The intense polarization between founders like Hamilton and Jefferson prevented either side from creating national or local monopolies. This messy, unintentional outcome created an extraordinarily dynamic and open economy, which became a fertile ground for entrepreneurs by institutionalizing competing interests and preventing entrenched privileges.
While financial success is a goal, it's rarely the primary motivator for entrepreneurs. The decision to start a business is often driven by deeper emotional needs: building a new identity, gaining independence, serving a community, or living by one's values. This emotional dimension is often overlooked by business schools that frame entrepreneurship as purely economic.
While government intervention has a role, new entrepreneurs are a better solution for dismantling monopolies. The grocery chain A&P dominated the market, resisting small government limits, but was ultimately unseated not by regulation, but by the next wave of innovators who created the modern supermarket.
Despite the popular narrative of a startup boom fueled by Silicon Valley stories, the actual number of Americans starting businesses or working for themselves is half of what it was in 1979. This fable, focusing on a tiny fraction of venture-backed 'unicorns,' distorts the reality for the vast majority of entrepreneurs.
Modern definitions of entrepreneurship have narrowed to exclude most business owners, focusing on venture-backed disruptors. The original 18th-century definition was broader: anyone who accepts uncertain pay for a potential greater reward. The core elements are having the freedom to do the work you want while accepting the financial and emotional risk.
Contrary to popular belief and media portrayals of young tech founders, millennials are the generation least likely to start businesses. The fastest-growing demographic of American entrepreneurs is actually female minorities, such as Black and Latina women, who often build successful ventures without venture capital or mainstream recognition.