What Happened to the Breakout Startup?
"The number of fast-growing startups has been falling since 2000, leading to fewer jobs at dynamic new companies and possibly holding back the kind of technological diffusion that would lead to faster productivity gains across the economy."
The funny thing is they could have saved money and just bought my book The Decline and Fall of the American Entrepreneur for less than $20.
The funny thing is they could have saved money and just bought my book The Decline and Fall of the American Entrepreneur for less than $20.
The Decline and Fall of the American Entrepreneur: How Little Known Laws and Regulations are Killing Innovation http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-Am..., explains these problems in more detail.
When I first went into business in the 60s, I did so on a wing and a prayer. My total assets were just enough to get started and a few thousand for money to feed the family. My biggest asset was me. I couldn't begin to do that today. I was located in a strip center in which the office supply store, the restaurant, and a barber shop were all started on a shoestring like me. They all became successful. I remember being angry over the fact that I had to pay for an occupancy permit ($100.). Ha! I'll bet anyone today would settle for that in a heartbeat.
Of course such treaties stop being enforceable as soon as the two countries merge. A former nation that is no longer sovereign cannot have treaty rights.
In Montana's case, of course, there wasn't even a treaty. Eastern Montana was part of the Louisiana Purchase; western Montana was part of the Oregon territory when we split it with the British, both well before statehood. A state constitution that asserts a right to secede is a joke.
Your reasoning being...? It is a contractual agreement. Neither Texas nor Montana have given up their status as governing bodies. They are both States within the group called the United States of America. The terms state that they can enjoy membership in the United States of America and are entitled to all the representation therein, and in return they are subject to the laws of the Constitution.
"A state constitution that asserts a right to secede is a joke."
Legally, it is no difference than a pre-nuptial agreement. Both sides agree to terms under which the deal may be nullified. And for both Montana and Texas, it is far from a laughing matter. Texas especially prides itself on its independent streak. Both Montana and Texas are probably two of the states most capable of self-determination as both have good energy reserves. Texas additionally has ready access to shipping.
My parents when they were alive asked why I didn't work in my degree field of Political Science and History. I remember choking back the laughter....my sister answered the question for me. "He can't afford to take the pay cut." I was at the time an Able Bodied Seaman working deck on a frieghters and tankers. When i calmed down and wiped the tears i said, "Seriously?" What's a degree got do with making money? At the time when things were fat in the industry I was working 16 hour days and actually working 13 seven days a week for four months plus straight through...union rules. sundays worked eight paid for 12. I worked eight months plus and drew unemployment of $500 to $700 every week the other two months with full medical coverage on or off the job. i'm trying to imagine a job in political science and history that pays that well. so my answer was, "Educations is for my own personal pleasure and use. it's a way to spend my off duty time." which led to working on my boat learning navigation which led to rediscovering science and mathematics.Did you know that navigation is just spherical trigonometry in motion and quite poetic in it's own right." But you have to settle for your skill levels and for some burger flipping is the limit as is sociology.
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The information given is a bit downstream of the startpoint, I note: I would also be interested in knowing what the rate of <1yr startups is. Are we dealing with a comparable rate of initial startups and an increased failure rate? Or are people not even sticking their toe in the water any more?
Jan
Wall St and its corruption must die for productivity to return.
Wall Street pretends to protect widows and orphans while lining their pockets with their savings.
Today it would be safer to buy stock in a company that sells its shares online (with rational due diligence) than to buy from a Wall Street legally devised con game.
Remember the parable of the two brothers? What profit the risk taker when the profit is confiscated.?"
My old Vo-Ag teacher solved the riddle. He found out Japan had no way of producing sufficient cattle feed especially for the famed Kobe Beef. He found that a certain area in the west produced the best hay but could not find a decent market. Then he noticed both were near the ocean one by the Columbia river...He also noticed car carriers from Japan operated on a tight schedule and went back empty.
He found a Japanese business type and piroposed filling the empty and easily cleaned spaces with hay in either cubicle or the giant round bales which he would provide FOB to the Columbia River docks.The shipping company welcomed the extra revenue and he talked them into doing it for overhead costs one way. His Japanese partner took care of that end and the Japanese beef had a steady supply of munchies. The farmers were happy so it was the old find a need an fill it solution. As I recall the shipping company paid the longshoreman who went from unloading cars to loading hay. From school teacher to millionaire in a few short years.
Someone else said why not bring Kobe beef production to the source of the food supply... it's now raised near the market area in the USA. But with out the profit that makes effort worth while ....he would still have been teaching school..oh yes and he gave many of his students jobs in the peak summer months...
The equipment would have been otherwise idle.
Anymore the exception rather than the rule. He said once his main advantage was very few employees. The farmers, transport workers (truck and shipping) all paid for those costs through their own companies. One of his sons had the abilties to check the hay for nourishment standards as one example. The son lessened the cost of his salary plus a substantial raise by convincing the Japanese they should do their own evaluation before the hay was loaded and he in turn would use their methods to assist the farmers in their production standards.
Just a matter of making pieces of an unseen puzzle fit. Serendipity and Synergy. the sum of the parts were worth more than the parts separated. Providing no interference. that subtract value. Synergy minus VAT for example.
Jan
We have a recommendation Government: Get out of the way!
BTW, I bet the graph on successful startups has a different shape.
Of course, the reality is that getting in on the ground floor often leaves you on the ground floor. I have a 1979 issue of Byte magazine, containing ads for all of the dominant companies in the then new microcomputer industry. Some, at the time well known companies had two page spreads. All of those companies are now gone, the only recognizable company is one that had a quarter page ad promoting the memory board they were selling - Microsoft.
When the investors learned that a company losing millions of dollars a year on the internet but growing was not a sure thing, they became disillusioned -- and rightly so, many of those "high fliers" never made a buck. And so we have the dot com crash.
In the years since 2000 it's been harder to sell investors on your latest internet idea -- and the obvious ones were taken in the first few years. There is still, of course, the opportunity
to have the next great idea, but selling it is harder. Investors expect you to MAKE money.
And, of course Sarbanes Oxley certainly hasn't helped.
Jan
Jan
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Your on my list...3 others ahead of you and still writing my second.