The debut book by Venture for America Founder and CEO published by Harper Collins
February 13, 2014
By Aimee Groth
Many of America’s most highly- educated college graduates are making a big mistake. They are listening to the siren call from consultancies and financial firms, forgoing the entrepreneurial path that could ultimately lead to job creation, innovation, and a higher quality of life for everyone.
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February 11, 2014
By Luke Johnson
I think all humans are born with an innate desire to create. I see the instinct in my children, when they construct miniature worlds with Lego sets. Some of us are lucky enough to exercise such impulses as an adult, either at work or in our hobbies. But tragically, many intelligent and ambitious young people never pursue such a path in their careers. Instead, they enter into a Faustian pact and join one of the well-paid professions such as law, accountancy, banking or management consultancy. For all those bright starters, I suggest they read a new book called Smart People Should Build Things , by ex-corporate attorney Andrew Yang.
Let’s say that you were to line up a hundred brilliant twenty-one-year-olds who might have the potential to start a company someday. You tell them, “Okay, you have two choices. You can commit to being an entrepreneur and start a company. There’s a ten percent chance that you become extraordinarily successful, wealthy and create hundreds of jobs. There’s a twenty-five percent chance that you’re a modest success. And there’s a sixty-five percent chance that you toil in obscurity for years and your confidence diminishes, potentially damaging your attractiveness to potential mates even if you later become more conventional. Alternatively, you can commit to a high-paying career at a well-regarded company, and there’s a ninety-five percent chance you’ll succeed by most conventional standards.”
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February 7, 2014
By Michael Gibson
With due respect to Nietzsche, who said otherwise, the way does exist and Ivy League grads have found it. Or at least that’s what you would think talking to them about “the path.” Not a path, but the path.
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February 7, 2014
February 5, 2014
February 5, 2014
By Will Yakowicz
Venture for America founder Andrew Yang explains how to help position college grads to build companies and create jobs instead of pursuing more traditional career paths.
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February 5, 2014
By Sam McNerney
Andrew Yang (@AndrewYangVFA) is the founder and CEO of Venture for America, which trains top college graduates and sends them to start-ups where they learn how to become entrepreneurs. His new book is Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America. Andrew began as a lawyer making $125,000 a year before he quit to co-found the dot-com company Stargiving. Looking back on his experiences as a lawyer and an entrepreneur, Andrew asks, “What if 25 percent of our top graduates went to start-ups around the country each year instead of to Wall Street?”
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Check out the latest excerpt from “Smart People Should Build Things” as seen on BusinessInsider.com.
One reason why the hyperallocation of talent to certain industries, regions, and firms goes ignored is that it combines narratives no one wants to talk about. Our economy has progressed from making things to supplying financial services. It’s not the first time an economy has made this transition. Both the Netherlands and Great Britain were global manufacturing powers in their day. The British supplanted the Dutch in the early 1800s. We supplanted the British in the early 1900s. The Dutch and British then turned to financial services and insurance as the drivers of their economies. Unfortunately, it’s hard for an economy to rely solely on financial services, and both countries receded from the world stage.*
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