Preparing for the Drucker Forum titled “The Entrepreneurial Society” a question arose in my mind: is an entrepreneurial society the same as entrepreneurial economy? Are we confusing the State’s role in these two? This is not a trivial question. An economic system, while certainly complex, can be steered using a relatively structured process. And individual entrepreneurs – even if governments try to depress them – will always find a way to lift their head above water and come up with a great, executable idea. The role of government through what can be called “economic policy” is pretty straightforward. To facilitate an economy where small, disruptive businesses can grow and operate side by side with large, […]

On one of the many Boards I served on during twenty years as a venture capitalist, another member was a seasoned corporate executive. He had retired from being the CEO of a $3.5 billion (in revenue) company, and “in a moment of weakness”, as he described it, was recruited by a partner with a VC firm as the CEO of a startup company. In three years he led the startup on a growth path and successfully sold it. When we met shortly after that, I congratulated him and asked whether the experience was good enough to start a second career. He looked at me and said “Absolutely never. Startups are so small. They may present […]