Dashboard: Does Entrepreneurship Have a Perception Problem?

Welcome to another 21 Hats dashboard. I'm here with Victor Wong, who is founder and CEO of Right to Start, an advocacy group that works to expand entrepreneurial opportunity. Welcome back, Victor. >> Thanks, Lauren. It's great to be back. >> Always great to have you here. Victor, you recently wrote a column in which you stated that entrepreneurship has something of a perception problem. I'm curious, what were you referring to? Well, I think uh so much of entrepreneurship feels very daunting to people these days. And we hear that a lot. I've been working in this field for over 25 years now. And what happens is people often feel like, well, if I want to start something, I have to go get permission to do it or I have to pitch someone for a lot of money or I have to uh uh I have to go through some some official process. Uh so, not a lot of people feel like it's something that's accessible. And I think that's the thing that we need really need to fix in America is the idea that if you have an idea to make something in the world that makes the world a little better, you should be able to do it and the friction should be as low as possible. It's funny you mentioned that because I just had a conversation in a podcast I recorded yesterday with three business owners and I asked them about something I saw on the uh small business subreddit which was somebody posting the idea that you know I I I need to find a job but it's occurring to me that it might be harder today to find a job than it is to start a business. And I put that thought to the three business owners wondering how they would respond to that, kind of expecting at least one of them would say, "Oh, clearly this person doesn't understand what goes into starting a business." And they all completely agreed with this person that it is harder to get a job than to start a business today. Do you agree with that too? >> Uh well, in an interesting way, it depends how one looks at the question. If you're saying are the are the resources there to be able to start uh you know we all have in our pockets um the supercomputers we have access to the entire world. If you have an idea you can you can test it out, you can prototype it, you can design it, you can make it, you can sell it, you can market it, you can fulfill it all sitting in your bathrobe. Um and so the tools to start something are greater than ever. Um and so in that sense the answer is yes you can start something. Uh I think the bigger question is does the system support you in doing so. What are the what is the the broader friction that is you know does the does the wind drag hold you back? And I think that is the real challenge because if you look at the system as it is today, there are a lot of things where if you have a W2, it's much easier than if you're doing your own thing from health care to getting a home loan to getting a car loan to child care. Those all all of those are they favor people with W2s. They don't they actually work against people that are trying to start their own thing. And so one can start easily but the rest of the system the rest of the ecosystem uh doesn't necessarily favor it. >> And that's why I was curious about your writing that there's this perception problem because and you know way more about this than I do. You've been doing this for a long time. Uh but it is hard to start a business and you know for the reasons you just described and the the failure rates obviously are are somewhat daunting. Um, which leads me to believe that sometimes you can do a disservice for people by discouraging them from starting a business, at least until they've done everything they possibly can to reasonably prepare. What do you think of that? >> I would say that we need to re redefine what we think of starting a business because I think so much of it is treated as a binary thing like you've got to quit everything you've ever done and just leap off a cliff. And if you look at the way most businesses actually start, they start a little bit on the weekends, a little bit in the evenings, you know, they test something out, share it with try it with friends, neighbors, >> a side hustle. >> Yeah, it's a side hustle before it becomes something where it's got some traction and then it gets real traction. It's like, oh wow, I think there's enough here that I can I can, you know, leave leave a a regular job to do it. And and that is actually how a lot of it happens. And I think that doesn't get recognized enough. I think so many people think, well, I've got to have everything ready. It's got to be perfectly prepared and then I'm just going to take a flying leap. And that that's that is that's not actually the best way to do it in my opinion if one can. I think there's so much of the Silicon Valley culture that is so much of big go big or go home. But reality is, you know, the vast majority of people don't have a lot of extra savings, don't have a huge cushion. Uh, you know, 100 bucks or 200 bucks extra is just something that people don't have. And so I think that we've got to rethink what we think of entrepreneurship. We should think of it as a sliding spectrum of opportunity. And people should have access all along that spectrum and have the opportunity to grow and move and evolve along that spectrum as they need. And I I I think