Читать книгу The New Builders - Seth Levine - Страница 13

Danaris is a New Builder. She is one of the next generation of entrepreneurs defining the future of American business. These entrepreneurs are increasingly Black, brown, and female. Many are older than entrepreneurs of previous generations and, as a result, today's entrepreneurs are older than many people realize. They are talented innovators and businesspeople with an extra dose of grit. They're passionate about what they do, and their motivations are often more complex than our current definition of entrepreneur allows. They're apt to be driven by the idea of contributing to their community as much as by the idea of profit, though they often believe they can do both.

The entrepreneurs of today are a much broader group than the entrepreneurs that dominated our old mindset, the high‐tech founders of Silicon Valley and Boston. Very few New Builders have businesses that fit the idealized Silicon Valley model of fast‐growth, highly profitable (or at least highly valued) enterprises – but out of their ranks, we will find winners in the post‐pandemic recovery. You'll find them in places as varied as Main Streets, redlined communities, and technology parks everywhere. And they come up with ideas for their businesses not tinkering in the fabled garages of Silicon Valley but in teenagers' bedrooms and around kitchen tables. Some are building technology businesses with the goal of hyper growth. Most are not. If we want them to win in greater numbers, we need to understand better who they are and how to support them. Our idea of entrepreneurship has been overtaken by a particular myth – that important entrepreneurs are White, male, and Ivy League–educated, and that the only truly worthwhile businesses are software‐driven companies with the potential to grow into huge businesses. That image doesn't reflect the reality of entrepreneurship across America, or the fact that small businesses are not just a sentimental cause – they are critical part of our economy. It's time to take back the idea of entrepreneurship to include the incredibly rich and wide variety of businesses that are being started in America today. By not seeing New Builders, not supporting them and helping them thrive, we risk letting go of the entrepreneurial edge that has long set America apart from other countries.

The New Builders are out there. They're an invisible army, working to further themselves and their communities as they turn their business ideas into reality.