Why you wish you'd been an entrepreneur

Think back to the business world of 20 or 30 years ago. Among academic corridors and in major corporations, the term "entrepreneurship" was whispered as a dirty word.

When I came to the UK 19 years ago, it was almost impossible to imagine a parent suggesting their child became an "entrepreneur". Back then, there was a simple formula for success in business: graduate from a top university or business school, secure a corporate career and receive a gold watch when the time eventually came to retire.

How things have changed. For many parents in 2019, entrepreneurship isn't merely a viable career option, but a life choice they wished they had perhaps pursued themselves, envisioning the potential for more meaning in their working lives. In Silicon Valley today, there are more start-up founders aged 50-plus than there are under 25.

At present, one in 10 adult Americans is involved in setting up a business and, in California's Palo Alto (often regarded as the heartland of the entrepreneur), the figure rises to approximately one in four.

In the UK, start-up figures may not be quite as high, but there is clearly an entrepreneurial appetite, with one in 15 adults involved in a start-up and 10% of a typical LBS cohort going on to start their own business.

Why the shift? From a US perspective, individuals who may never have considered a career in entrepreneurship three decades ago have witnessed the phenomenal success of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Michael Dell. In the UK, wannabe innovators have the example of Richard Branson for their inspiration.

Part of this surge in entrepreneurship relates to the strategy of downsizing many large companies followed during the nineties by deciding to pull out of certain industries in a bid to improve efficiency.