Will the real stimulus plan please stand up?
For those of you who like reading entrepreneurial blogs, I strongly suggest taking a look at Don Dodge’s blog at www.dondodge.typepad.com, he provides lots of insight and has prompted this post. Also check out Thomas Friedman’s New York Times article about this issue at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/opinion/22friedman.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
We are living in tough times; there is no doubt about that. However, there is doubt about how we can get out of the funk we are in. The stimulus package calls for $20 billion of taxpayer money being spent on creating jobs. Much of the “jobs” it is creating has a terminal date to it, such as construction on America‘s roadways; this is creating work, not jobs. Placing a band-aid over the wound won’t simply cut it anymore.
I want to eventually be an angel investor. I may be biased because I am an internet entrepreneur, but I see so much value on the internet. My company is currently looking for a $500k angel round and if we do get this I strongly believe it will pave the road for a $100 million buyout. It is only with the internet that you can reach such explosive growth and an astronomical return on investment.
Every state should have an investment fund. Don Dodge said it the best, “Create 50,000 startups for $1B - How about government funding for startup incubators similar to Ycombinator and TechStars. These startup mentorship programs are very successful in creating startups and driving innovation but they only cover 30 to 50 companies a year, investing about $20K in each one. Why not start 50,000 companies a year? It would only cost $1B, and could incubate the next Facebook, Google, or Microsoft…and millions of jobs. How many jobs will $1B invested in General Motors create? Government funding for VCs is probably not a good idea, but maybe a small amount of funding for startup incubators would create the jobs that VC backed companies won’t. $1B invested in 50,000 startups would conservatively create 250,000 jobs immediately. If just 2% of those startups became wildly successful they would create 3 million to 5 million jobs.”
Entrepreneurship is the answer.
