[Music]
so here’s a riddle
what has five letters and is the
invisible solution to America’s biggest
challenges it’s the secret to growing to
creating jobs to growing our economy
reducing inequality and fighting poverty
I’ll give you some hints it’s right
under our noses it’s proven by
scientific research and it’s often
overlooked by our political leaders in
fact during the last presidential
election that was almost never mentioned
by the candidates or the conventions
I’ll answer this riddle but first Who am
I let me share a little bit about myself
I’m the son of immigrants who grew up in
towns of all kinds across middle America
from that upbringing I became sensitive
to unfairness it seemed wrong certain
people got wealthy while others didn’t
some cities thrive while others fell
behind ever since I was a kid I started
asking why why can’t we do better as a
society I pursued the answer in many
ways working as an entrepreneur and
investor among other things two years
ago I joined in the Kauffman Foundation
a philanthropy where we helped empower
people to help realize their dreams
as part of that work I’m thrilled to
tell you we’ve discovered an answer to
this riddle but here’s the thing when it
comes to big challenges like jobs growth
inequality poverty there’s a huge gap
between what we know and what we
actually do what do I mean I’ll start by
giving you four insights on what we
actually know first jobs a group of
researchers examine all the businesses
in the u.s. over 30 years and they
discovered something shocking
they found that virtually all net new
jobs are created by businesses younger
than five years old
in short new jobs come from new
second-growth a similar group of
researchers looked at productivity over
17 years
they also found something surprising
declining productivity is tied to
declining innovation in existing firms
what does that mean it implies that GDP
growth is tied to new companies third
inequality other researchers looked at
which cities are making new businesses
they found that half of net new
businesses started used to be spread out
widely over 30 cities now half of those
new businesses are happening in just
five of the biggest cities in short most
cities are starving for any businesses
or poverty a researcher looked at data
from all 50 states and he found that for
every 1% increase in the rate of new
Americans starting new businesses there
was a 2 percent decrease in the rate of
poverty in short creating new businesses
helps fight poverty so if we tie all
this knowledge together about jobs
growth inequality and poverty what do we
know the research points to a powerful
new insight more and more the evidence
shows that our long-term economic
well-being comes from our ability to
start and grow new businesses so what’s
the 5-letter answer to my riddle well it
was a trick question
the answer is entrepreneurship but
that’s a very long word so at the
Kauffman Foundation we shortened it to
Egypt five letters Egypt is the answer
and that answer makes sense because our
prayers are the ones who dream of a
better future and who actually set out
to make it happen so the ruler has an
answer that seems like great news but
here’s the bad news the rate of
Americans starting new business has been
falling for over 40 years in fact we
have about half the people starting
businesses a day than we did when I was
a kid somewhere along the way America
lost its mojo our entrepreneurial spirit
I’ve traveled across this land and I can
tell you people do feel left out like
their individual actions don’t really
matter anymore
but there is a way forward
entrepreneurship Egypt is the answer but
what does that mean in a practical sense
for us here today
well look around this audience has about
a thousand people every month out of a
thousand Americans about three of us
decide to start a new business the
question is how do we tilt the odds how
do we increase three to four say in this
room well individual actions matter if
you’ve been thinking about starting a
new business what’s holding you back
hey the next step it’s hard I know but
there is help every community has
programs that offer to support
entrepreneurs one place you might start
as the Kauffman foundations website
we’ve got free online courses events and
other information that will inspire you
and if you’re one of the 997 people who
aren’t starting a business this month
that’s okay too but what are you doing
to help the other three simple things
mean a lot to new entrepreneurs try out
their new product make an introduction
help spread the word about them our
research at the Kauffman foundations
show that those things actually matter
in fact we found the success of
entrepreneurs depends a lot on what the
997 do to support the work of the three
so if you can’t be one of the three then
be an awesome member of the 997 when you
look at America this way our economic
challenges don’t seem nearly as daunting
each chip is the answer it creates jobs
it fosters growth it levels the playing
field and best of all we don’t need to
wait for anyone else we don’t need to
wait for the gears of government to
grind Egypt is something tangible all of
us can do one person at a time
one business at a time we can take
control of our economic destiny by
supporting our entrepreneurs there are
the makers the doers the dreamers that’s
how we revive our communities that’s how
we get America’s mojo back
and that’s how we really make America
great again thank you you
so here’s a riddle
