Why do Entrepreneurs exists?

Over the past 15 years, I’ve been blessed to start 5 businesses. Two were started while attending college (Thompson Lawncare and Pro-Seal Asphalt Sealcoating) and three started since graduating college (ACT! Certified, Think Outsource, Inc. and Jennex, LLC.)  Through the development and growth of these businesses, my understanding and respect for Entrepreneurship as a profession has grown immensely.

Shortly after starting each business, I often heard the question: “Honestly Micky, if it’s such a great idea, why hasn’t someone else done it?” The question comes from the common misperception that most good ideas come from big enterprising companies. Some in fact do such as the Post-It note for example but that is often the exception and not the rule. Actually most innovation comes from Entepreneurs.

Recently, my friend Jarret Hamstreet shared with me the book The VC Way by Jeffrey Zygmont which details the world of venture capital. I found on page 14 the answer to the question I and many others have been seeking: Why do Entrepreneurs exists?.

Below is how Zygmont answers the question…

An entrenched enterprise usually doesn’t have much incentive to change the world, because it has so much staked in the world as it is presently ordered. In fact, an established business typically feels much greater incentive to leave affairs the way they are. They already own their market, or at least a profitable chunk of it, and they have a lot of capital tied up in making products the way they’re currently constructed. It gets expensive to change things. It is costly to reengineer products, to reequip manufacturing plants, to reorient sales teams, and to reeducate consumers.

The Entrepreneur exists to fill this gap by helping to bring new products, services and ideas to the market place. Thank you Jeffrey for writing the book and Jarret for loaning it to me!