Perhaps this question starts with the wrong premise. Maybe, we should rather assume wanting to start a company is the normal case and ask what keeps most people from wanting to start their own business.
Most non-software businesses require a much higher upfront investment. With hardware, retail, restaurants or other brick-and-mortar businesses you've got one chance more or less. If you fail in these types of businesses a large amount of capital will be lost (quite likely including your personal savings).
With software businesses you can most of the times just start over. Plus, there always is the opportunity to do consulting if your original plan doesn't work out. As a developer you have a few fallback options whereas in other industries it's mostly all or nothing. While this is an advantage for developers it can also be detrimental. Most developers want to start a company but how many actually do and how many of those persevere when problems come up? With a non-software business you can't bottle out as easily once you've started.
Maybe, we should rather assume wanting to start a company is the normal case and ask what keeps most people from wanting to start their own business.
I know this was definitely the case in the 70s. My father's and grandfather's generations mostly started their own businesses rather than work for somebody else. Most of those businesses folded for one reason or the other in the early 80s.
Being a child of the 90s and growing up with stories of the IRS jailing business owners for a variety of crimes that their accountants were ultimately responsible for, I have a near deathly fear of starting a business without the capital to immediately hire an accountant I trust (I've yet to find one of those) and a lawyer I trust (ditto). Just dabbling a bit into consulting the way I have put me at odds with the IRS and California State and wound up costing me at least twice what I made (I didn't make much).
> Maybe, we should rather assume wanting to start a company is the normal case and ask what keeps most people from wanting to start their own business.
I know this was definitely the case in the 70s. My father's and grandfather's generations mostly started their own businesses rather than work for somebody else.
Self-employment has fallen over the years, to be sure, but it wasn't the norm two generations ago; by BLS figures, in 1948, it was 18.5% of all workers whose primary work was self-employment; as of 2009, it was around 10.9%.
Today's education mostly pushes you toward becoming an employee. It's schools like stanford that teaching you to become an entrepreneur not the norm.
I'm guessing that back in 1948 there were less jobs to begin with, and businesses tended to be much smaller. Also, probably starting a company was much easier - not financially, but probably beurocratically.
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Perhaps this question starts with the wrong premise. Maybe, we should rather assume wanting to start a company is the normal case and ask what keeps most people from wanting to start their own business.
Most non-software businesses require a much higher upfront investment. With hardware, retail, restaurants or other brick-and-mortar businesses you've got one chance more or less. If you fail in these types of businesses a large amount of capital will be lost (quite likely including your personal savings).
With software businesses you can most of the times just start over. Plus, there always is the opportunity to do consulting if your original plan doesn't work out. As a developer you have a few fallback options whereas in other industries it's mostly all or nothing. While this is an advantage for developers it can also be detrimental. Most developers want to start a company but how many actually do and how many of those persevere when problems come up? With a non-software business you can't bottle out as easily once you've started.
I know this was definitely the case in the 70s. My father's and grandfather's generations mostly started their own businesses rather than work for somebody else. Most of those businesses folded for one reason or the other in the early 80s.
Being a child of the 90s and growing up with stories of the IRS jailing business owners for a variety of crimes that their accountants were ultimately responsible for, I have a near deathly fear of starting a business without the capital to immediately hire an accountant I trust (I've yet to find one of those) and a lawyer I trust (ditto). Just dabbling a bit into consulting the way I have put me at odds with the IRS and California State and wound up costing me at least twice what I made (I didn't make much).
Self-employment has fallen over the years, to be sure, but it wasn't the norm two generations ago; by BLS figures, in 1948, it was 18.5% of all workers whose primary work was self-employment; as of 2009, it was around 10.9%.
Today's education mostly pushes you toward becoming an employee. It's schools like stanford that teaching you to become an entrepreneur not the norm. I'm guessing that back in 1948 there were less jobs to begin with, and businesses tended to be much smaller. Also, probably starting a company was much easier - not financially, but probably beurocratically.