At Stanford tonight… with teams from all over the world.

When I got up to speak, I told them we just had to capture the stage sight for the blog, and so I asked everyone to smile for the camera. =)

Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, stated that today’s U.S. college students will have an average of four different jobs between the ages of 22 and 30, and 70% of them will start a new company at some point in their careers.

Here is the Stanford agenda for the week.

Resolution HR699 established the national entrepreneurship week.

18 responses to “Entrepreneurship Week Kickoff”

  1. !MimosaMicheMichelle! Avatar
    !MimosaMicheMichelle!

    Steve, I see that you really have so much charm that you made them ALL smile!!! That is great! Now, do they know that a lot of people will see them in Flickr? Petit coquin!

    So, I imagine that the conference was fascinating. This is the kind of week I would enjoy a lot.

    I am not surprised about the many jobs the young people will have in a few years’ span. What impresses me is the 70% who will start a company. Is that among all students or management students?

    Reply
  2. elite car Avatar
    elite car

    What a great ice breaker!

    Reply
  3. FoTo FeVeR Avatar
    FoTo FeVeR

    Well so its in the air.. apparently these folks in india are organizing an entrepreneurship week too at a national level collaborating with so many engineering schools..

    http://www.nenindia.org/jsp/entreprshipweek/entWeekHome.jsp

    Cheers! Would be glad to hear a lecture from you in person sometime Steve.. 🙂

    Reply
  4. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, it’s all over the world, from Argentina to Japan to the U.K. During the unveiling of the innovation challenge, a call came in from Thailand asking for details.

    MImosa: the 70% figure blew me away too. If I heard correctly, tt’s for undergraduates, but it seems way high to me. I will email Carl for clarification.

    Reply
  5. !MimosaMicheMichelle! Avatar
    !MimosaMicheMichelle!

    Steve, since about 11 years, I have a personal interest in reading and studying about personality types (MBTI). I am an ENTP, which is the Entrepreneur. My type is 6% of the U.S. population. Other people of other types start businesses such as services or shops but that is according to their own type’s typical and natural interests. I cannot imagine that 70% of the young undergraduates would have personalities that would make them naturally be interested in starting a business of any kind. It makes no sense to me knowing what I know about type. So many people prefer to work for others, do jobs that require no entrepreneurial tendency. Of course, you are talking about college students, not people who did not go that far or who opted for techinical training. However, considering this, it still does not make sense that so many students overall would want to upstart a business of any kind. I would absolutely believe it if you said (heard) that it was 70% of business and marketing students who would start a business. So, I am looking forward to know more.

    http://www.personalitytype.com/index.html
    http://www.personalitytype.com/dwya/entp.html

    Seen in my recent comments. (?)

    Reply
  6. pkedrosky Avatar
    pkedrosky

    Atanas — Having just spoken to Carl shortly before this picture was taken, he had nothing unusual on his lapel. Can’t imagine what the smudge is from. Steve?

    Reply
  7. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Ah the mystery! =) It was a dust flare from the flash. There is another one near the top of the right stairwell. I am no expert at iPhoto, and thought "retouch" might fix it.

    Reply
  8. benjiman Avatar
    benjiman

    COOL! 70% seems high, but as someone who has started and or helped start a couple, you never really know when opportunity will knock. Maybe that figure is accurate if it includes everyone who ever touches the startup process…

    Reply
  9. elite car Avatar
    elite car

    The quote doesn’t specifically constrain the 70% of them to the 22 – 30 age bracket associated with the number of jobs part of the quote, but could rather be interpreted as the 70% of them at some point in their careers — I can believe 70% of them will start a business.

    Think of how many of them in the next 40 – 50 years will build careers and end up doing some amount of consulting or private practice before retirement. Receiving compensation for any goods or services (above the table) requires some form of a business structure, even if a sole proprietorship. To think that 30% of them will live their entire lives without ever providing a good or service via a small business structure they create, that actually sounds high to me.

    Reply
  10. LouisL Avatar
    LouisL

    Maybe 70% of Stanford undergrads!
    Met Tom Byers 3 years ago on most probably the geekiest spring break trip ever. Had the chance to attend a Randy Komisar class with Bill Campbell as the speaker… great group… Surprised Randy is not here.

    Reply
  11. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    chadh: you are right. It was at some point in their careers. I will make that more clear in the caption.

    Reply
  12. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    They say that 70% will (successfully) start a company, ok. Which doesn´t mean that they will start a successful company. I´d like to know *that figure*.

    (successful means to me = from the humble making of profit enough to keep your personal business running and making a living with it, to making billions, that is… Apart from the rewards from doing what you want, making your decisions and delivering to the world something of your making under your signature).

    I personally believe entrepreneurship is in people just like creativeness or leadership is. You may develop the skills with training -very necessary-, but you first have to have the gift. The gift or the need (you know: Need is the mother of all virtues). And this -to have or not to have the gift/need- may possibily make a great difference between un/successful start-ups (among other variables related to each business of course).

    Reply
  13. !MimosaMicheMichelle! Avatar
    !MimosaMicheMichelle!

    Steve, "at some point in their career" was very clear and obvious to me. It is "understood".

    Successful or not is not the point here. It is the fact that someone actually starts a business that counts. It is about people who have the propensity, the drive, the motivation, the need that comes from within to start a business, to make one’s decisions in order to initiate a project and realize it to its full potential in order to offer the world something that is needed, a product or a service. However, to make the dream happen, to attain the goal of starting a business, one requires that certain conditions are right such as support from family and friends. I have much more to say…

    The idea is that the young people who will one day, at any time in their lives, start any kind of business, will need skills even if learned as they go along, usually good personal conditions and support, financial backing, but most importantly a set of personality traits that make them want to initiate a project , independently offer something to others, make their own decisions and take risks.

    Reply
  14. Erik Charlton Avatar
    Erik Charlton

    Photo before providing any speech…Now that is Flickr loyality!

    Reply
  15. Ryan Junee Avatar
    Ryan Junee

    If you want to see the view from the ‘other side’ check here:
    blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/02/entrepreneurship-week-kickoff/

    (I was in the audience and snapped a photo of Steve taking the above photo – unfortunately it was only with my phone)

    Reply
  16. GraemeThickins Avatar
    GraemeThickins

    Steve, thanks for the pic. Entrepreneurship Week here in Minnesota kicks off for us with a foot of new snow — but we’re not letting that stop us!

    I’m with chadh: "To think that 30% of them will live their entire lives without ever providing a good or service via a small business structure they create…" Feel sorry for those people!

    cheers,
    Graeme
    http://www.Tech-Surf-Blog.com

    Reply
  17. RRNeal Avatar
    RRNeal

    Referencing chadh, I’d also love to understand if Dr. Schramm meant to say "entrepreneurial endeavor" versus "new company". This would help qualify the 70% being cited for the definition of an endeavor is much broader (e.g.; "I run an ebay store in my spare time", etc.).

    I’m sitting directly across the street from the Kauffman Foundation, so if you don’t get an answer right away – I’ll dodge traffic and go find out.

    Reply
  18. Barack Obama is my homeboy Avatar
    Barack Obama is my homeboy

    I bet it was a real treat being around so many successful people that day.

    Reply

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