Interesting article in BusinessWeek on the The Lost Generation of Entrepreneurs who did not have the opportunity to launch and guide new enterprises from start-up to more mature organization. An opportunity that had benefited the generation that proceeded them in the 1990’s.  Given the economic challenges these opportunities have been far more scares. Guest blogger Jeff Bussgang explores the very small list of entrepreneurs who succeeded from 2000’s compared to their predecessors.


Recalling Malcom Gladwell’s, Outliers: The Story of Success which looked closely at the birthdates of successful entrepreneurs:  Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Balmer, Steve Jobs, and Eric Schmidt all born in the years between 1953-1955.  Their births seems to coincide with a moment in time when technology was in its infancy and the canvass was blank, awaiting their artistic touch. 

It makes me wonder what will this period in time be known for when we reflect back?  Will it be banks to big to fail, quants, two wars, deficits?  Or are we going through a transformation so dynamic that the seismic impact is just beginning to reach the surface?  Consider the following fact from the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink.  

The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimates that in the United States, only 30 percent of job growth now comes from algorithmic work, while 70 percent of job growth comes from heuristic work.

First let me define courtesy of Mr. Pink.  “An ‘algorithmic’ task is one in which you follow a set of established instructions down a single pathway to one conclusion…a heuristic task is the opposite.  Precisely because no algorithm exists for it, you have to experiment with possibilities and devise a novel solution.”  Essentially it is a checkout clerk vs. a marketing agent.

Are we so focused as a country on trying to save the assembly-line job that we are missing the transformational uncoupling of the Industrial Revolution paradigms from a global workforce?  If the ownership and development of ‘ideas’ (non algorithmic careers) are in demand, would we rather own the rights to creative copyright as a nation or assemble the finished product?  

When we look back, how will this lost generation be viewed?