that that narrative has been lost that it's trying to it's viewed as like yeah you you got to you got to put everything in into the basket and just take take a take a shot which is I think that's not the right way to think about it. >> You mentioned before the the the drag that exists the things that make it harder to start a business than than it needs to be. You of course have dedicated yourself to trying to improve that uh working around the country to to lessen the barriers that entrepreneurs have to confront. Uh tell us what's going on. What kind of progress have you made of late? >> Well, Right to Start uh was launched 6 years ago and we've been building and building and we've managed to we've had great success so far. We've we've we've touched all 50 states. Uh we've got people on the ground in our network on 40 plus states. We've had 10 states that have actually changed their laws or systems because of our ideas. We've had uh 26 state legislatores that have introduced bills based on our ideas and sparked by our work. And now uh it's it's sort of hitting an even bigger point now. Um, just a few weeks ago, the governor of Oklahoma, Governor Stit, um, uh, has become a a good friend and colleague, uh, signed an executive order in Oklahoma to strengthen entrepreneurship in the state. It is by far the most comprehensive action by governor uh, to support entrepreneurship that we've ever seen. H >> how so? Can you tell us about that? >> Sure. Uh, it names a chief entrepreneur officer in the state that reports directly to him. It lowers the cost of business. Well, uh, it is it it it's going to advance, uh, legislation to lower the cost of business to $1. >> That's the cost to get to file incorporation papers. >> Yeah. At the state level, um, the fees were going to be down to $1. Um, it's it um it looks at uh finding ways to embed entrepreneurial skills training into K through 12 and beyond. It's looking it looks for ways to uh improve government contracting so new emerging businesses have an equal shot compared to incumbent businesses. Uh it's going to create a one-stop shop in Oklahoma. So it's a a single resource for entrepreneurs that are starting a business to be able to find resources and navigate the system. Uh it it's going to propose ways to reduce or wave taxes in the early years of starting a business when the cost of just filing and dealing with that is you know you could be using that time and extra cash to build your business instead and more of data tracking. It's going to embed entrepreneurship data into the state's regular economic metrics on uh the state the health of the uh state's economy. Uh, so it's actually it's com it's so comprehensive. It tackles so many things across the board. It's nonpartisan. It's non ideological and it really looks at the entrepreneurs's experience and how do you make it better in Oklahoma? >> Why do you think this happened in Oklahoma? Did was it harder there than in other places to get a business off the ground or does something else explain it? >> Well, there's you know it it's sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. In this case, Governor Stit himself is an entrepreneur. He likes to talk about this where um he started a business in his home with a thousand dollars and a laptop and over the course of years it became a a a company um a mortgaging and a banking company that spread into 42 states. So, he's lived the American dream. He is incredibly grateful for it and he wants everyone to be able to do the same thing and build their own version of the American dream. So, uh, in fact, I just saw an interview with him yesterday where he talked about the importance of unlocking the entrepreneur spirit and making sure that everyone has access to to all the means to build and create something like this. >> Is this something that this is the first state to to take these steps? Is I'm guessing you're looking to build on this and expand to other states? >> Well, there are other states doing things, too. So just uh a few weeks ago, the secretary of state of West Virginia uh proposed creating uh an office of entrepreneurship uh within the secretary of state's office where it becomes a a way for uh for people to go there and navigate the whole system and the the Senate in West Virginia just passed a bill based on that work and it passed unanimously. Not you know bipartisan everybody everybody jumped on board with this idea. So that's just just in the last few weeks. There's more and more momentum all the time. And what's even more exciting now, this just happened on Saturday morning. Uh because uh Governor Stid of Oklahoma is the chairman of the National Governor's Association. Uh he has decided that he wants to lead a governor's compact on entrepreneurship. that is he wants to get all 50 state governors and even the five territory governors to sign on to this compact which pledges that they're going to take action to support entrepreneurship in their states and uh and so that is going to be rolling out in the coming months and the plan is to by the summer meeting of the national governor's association to be able to announce what all the governors have committed to do to support entrepreneurship uh in in their in their states. So, it's really a phenomenal opportunity. Um, right to start, my organization has been working closely to support all