzed, some 110
million people between 18 and 64 years old were acMvely engaged in starMng a business. Another 140 million were running new businesses they started less than 3½ years earlier. Taken together, some 250 million were involved in what GEM defines as early stage entrepreneurial acMvity.
• Out of these individuals, an esMmated 63 million people expected to hire at least five employees over the next five years, and 27 million of these individuals anMcipated hiring twenty or more employees in five years.
• NOTE: what is the net number of new jobs that need to be created?
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Capital is the means, not the end • BELIEF #5 – Capital is merely a proxy for what entrepreneurs truly
need (access to markets, revenue growth, cash flow). – Capital is simply a tool. – Much energy is focused on the effort of raising capital (oden at the
cost of other aspects of the business, such as sales) and many accolades come from having raised capital. Yet, when capital is received, no incremental value is created. Entrepreneurs must sMll execute to create value. • NOTE: can we find data on how Mme is spent (i.e., the “cost” of raising
capital?) – Entrepreneurs raise capital in order to fund their growth plans. How
much is raised is based on the cost of the plan and the Mme it will take to execute.
– Utopia reduces the cost of growth, accelerates the Mmeframe, and reduces the risk
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Economies are dynamic, not staMc • BELIEF #6 -‐ Lack of compeMMveness comes from a slow-‐down in the introducMon of
new products (i.e., new companies) that can create new value, create new markets or respond to shids in exisMng markets
• As the pace of change in our world accelerates, this dynamic becomes more pronounced. New businesses are introduced with innovaMve offerings that replace ones now obsolete. – Schumpeter – entrepreneurs disrupt the market equilibrium by introducing new product-‐
market combinaMons and teaching customers to want new things, driving out obsolete firms and advancing economic growth
– Drucker – the role of the entrepreneur is to search for, respond to and exploit change • Yet the US economy (governments, states, businesses) is not structured to
accommodate this. This is a dramaMc departure from historical US thinking, with long-‐standing, massive, entrenched corporate enMMes (“too big to fail”, GM, bailouts, etc.) (bigger, bigger, bigger) (US collecMve shock that GM is no longer the market leader) (crossing the chasm)
• There needs to be a balance between rates of established businesses and rates of early stage acMvity -‐ “Ideally an economy should have some turnover of firms, where startups introduce ideas into their environments replacing, in part, firms whose businesses have lost their relevance.” GEM Global Report
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
It’s not about quanMty • Belief #7 – we have to culMvate growth businesses, not just startups
– Over the past decade, we have been creaMng more non-‐employer businesses and fewer employer businesses per capita. (Employer businesses are companies that the Census Bureau reports have at least one employee; non-‐employer businesses have no employees.) The employer business share of the total businesses has slipped four percentage points since 1997, from 26.4% of the total in 1997 to 22.4% in 2007. Non-‐employer businesses aren't the source of job or wealth creaMon that employer businesses are, which means the U.S. economy doesn't benefit as much from them. By definiMon, non-‐employer businesses don't create any jobs, and their sales and profits are quite low.
• Belief #8 – we have to culMvate success among companies rather than simply encouraging more companies to launch. – Entrepreneurship does not impact an economy simply through higher
numbers of entrepreneurs. It is important to consider quality measures, like growth, innovaMon and internaMonalizaMon. (GEM, 2010 report)
• Find the highest potenMal enterprises (based on potenMal impact) and give them their “best chance to reach their potenMal”
• Success = revenue growth, profitability
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Building profitability reduces churn • Belief #9 -‐ Lack of profitability, NOT access to capital, is the
most frequently cited reason for disconMnuing (across all economies, regions and countries) – FACT. See GEM Report
• While some level of disconMnuance is necessary to maintain a dynamic economy, when churn is too high, entrepreneurial acMviMes do not have a net posiMve contribuMon on the economy.
• The US has a high TEA rate (lots of new businesses) but also has the highest disconMnuance rate of all innovaMon based economies.
• This churn can be reduced if companies can find a way to increase the likelihood of reaching profitability
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Economic Diversity is CriMcal
• BELIEF #10 – Economic transformaMon must entail diversificaMon
• Likened to a successful investment porvolio, entrepreneurship in a society should contain a wide variety of business phases and types, parMcipaMng in numerous industries, led by different types of entrepreneurs, including women and underrepresented age groups.
