Managers Build What Entrepreneurs Start
by Miki Saxon
Talented managers are taking flack these days for not becoming entrepreneurs.
Whether hinted at or stated outright, their value is demeaned when they choose to stay in corporate positions and they are accused of wasting their talents when they could be out creating jobs by starting companies.
Kindly put, this is a crock.
As Andy Grove pointed out, after the first couple of years job creation is about the same in growth companies as large corporations.
Now Valley legend Esther Dyson, CEO of EDventure Holdings and an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world, weighs in pointing out that without managers there would be no companies.
The real spur to job and value creation is not turning hundreds of college grads (or dropouts) into entrepreneurs, but hiring thousands – and hundreds of thousands – of people into growing companies that can organize and motivate them and make the best use of their talents.
Thank you, Esther!
This needed to be said by someone with a lot more clout than I have.
Startups are much like marriages.
In marriage, the real work starts after the bride and groom say “I do.”
In startups, the real work starts when the first “outsider” is hired.
There is a reason that very few founders build and run their companies—it’s not what they’re good at.
That’s why we should be celebrating managers with the talent and skill to build the company for the long-term.
Flickr image credit: HikingArtist
