Smart People Should Build Things

Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America

How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement,

We’ve got a PROBLEM right now.

Our smart people are doing

the WRONG things.

If we can get them to do the RIGHT things,

it will TRANSFORM THE COUNTRY.

The majority of our TALENT is flowing to finance, consulting, and law…

…and NOT ENOUGH to job-creating enterprises in our communities.

They’re going to BIG cities like New York

Not to places that

really NEED them

Major banks and consulting firms spend

TENS OF MILLIONS each year recruiting at

major college campuses.

From 2008–2013, more Harvard graduates went into finance, consulting, or law

THAN ANY OTHER PATH.

23% MED SCHOOL (12%); GRAD SCHOOL (7%); TEACH FOR AMERICA (4%)

13% UNDECIDED (13%)

21% MEDIA, ARTS, SPORTS, COMMUNICATION (11%); IT, INDUSTRY (10%)

36% FINANCE/BANKING (11%); MANAGEMENT CONSULTING (11%); LAW SCHOOL (14%)

7% NONPROFIT, GOVERNMENT, MILITARY (7%)

WHERE THEY’RE GOING:

~1,630 Seniors

“If I go to career services, they’ll tell me

straight out that

THEY ONLY HAVE FINANCE AND

CONSULTING JOBS for me to look at.”

It’s like we’re INVESTING in layers of frosting and NEGLECTING to bake the cake.

That means there ISN’T ENOUGH TALENT flowing to businesses that use these services.

Businesses that

CREATE NEW JOBS

Businesses that

BUILD THRIVING COMMUNITIES

Businesses that

CHANGE THE WORLD

So what is the result of this

WAR FOR TALENT?

Jacques-Philippe Piverger (MPOWERD) Anu Duggal (F Cubed) Miles Lasater (SeeClickFix)

Jon Oringer (Shutterstock) Jen Medbery (Kickboard) Angus Davis (Swipely)

The U.S. economy is currently

NOT PRODUCING ENOUGH of its next generation of serial entrepreneurs.

If the U.S. had generated as many startups for 2009–12 as it had in 2007, the country would have

produced 2.5 MILLION NEW JOBS.

We need to get our smart people

BUILDING THINGS again.

BUILDING THINGS IS HARD.

Over FIFTY PERCENT of businesses

FAIL in their first THREE YEARS.

I know this firsthand.

My first company FAILED within the first two years.

But I OVERCAME the failure and became CEO of Manhattan GMAT and

now FOUNDER of Venture for America.

I got to meet President Obama too.

->

I worked alongside a more EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEUR.

I learned THREE important lessons about entrepreneurship.

1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A PROCESS

Like with everything else, you become a better entrepreneur OVER TIME.

Rovio Entertainment was around for six years and underwent layoffs before the “instant” success of

ANGRY BIRDS.

BILL GATES cofounded a company called Traf-O-Data that lost thousands of dollars and shut down before he started Microsoft.

SAM WALTON’s first Arkansas store went under before he started Walmart.

Entrepreneurs are forged through

EXPERIENCE.

2. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS ABOUT PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATION BUILDING

Not just CREATIVITY or having a GOOD IDEA

There’s an aphorism that

A people hire A’s B people hire C’s

C people hire losers

“SLOW TO HIRE, FAST TO FIRE”

A common saying in the startup world…

You’re hiring someone not to do the job, but

to do or INVENT A BIGGER JOB when the company expands.

A common saying in the startup world…

“SLOW TO HIRE, FAST TO FIRE”

Cultures get built from the BEGINNING, so whoever joins a company takes cues from

whoever’s already there.

“SLOW TO HIRE, FAST TO FIRE”

A common saying in the startup world…

It’s much easier to build a WINNING TEAM if the first few players are extraordinary.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

–MARGARET MEAD Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and cultural anthropologist

3. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS ABOUT

VALUE CREATION

THE FUEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

Value creation leads to

NEW BUSINESSES and JOBS.

Andera, a software company,

EMPLOYS ALMOST 100 PEOPLE in

Providence, RI.

Its founder, Charlie Kroll, wasn’t

always set on becoming an ENTREPRENEUR.

In 2000, Charlie was a senior at Brown University and

wanted to be an INVESTMENT BANKER.

To his surprise, he didn’t

get the position he wanted.

He recovered from his disappointment to START

Andera, and the rest is history.

IMAGINE if Charlie’s story

were the NORM rather than the

exception.

HOW LONG would it take to generate

THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS, opportunities, and even

industries?

What our country has been

SEEKING a formula for

VALUE CREATION =

How can we

encourage our top

people to TAKE RISKS and

BUILD NEW THINGS?

7.5

A friend once told me about a PRINCETON GRADUATE named

Cole.

Cole studied Math and went to work for a HEDGE FUND directly

out of school.

At age 24, he makes well into SIX FIGURES.

By conventional measures, Cole has achieved the AMERICAN DREAM.

And yet, how excited are you about

COLE’S TRAJECTORY?

I’ll admit I’m

NOT TOO PSYCHED either.

Now, imagine someone you think

could take on RISK.

Someone

WELL-EDUCATED, WELL-SUPPORTED, FREE OF OBLIGATIONS.

Someone like…

COLE!

If we can get smart hardworking people like Cole to build businesses around the country, our best and brightest

will build ENGINES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH.

? ?

But how?

I created an organization called

to solve this problem.

We solve the problem in TWO ways.

1. Help growth companies ACCESS THE TALENT

they need to THRIVE AND EXPAND

Venture for America Selection Day

Members of Venture for America Class of 2013

2. Train our best and brightest to become

BUSINESS BUILDERS & ENTPREPRENEURS

We want to give rise to a virtuous cycle of

INNOVATION BUSINESS BUILDING

JOB CREATION

100,000 NEW JOBS BY 2025.

Our goal is to help create

Today, Venture for America is a multi-million dollar organization…

…with 108 Fellows…

…and 100+ more Fellows on the way…

Columbus, OH

Las Vegas, NV

New Orleans, LA

Providence, RI Detroit, MI

Baltimore, MD

Philadelphia, PA

Cincinnati, OH

Cleveland, OH

Miami, FL San Antonio, TX

St Louis, MO

…working in startups in cities across the nation.

Let’s put people to work solving problems and building businesses.

Click me!

“Andrew is one of those rare visionaries who puts dreams into action. This book is a roadmap for young people in designing their careers, a playbook for policy makers for rebuilding our cities, and a path forward to moving entrepreneurship back to the center of the American economy.”

–ARIANNA HUFFINGTON Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post