• Michigan as the example (or PA) in affiliaMng with a limited industry base
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Economic TransformaMon means creaMng real value
• Wall Street Economy versus Main Street Economy – Wall Street Economy = A system of pure money that is highly biased towards the wealthiest and most predatory members of society. • Bigger is bemer • IPO driven / maximizing shareholder return • Phantom wealth
– Main Street Economy = real economy of Main Street where people are trying to figure out things to do with their resources to provide for their livelihoods and to create community wealth. • Real wealth in real dollars • “rooted local economies”
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
The Missing Middle
• Investors commonly look at risk reducMon, rather than reward capture, as the key valuaMon driver for the venture, parMcularly in the development stage.
• Wide gap between microfinance and private equity. The middle.
• As Peter Drucker has said, "What we need is an entrepreneurial society in which innovaMon and entrepreneurship are normal, steady, and conMnuous.“
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Interlink of economic transformaMon and social transformaMon
• BELIEF #11 – Economic transformaMon can and should produce societal transformaMon
• At the root of most social challenges lie economic issues • “Most all of the dysfuncMons that we’re experiencing in society—
economic instability, social breakdown, violence, and war, environmental destrucMon—they are all inevitable consequences of an economic system that is designed to concentrate power and focus social values on money. The only way we’re going to be able to correct the failure is through economic transformaMon.” – David Korten, author of “When CorporaMons Rule the World” and “Agenda for a
New Economy” – hmp://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-‐resilient-‐community/get-‐free-‐from-‐wall-‐
street • UN Millennium Goals
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
It’s not an either-‐or, it’s a both-‐and • TradiMonal entrepreneurship = innovaMon + income (devoid of any
concept of impact) – Come back to this: investors interested in building important businesses,
influenMal businesses (versus impacvul); importance does not equal impacvul – Importance – InfluenMal
• Social entrepreneurship = innovaMon + impact (but struggles with sustainability/income)
• The future is TransformaMonal Entrepreneurship, which = innovaMon + income + impact
• Impact = Jobs created, revenue driven throughout supply chain/economy, plus secondary impacts – HP example
• “Job creaMon is the key to ge|ng tracMon in most other kinds of improvement in society, and entrepreneurship is the key to job creaMon.” (Endeavor HBS Case study)
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Requires New Thinking • Belief #12 – There needs to be new ways of thinking, new ways to
approach markets, new ways of building enterprises • We will need to transform our way of thinking if we are going to
transform our economies • US has lost its confidence as an entrepreneurial naMon, and
entrepreneurialism has been hijacked by the capital markets (see Drucker)
• “Leadership for insMtuMonal transformaMon rarely comes from within the insMtuMons of Empire”.
• TransformaMonal leadership comes from outside the establishment to challenge the status quo and create alternaMve insMtuMons that ulMmately displace those that no longer serve.
• The key is the individual, who is increasingly empowered in an era of technology and social media.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Global Economy
• Belief #1 -‐ Today’s economy is global, not local. • GlobalizaMon = EliminaMon of barriers (tech, comm, travel) = enterprises playing globally.
• The world’s markets and businesses are increasingly connected and interdependent.
• The integraMon of naMonal economies into the internaMonal economy through trade, foreign direct investment, poliMcal idea exchanges, capital flows, migraMon, the spread of technology, and military presence.
• Driven by a combinaMon of economic, technological, sociocultural, poliMcal, and biological factors.
Global Economy
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
High PotenMal Firms all over the Planet • Belief #2 -‐ There are world class entrepreneurs all over the planet • Most people’s assumpMons about entrepreneurship in the developing
world—that entrepreneurs either don’t exist there or are microentrepreneurs—are wrong. High potenMal ventures are surfacing where no one is looking for them—in Beirut instead of Boston, in Cape Town instead of Silicon Valley—among people who have historically been outside the economic power structure.
• Countries that want to play in the global economy need companies like these, which are building and redefining industries that saMsfy domesMc demand and generate export income—not to menMon create employment for the rapidly growing younger populaMon. – Quotes from AllWorld HBS video
• Consider: – The Saudi Fast Growth 100 companies collecMvely created 35,000 jobs since
they were established, of which nearly 15,000 were created in just the last five years
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Sweet 16 – Countries to Invest In
Source: hmp://cebviews.com/2010/03/25/the-‐16-‐countries-‐you-‐should-‐invest-‐in/
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Global from IncepMon • Belief #3 – Today’s entrepreneurs are already thinking global from
day 1 despite public percepMons of globalizaMon • Historically, firms first sought to grow at home, then long-‐term
grow overseas (tradiMonal MBA training in InternaMonal Business) • 61% of people surveyed view China’s economy as more of a threat
to US jobs than an opportunity for new markets and investments. • Regardless of tradiMonal training or public percepMon, today,
companies are thinking global from incepMon, frequently starMng overseas rather than at home, melding home/foreign employee bases, using foreign suppliers, markeMng globally, etc.
