Selling the Entrepreneurial Dream is not productive

There is a growing industry of consultants, incubators, accelerators, books and courses centered around the "dream" of being a successful entrepreneur. The reality is that most of the individuals or organizations making money in this space are useless. This is a sector of the economy that is unproductive and for the most part does not add economic value. 

The resources that any country has can be put to use in a number of ways. If these resources are applied in a productive manner, economic growth will ensue. However, misapplying these resources can generate no growth or contraction for the economy.

In a situation where young graduates are encouraged to innovate, to become entrepreneurs without the proper support, this is an un-productive use of resources.  These graduates might be better used in an existing organization (be it at a reduced rate of pay). Fueling this misappropriation of resources are a host of organizations, who make their livelihood by selling a dream, appealing to emotion rather than economic sense.  All too often I hear of events entitled "Master Class" or "Pitching superclass" etc. There is no quick fix to innovation or entrepreneurship and I shudder even at the names of these events. The participants in this industry are focused on "quick" courses, quick fixes with unrealistic claims. Education and support is not a quick fix and there are no quick solutions or methodologies that will make it work. If there were, we soon would reach a saturation point, where everyone would be successful and innovating quickly (unlikely to be sustainable). However, with proper and well considered education there would be some success and at least a number of well or more educated individuals and organizations.

Today, the focus is often on raising funds, pitching creating business plans. These things, however, are secondary to developing an idea into a business. Funding, pitching and planning comes after the development of the idea which is aided by some fundamental business and economic skills.  Resources would far better be utilized investigating market opportunities, teaching individuals how to validate a market and helping with process development (how to develop business, software and other processes).


Comments

  1. AvronoOctober 2, 2012 at 1:21 AM

    Simon Cowell and Will.i.am entering the mix is proof in point - if true. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/30/simon-cowell-and-will-i-am-are-teaming-up-to-create-an-x-factor-to-find-the-next-mark-zuckerberg/

    ReplyDelete
  2. AvronoOctober 2, 2012 at 1:22 AM

    Not to mention , Dragons Den, Shark Tank, Cooks to Market and Be your own boss on mainstream TV

    ReplyDelete

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