Comments on: Start Something http://www.caycon.com/blog/2004/12/start-something/ The Secret Sauce for Entrepreneurs Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:37:00 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: charles kickham http://www.caycon.com/blog/2004/12/start-something/comment-page-1/#comment-154 charles kickham Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:56:43 +0000 http://www.caycon.com/new/blog/?p=1#comment-154 The above post is a few ticks over 5 years old though it holds more relevance today than any time before. One of the primary reasons for the success of the American economy over the past couple of hundred years is the environment it provides to for people to launch a business. Innovation drives the economy and provides jobs - without it, you would not have, Apple, Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, Exxon, etc. Innovation is the future of the American economy. We still manufacture a lot of stuff, just not as much as 50 years ago. What’s not discussed is that new innovations create jobs – for example lithium battery technology is undergoing rapid change that will spawn a whole new industry of small battery powered products than can last days on a single charge. Just yesterday, Thomas Friedman commented on the need for the government to ensure that the next and future generations have the tools to keep innovation alive in the country: “What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of Start-Up America.” Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge. The best way to counter the Tea Party movement, which is all about stopping things, is with an Innovation Movement, which is all about starting things. Without inventing more new products and services that make people more productive, healthier or entertained — that we can sell around the world — we’ll never be able to afford the health care our people need, let alone pay off our debts. Obama should bring together the country’s leading innovators and ask them: “What legislation, what tax incentives, do we need right now to replicate you all a million times over” — and make that his No. 1 priority. Inspiring, reviving and empowering Start-up America is his moon shot. The above post is a few ticks over 5 years old though it holds more relevance today than any time before. One of the primary reasons for the success of the American economy over the past couple of hundred years is the environment it provides to for people to launch a business. Innovation drives the economy and provides jobs – without it, you would not have, Apple, Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, Exxon, etc.

Innovation is the future of the American economy. We still manufacture a lot of stuff, just not as much as 50 years ago. What’s not discussed is that new innovations create jobs – for example lithium battery technology is undergoing rapid change that will spawn a whole new industry of small battery powered products than can last days on a single charge.
Just yesterday, Thomas Friedman commented on the need for the government to ensure that the next and future generations have the tools to keep innovation alive in the country:

“What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of Start-Up America.”
Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge. The best way to counter the Tea Party movement, which is all about stopping things, is with an Innovation Movement, which is all about starting things. Without inventing more new products and services that make people more productive, healthier or entertained — that we can sell around the world — we’ll never be able to afford the health care our people need, let alone pay off our debts.

Obama should bring together the country’s leading innovators and ask them: “What legislation, what tax incentives, do we need right now to replicate you all a million times over” — and make that his No. 1 priority. Inspiring, reviving and empowering Start-up America is his moon shot.

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