• The absolutely will influence the economic base of the future
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Global Business Model, not just Customers
• Belief #4 -‐ The global economy is mulM-‐dimensional, not linear • Historic conversaMons have been about ge|ng countries to open borders
to trade (i.e., to US products), but this oversimplifies and wrongly focuses the issue on one dimension
• i.e., not just about selling US products in other countries • InternaMonalizaMon is not just about having foreign customers. It’s about
thinking globally about all aspects of a business – Brand, MarkeMng, Customers, Suppliers, OperaMons, Employees, Owners,
Investors… – “Any job can be sent overseas if it can be digiMzed and you don't need face-‐to-‐
face interacMon like a haircut – “transnaMonal strategy” in which each organizaMonal acMvity is performed in a
locaMon where it can be best accomplished • Physical country borders are becoming less and less relevant (especially to
entrepreneurs and high growth companies) – Re-‐read “When CorporaMons Rule the World”
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Example • In 2008, Chinese companies had invested less than $5b in the US, while US firms
made $50B capital investments in China and employed tens of thousands of Chinese workers. Since 2009, Chinese investment in the US has jumped 150% to almost $12b (Rhodium Group). Chinese firms employ over 10,000 Americans and growing. – Suntech, world’s largest producer of solar panels, HQ in Wuxi, China. Establish Phoenix
assembly line to get big savings on shipping costs and a foothold in a growing market. Received a $2.1 million manufacturing tax credit through the economic sMmulus package on an investment of about $10 million and also became eligible to supply solar panels to installers that win government contracts with "Buy American" clauses. More than 1,000 people turned up at a recent Suntech job fair. Suntech is using more advanced manufacturing equipment in AZ than in Wuxi, allowing 30 Arizonans to produce the same number of solar modules as 100 Chinese. (U.S. producMon costs are sMll about 10 percent higher.) "If it works very well, we can integrate the same manufacturing technology in China," Guo says. "This would help Suntech China make [a] manpower reducMon." Jobs for Americans and pink slips for the Chinese—just one more turnabout in the U.S.-‐China relaMonship.
– Wanxiang InternaMonal ($8b global company) purchased or invested in over 20 US firms, saved over a dozen companies from bankruptcy and employs over 5,000 Americans (Wanxiang America has $1.3B in revenue) Ex: Vizio from $0 to $2b in less than 5 years by leveraging suppliers all over the world rather than verMcally integraMng
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Network Economy
• Belief #1 – Technology enables enMrely new methods of enterprise creaMon
• Inventory, customer management, accounMng, shipping, corporate communicaMons and even human resources can be outsourced to the digital ether as a cluster of web-‐based services and applicaMons
• Web tools (Apps, Email, Skype) facilitate remote work • Eliminates the need for physical plant • Reduces the need for large office spaces and a large pool of employees • Enables remote collaboraMon • DramaMcally lowers cost of building / scaling a business – cost of entry
nearing zero – Ex: WAFW brand development -‐ $2,500 and done on 4 conMnents
• Reduces the capital required for scaling • TradiMonal business building methods are now obsolete
Network Economy
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
New View of Value CreaMon • BELIEF #2 – Today’s economy is a networked economy, which upends
tradiMonal thinking about value creaMon • In a network economy, value is created and shared by all members of a
network rather than by individual companies, and economies of scale stems from the size of the network -‐ not the enterprise.
• CollaboraMon, not control, is the primary value creaMon mechanism • The great benefits reaped by the new economy in the coming decades will
be due in large part to exploring and exploiMng the power of decentralized and autonomous networks.
• A network is a possibility factory. Not only can it be tapped to provide value to a company, it is also a great source of ideas and opportuniMes. – Ex: Crowdsourcing (NYC Give a Minute)
• Wholesale reshaping of how enMre industries operate • An economy/system built on nimble, low-‐overhead, odenMmes small
companies with fluid workforces, rather than the massive conglomerates that have upheld the economy for decades.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Virtual OrganizaMons • BELIEF #3 – Today’s most compeMMve enterprises employ a federaMon approach,
melding a network of alliances or partners into a virtual organizaMon • CollecMon of enterprises Med together through contractual or other means (joint
ventures, strategic alliances, minority investments, consorMa, coaliMons, outsourcing, franchises)
• The virtual organizaMon's goal is to extract the maximum value from its partners while making the minimum investment in permanent staff, fixed assets, and working capital.
