Things may not be looking good for entrepreneurs in America, according to this article, The Mysterious Death of American Entrepreneurship. Well, things may not be looking good for entrepreneurs outside of the tech sector, that is.
I’m working with entrepreneurs every day, so I see lots of stories of success and plenty of stories of struggle. But I think the American entrepreneur is still alive and kicking.
An owner of a successful manufacturing company contacted me recently, wanting to find a way restructure the ownership in his company in order to allow his older brother to retire with financial independence. The gentleman who contacted me still had a good 8 to 10 years that he wanted to work.
However, both he and his brother found the idea of selling out to a large competitor to be problematic. The problem was not that their company was not valuable or desirable, but rather, if they were to sell to one of the larger companies, the 35-year relationship their business had and has with the community in terms of jobs provided, employees’ families supported and local charities helped would quickly go away.
So while entrepreneurship and the number of startup of companies may be falling to low levels as pointed out by Derek Thompson, there are a number of entrepreneurs who have built successful companies and are looking for strategies and solutions that will preserve their businesses and allow them to continue to grow and prosper in their communities.
We can help in attracting private capital to restructure companies that qualify so the ownership maintains operational control and majority equity, while attracting the capital to retire aging shareholders, pursue acquisitions or invest in new growth opportunities. We think there is still a future for the American entrepreneur.
