Back to the Future: The 20something CEO
The WSJ is taking note of the Web 2.0 book with this piece on the return of the 20something CEO. There’s nothing particularly mindblowing about the piece, but there is an interesting tidbit about HBS halfway through:
“Out of 880 Harvard Business School graduates in 2000, 44 enrolled or recently graduated students created start-ups getting $29 million in first-round financing. In 2002, only 11 of 917 did the same, getting only $4.4 million.”
First of all, this just goes to show you that as usual, HBS students are a good contrary indicator. You should do the opposite of what they’re doing!
Second, I can’t believe that the $29 million is right. It sounds way too low.
Just among my friends from that year, I can confirm at least $40 million in first round funding.
Which just goes to show how crazy things were back then!
One of my premises is that every person will become an entrepreneur in one form or another. Companies, facing regulation and healthcare costs, will force most employees to be free agents.
The smart ones are just ahead of the curve on that trend!