• Strategic core funcMons are retained with the enterprise to create compeMMve advantage
• Enables specializaMon (selecMon of the best partner for each need), higher access to talent, and flexibility amid shiding global markets (rapid adaptability / easily ramp up and down)
• Examples: – the development of the B-‐1 bomber required teams from as many as 2,000 separate
corporaMons to work together. They formed a virtual organizaMon to accomplish the design and manufacture this product, an effort that required several years to complete.
• Source: hmp://www.cis.gsu.edu/~drobey/Cis8160/Global.pdf
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Virtual Workforce • Belief #4 -‐ the physical locaMon of work can be decided by
more relevant criteria than the need to co-‐locate workers contribuMng to a common task.
• Virtual organizaMons oden allow individual employees to perform their work in a variety of locaMons: home, car, office, or on airplanes.
• Employees performing services need not be physically located close to their customers if customer contact can be mediated by other means (advanced communicaMon technologies).
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Managing Talent & Resources, not Employees
• Belief #5– There are enMrely new models for accessing human resources • Shid from “employees” to “talent” • Right skill for today, different skill for tomorrow
– High value at each stage – Staging the skills
• Trends: – Rise of “Expert networks” “ConsorMums” which facilitate the flow of informaMon/experMse between those
who have it and those who need it. Allows companies to piggy back off the expert’s reputaMon / credibility – Many more people are pursuing self-‐employment or starMng specialized small businesses – Young people (future workers) seek independence/control rather than employment
• DATA – The number of small businesses created in 2008 was sMll at pre-‐recession levels, according to the latest data
from the Small Business AdministraMon, contrary to most economic indicators – The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial AcMvity, which measures new startups, shows a slight upMck during
the same Mme period, and that is expected to conMnue through 2009 – Self-‐employment rates have been growing at an average of 4.5 percent annually most of this decade, adding
roughly 1 million people per year, and they are expected to keep pace or spike when the 2008 and 2009 numbers are released.
– Entrepreneurship programs at accredited universiMes have jumped from just a handful 10 years ago to more than 200 entrepreneurship centers today, and more than 500 higher-‐ed insMtuMons offer cerMficates, minors, or majors in entrepreneurial studies. According to one recent poll, 51 percent of teens hope to one day start their own business, and see it as a way to take greater control of their lives.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Corporate Local
Hierarchical
Entrepreneurial Global
Networked Closed Collabora9ve
Transforma9onal Transac9onal
Shid from a Top-‐down to a Bomom Up Economy
Where the Jobs Are
• Belief #1 – The current unemployment problem is not simply a lingering effect of the recent financial crisis and recession, but is rather a reflecMon of advances in technology and changing pamerns of global trade, manufacturing, and capital.
• These changes have been building over the past several decades, and are now obvious and laid bare by the recession and financial crisis
• Manufacturing jobs have been declining since 1999 – Due primarily to gains in producMvity-‐ hmp://data.bls.gov/Mmeseries/PRS30006092 \
• jobs and output are declining as a share of GDP, but manufacturing output and producMvity are increasing • The greater efficiency of the manufacturing sector afforded either a slower price increase or an outright decline in the prices of this
sector’s goods. As one example, inflaMon (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) averaged 3.7% between 1980 and 2009, while at the same Mme the rise in prices for new vehicles averaged 1.7%. So while the number (and quality) of manufactured goods had been rising over Mme, their relaMve value compared with the output of other sectors did not keep pace. This allowed manufactured goods to be less costly to consumers and led to the manufacturing sector’s declining share of GDP.
– Due also to globalizaMon • The U.S. accounted for 25.92% of world manufacturing output in 1970 and 20.19% in 2009. The relaMve decline in the 2000s was a
result of a 24.1% increase in world manufacturing output between 2000 and 2009 compared with just a 10.1% increase in the United States over that same period.
• As you might expect, Chinese manufacturing grew 157.4% from 2000-‐2009, and China's growth accounted for 55.9% of the world's total growth over that Mme period. Surprisingly (at least to me), manufacturing value added in Western Europe fell 3.4% at the same Mme.