that effort with the leadership of the governor and the NGA and uh we're excited to uh to support them and and bring help bring all this to life. >> Do you get any push back at all? Is there anything that people see in this that they find difficult or objectionable? you know, entrepreneurship and access to that opportunity to build something is it's probably the most unifying bipartisan or even non-transpartisan issue in American life today. It may be the only major issue in American life today that everybody agrees on. And that's what's been so exciting about it is just watching people light up and and and it it we've seen it from all all parts of the spectrum politically from the far left to the far right. This is something that people just love. I think if there's any resistance it's that people it it's sort of apathy like do we even need that? Isn't America already the great entrepreneur nation? Why do we need to do more for it? And the answer is we actually think of ourselves as this great startup nation. America is the greatest you know entrepreneural experiment in the world itself. And what's happened is because we take it for granted it actually has gotten in many ways the system has made it more difficult. And there was just this poll that the Wall Street Journal released just a few months ago asked Americans is it harder to start a business today than it was in your parents' generation? And about twothirds of Americans said yes, it was. And so there is a sense >> that's crazy. >> There is a sense that the system is is anti- entrepreneurial that it favors, you know, it if it disfavors what you you trying to build your own future and build something better. That's so interesting. I mean, I I get the idea that the system has flaws and could be better, but the notion that it was easier to start a business in our parents' day seems wild to me. >> Yeah, it's sort of contradictory, right? And it contradicts what you were saying that people say it's easier to start a business than to get a job. I think the the the sense is that the system itself works against you that the the the wind the sheer forces coming at you, the drag, the friction, it's just it just feels so unnecessarily high these days and it comes from many different places. It's not one thing, right? It's sort of a systemic 360°ree, you know, set of problems. So, given that everybody tends to fall in line, why isn't this moving more quickly? What? You you I'm s surprised to hear that right to start has existed for 6 years. I remember when you started. I can't believe it's been 6 years. Why in 6 years hasn't every state done what Oklahoma just did? >> Well, getting people to care about something that they didn't even know they needed to care about is kind of hard. You know, if you think about there's a lot of issues just raising awareness because Americans assume, you know, by default, like of course we're entrepreneurial, but when you really dig into it, um, then you find out, well, everybody thinks they're alone. They think they're the ones that have the hard pro that that that have a problem. Like, we we have to get out there and educate and articulate why this is important. And so, that's really what a big part of the work has been. I think our work's actually been remarkably fast. We have 10 states that have actually changed their laws or systems because of that. Countless cities have have done implementation reform. I just found out another city has created a one-stop shop uh just yesterday. Um it's happening and like all change in American life, it starts bottom up uh and it builds momentum and gets geometrically faster. And we are very much at the point now where uh with the governor's compact and also with um I should also mention the mayor of Oklahoma City uh uh happens to be in the same city as the governor of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Mayor David Holt of Oklahoma City has signed on uh and issued a proclamation uh supporting entrepreneurship. He's support he's signed on as the founding mayor of our campaign America the entrepreneurial which is a celebration of America during this 250th startup birthday and he's he's the first founding mayor of this campaign and he's declared Oklahoma City the entrepreneurial and a whole celebration around that and honoring the entrepreneur and pledging to take action on it and he happens to be the president of the US Conference of Mayors and so this is something that uh they're going to be talking about more and more at the level of the mayors, too. >> Interesting. Um, I certainly didn't mean to suggest that you guys haven't accomplished uh a lot in the six years. It's um I was more just looking at the idea that it it seems like everybody agrees. Why can't this just happen? But of course, it does take time uh to to make change. I suspect a lot of people listening to this are rooting for you and would be eager to be supportive. Is there anything anybody listening can do if they want to participate or support what you're uh what you're trying to do? >> Yeah. Well, to to your point, it's it's one of these issues that it's kind of a it's like a sleeper issue that people really really care about if you talk to them, but they didn't know that other people cared about it and they didn't even know it was a thing. And so, a big part of our work has just been opening up