The End of Entrepreneurship as We Know It?
Yeah, dotcoms have made the venture capital market volatile; sure, corporate employees are offered entrepreneur-esque development opportunities; but if I recall, we got into this game to take the risk and own our own businesses!
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2000. Time: 8:00 a.m. Like many
business owners, you've seen the headlines on CNBC or in your
local paper's business section and your stomach churns as young
dotcom companies take a beating on the NASDAQ exchange. Any
business owner knows what deep corrections in the stock market mean
for young companies. Venture capital dries up. Frustrated sellers,
unable to unload shares, stop buying stock in companies like yours.
Consumers resist the urge to pull the old Visas out of their
wallets and buy your products. Inventories pile up, cash gets tight
and pink slips appear on staffers' desks. At times like these,
owning a business ranks right up there with root canals and tax
audits on the list of life's undesirables. In fact, it makes getting out look pretty good. These days, many
companies tired of losing workers to the entrepreneurial life are
encouraging free-thinking employees to implement their marketplace
ideas inside rather than outside corporations. That trend, coupled
with flextime, ample opportunities for stock options and other
entrepreneurial perks for employees, is bringing some entrepreneurs
back to the corporate fold. "Why not consider going back to work for someone else if
they're offering you significantly more freedom and money than
you ever had in the corporate world before, and they're the
ones taking all the risk?" says Ethan Winning, author of
Labor Pains: Employer and Employee Rights and Obligations
(TFM Publications). Content Continues Below
Still, most entrepreneurs are resisting the siren song of
corporate life. "Who can think about leaving when there's
so much to do?" asks Roger W. Sigley, 35, president and CEO of
Cybertech Group Inc., an Oxon Hill, Maryland-based computer support
services company. "My [entrepreneurial] experience has
exceeded my expectations, but there are still things we have to
accomplish as a new firm. We've only scratched the surface of
our goals." Running the show is why Sigley decided to gather $50,000 worth
of funding back in 1998 and go into business for himself. "I
wanted the ability to effect significant change, not only for
myself and my family, but for my employees," he says. "To
do these things, you have to be the one calling the
shots."
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