what has five letters and is the
invisible solution to America’s biggest
challenges it’s the secret to growing to
creating jobs to growing our economy
reducing inequality and fighting poverty
I’ll give you some hints it’s right
under our noses it’s proven by
scientific research and it’s often
overlooked by our political leaders in
fact during the last presidential
election that was almost never mentioned
by the candidates or the conventions
I’ll answer this riddle but first Who am
I let me share a little bit about myself
I’m the son of immigrants who grew up in
towns of all kinds across middle America
from that upbringing I became sensitive
to unfairness it seemed wrong certain
people got wealthy while others didn’t
some cities thrive while others fell
behind ever since I was a kid I started
asking why why can’t we do better as a
society I pursued the answer in many
ways working as an entrepreneur and
investor among other things two years
ago I joined in the Kauffman Foundation
a philanthropy where we helped empower
people to help realize their dreams
as part of that work I’m thrilled to
tell you we’ve discovered an answer to
this riddle but here’s the thing when it
comes to big challenges like jobs growth
inequality poverty there’s a huge gap
between what we know and what we
actually do what do I mean I’ll start by
giving you four insights on what we
actually know first jobs a group of
researchers examine all the businesses
in the u.s. over 30 years and they
discovered something shocking
they found that virtually all net new
jobs are created by businesses younger
than five years old
in short new jobs come from new
second-growth a similar group of
researchers looked at productivity over
17 years
they also found something surprising
declining productivity is tied to
declining innovation in existing firms
what does that mean it implies that GDP
growth is tied to new companies third
inequality other researchers looked at
which cities are making new businesses
they found that half of net new
businesses started used to be spread out
widely over 30 cities now half of those
new businesses are happening in just
five of the biggest cities in short most
cities are starving for any businesses
or poverty a researcher looked at data
from all 50 states and he found that for
every 1% increase in the rate of new
Americans starting new businesses there
was a 2 percent decrease in the rate of
poverty in short creating new businesses
helps fight poverty so if we tie all
this knowledge together about jobs
growth inequality and poverty what do we
know the research points to a powerful
new insight more and more the evidence
shows that our long-term economic
well-being comes from our ability to
start and grow new businesses so what’s
the 5-letter answer to my riddle well it
was a trick question
the answer is entrepreneurship but
that’s a very long word so at the
Kauffman Foundation we shortened it to
Egypt five letters Egypt is the answer
and that answer makes sense because our
prayers are the ones who dream of a
better future and who actually set out
to make it happen so the ruler has an
answer that seems like great news but
here’s the bad news the rate of
Americans starting new business has been
falling for over 40 years in fact we
have about half the people starting
businesses a day than we did when I was
a kid somewhere along the way America
lost its mojo our entrepreneurial spirit
I’ve traveled across this land and I can
tell you people do feel left out like
their individual actions don’t really
matter anymore
but there is a way forward
entrepreneurship Egypt is the answer but
what does that mean in a practical sense
for us here today
well look around this audience has about
a thousand people every month out of a
thousand Americans about three of us
decide to start a new business the
question is how do we tilt the odds how
do we increase three to four say in this
room well individual actions matter if
you’ve been thinking about starting a
new business what’s holding you back
hey the next step it’s hard I know but
there is help every community has
programs that offer to support
entrepreneurs one place you might start
as the Kauffman foundations website
we’ve got free online courses events and
other information that will inspire you
and if you’re one of the 997 people who
aren’t starting a business this month
that’s okay too but what are you doing
to help the other three simple things
mean a lot to new entrepreneurs try out
their new product make an introduction
help spread the word about them our
research at the Kauffman foundations
show that those things actually matter
in fact we found the success of
entrepreneurs depends a lot on what the
997 do to support the work of the three
so if you can’t be one of the three then
be an awesome member of the 997 when you
look at America this way our economic
challenges don’t seem nearly as daunting
each chip is the answer it creates jobs
it fosters growth it levels the playing
field and best of all we don’t need to
wait for anyone else we don’t need to
wait for the gears of government to
grind Egypt is something tangible all of
us can do one person at a time
one business at a time we can take
control of our economic destiny by
supporting our entrepreneurs there are
the makers the doers the dreamers that’s
how we revive our communities that’s how
we get America’s mojo back
and that’s how we really make America
great again thank you you
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