people's eyes to realize this is a thing. and we can actually do something about this. Uh that's actually it's you know just getting people to realize the thing in front of them is actually something to pay attention to and can actually be fixed is is is you know takes work. Um and what we found though is when we talk to people they actually get pretty pumped about it. They get very excited about especially people who've been entrepreneurs or have come to this realization of how important it is for our lives. it, you know, it's source of job growth, source of income growth, community wealth, prosperity, helps fight poverty, all the good things. And yet, it's never been a front and center issue in American life. So, we have launched this campaign, as I mentioned, called America the entrepreneurial, sort of in the vein of America the Beautiful, which is our way of celebrating America's 250th startup birthday in a nonpoliticized, non ideological, forward-looking way. and and everyone every American can join this campaign. Uh the website is americaantontrepreneur.org and you can sign up to be a founder of the future of America is what we call it there. The word we're using the word founder in kind of a fun way because there are founders of America in the past, the original founders and they set out this original promise. This promise was that everyone should be able to build, you know, the lives they want. And that's of course an experiment that's always in motion and we're always striving to build a more perfect union. And then there's the founders of the present who are the entrepreneurs. They are founders and building things and making things happen. And so the question is well who are the founders of the future next 250 years of America. And the answer is you. Every single American can be a founder of the future. And so you can go on to the website of America the entrepreneurial and sign on to be a founder of America's future. And that could be either an individual or an organization or a government leader. And we have about 30 different actions that people can take. As an individual, you could, you know, create a profile ring. You could buy swag, you can host an event. Um, as a partner organization, you can become a founding partner and uh you can you can run all you can run activities and conferences and events and uh even podcasts. Lauren uh with the America the entrepreneur banner and name and we let we let people use the logo and the brand and the name and as they want to help celebrate America's birthday. It's kind of like an open an open invitation for people to join in this great birthday party. And for government leaders, we've got a whole set of things they can do. Uh from proclaiming America the entrepreneurial, um you know, whether it's Oklahoma City the entrepreneurial or you name your city, uh they can be part of it and and join the celebration and or and they can also take action. They can look at the policies and ideas and recommendations that other places have done and decide what kind of thing they'd like to do to help entrepreneurs in their communities. So that's people can join. This is really meant to be a way for every American to participate in celebrating this uh great nation's birthday in a way that actually is about building the future and making it even better. >> Are you planning any kind of in-person celebratory event with fireworks and uh and the like? >> We've got a lot of things planned this year. Um we've already got in Philadelphia in just um a couple months uh first week of May. Uh the podcast technically is going to be hosting a conference in Philly. Uh so you know where where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We're going to be there and um I'm going to be doing a live uh live session out there. Um and then we are planning to do a conference towards the end of the year kind of the end of the birthday year uh around entrepreneurship policy reform and that'll be a a first. There's never been a conference nationally around um entrepreneurship policy reform focused on the 50 states and the cities and really b like a bottomup effort around that. So, we're going to be doing that and we're just getting started. >> Do you know when and where? >> Uh to TBD. We're we are uh we're working on that right now. >> Cool. When you're ready, I'll be eager to hear more about that and I sure my listeners will too. >> Would love to have you there for that, Lauren. I think it'd be that would be a blast. Uh, I would love to be there. >> Anything I missed, Victor? Anything else you uh have to share with us? >> Uh, I think your your newsletter and the work you do, Lauren, is is amazing and it's such a huge service. I think it really helps, you know, entrepreneurs and ordinary people navigate the system. If you're trying to build a business, you know, and all the challenges and the changes in the world today, um, your newsletter is a great service in helping make sense of it all. So, thank you for that. That's not what I was looking for, but I certainly appreciate it, especially coming from you. Victor Wong is founder and CEO of Right to Start. And again, if people are interested in supporting the cause, they can go where? >> America theontrepreneurial.org. >> Thank you, Victor. I appreciate you taking the time. >> Thank you, Lauren. >> Thanks for listening, everybody.