• “Decline of manufacturing” is a global phenomenon, not just limited to the US – The standard of living around the world today, along with global wealth and prosperity, are all much, much
higher today with manufacturing represenMng 16-‐17% of total world output compared to 1970, when it was almost twice as high at 26.7%.
– As a share of GDP, manufacturing has declined in most countries since the 1970s. A few examples: Australia's manufacturing/GDP raMo went from 21.3% in 1970 to 9% in 2009, Brazil's raMo went from 24.6% to 13.3%, Canada's from 21.7% to 11.3%, Germany's from 35% to 19%, and Japan's from 35% to 20%
THE CRISIS
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Where the Jobs Are
• Belief #2 – To forecast the future of manufacturing, look to agriculture • Manufacturing is just like agriculture in the 19th and 20th centuries • Due to technology and producMvity gains, manufacturing will shrink as a percentage of
the labor force. – There will never be as many factory jobs as there were in the mid-‐20th century, just as there
will never be as many agriculture jobs as in the mid-‐18th century. • Going all the way back to the early 1800s, more than 80 percent of both U.S.
employment and output were directly Med to a relaMvely inefficient (by today’s standards), labor-‐intensive agriculture sector of the economy. Food products were very expensive and consumed a large part of a typical household’s income. Over Mme, technology revoluMonized farming, resulMng in the same trends we observe today in manufacturing: huge increases in farm worker producMvity, reduced farm employment, significantly lower and more affordable prices leading to a reduced share of food in both household income and naMonal income (GDP).
• This brings us back to the same quesMon we've been grappling with, as a society, since the 1980s.
• Namely, what do people do to make a living?
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
technology plus globalizaMon • If you look at the American economy right now, we are back to pre-‐crisis
level of GDP, which is about $13.5 trillion. We're producing the same number of goods and services as we did in 2007 with seven million fewer workers.
• So at some level, that's a producMvity increase, which is admirable. But what it tells you is we are achieving producMvity where you can get GDP growth without hiring more people -‐ in fact, by firing people.
• Look at every industry: Technology is replacing people. • Back in 1979, General Motors had 618,000 jobs in the United States. 2011,
down to 77,000 • Facebook employs 2,000 people. It's a $50 billion company.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
crisis of growth and unemployment
• We would need to create 187,000 jobs a month, growing at a rate of 3.3%, to get to a healthy 5% unemployment rate by 2020.
• Nobel laureate Michael Spence, author of The Next Convergence, has looked at which American companies created jobs at home from 1990 to 2008, a period of extreme globalizaMon. The results are startling. The companies that did business in global markets, including manufacturers, banks, exporters, energy firms and financial services, contributed almost nothing to overall American job growth. The firms that did contribute were those operaMng mostly in the U.S. market, immune to global compeMMon — health care companies, government agencies, retailers and hotels. Sadly, jobs in these sectors are lower paid and lower skilled than those that were outsourced.
• Worker Mobility: In the 1980s, about 1 out of 5 workers moved every year; now only 1 of 10 does.
• The youth unemployment rate is now 24%, compared with the overall rate of 9.1%. If and when these young people return to work, they'll earn 20% less over the next 15 to 20 years than peers who were employed.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Conclusions • Significant economic impact can come through acceleraMng the
growth and success of the highest potenMal enterprises, regardless of where they reside or the industry they serve.
• Such scaling should not be limited to VC-‐backed firms. • Growing these enterprises will immediately impact enMre
economies through revenue and job creaMon and secondarily impact our world’s most pressing social challenges.
• We can accelerate the trajectory of company formaMon and scale (and enable startups to achieve their full global potenMal) by pu|ng the network economy to use. Individuals, rather than insMtuMons can drive economic transformaMon.
• This is criMcal work. Without it, our global economy will lack the jobs necessary to sustain our populaMon.
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010
Strategyà Grassroots Entrepreneurism
• InsMgaMng a movement of bomom-‐up, entrepreneur-‐led, open, collaboraMve, entrepreneurship support, to create a single network supporMng startups in every city – Tap serial successful entrepreneurs in ciMes across the country – Tackle the problems that keep startups from succeeding locally –
mentorship, educaMon, support, capital. – Band together into a naMonal network to share ideas; help every
community and every startup reach their full potenMal. – Focus on revenue, profitability for long-‐term value creaMon
• As a result, together, we can transform and build strong economies by helping scalable / high impact enterprises accelerate the trajectory of their growth
Donna Harris, Dec. 2010