Intellectual Property Law

Entrepreneurial Surge and Rise of the Part-Time Entrepreneur

By Harry Boadwee

Fortune Small Business reports that “we are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge this country has ever seen. According to Small Business Administration projections, nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2005. That is the biggest business birthrate in U.S. history: 30,000 more startups than in 2004, and 12% more than at the height of dot-com hysteria in 1996.”

“Recent immigrants … in 2005 started 25% more companies per capita than native-born citizens did.” 

Carl Schramm, head of the Kauffman Foundation and author of The Entrepreneurial Imperative, points out that continually dropping technology costs make startup money less necessary now that entrepreneurs often can purchase powerful computers and software without maxing out their credit cards.

FSB also notes a new trend of “part time” company founders, because it has become easier for entrepreneurs to start new companies without quitting their day jobs. Small Business Administration (SBA) figures indicate that the number of firms with no employees grew by 26% from 1997 to 2004, to 19 million. Slightly than half of them are run by workers with another primary source of income.

Full post as published by AS-IS Blog on February 26, 2007 (boomark / email).