When guest speaker, Eric Carlson asked the class if anyone wanted to or had ever thought of becoming an entrepreneur, around 80% of the class raised their hand. This took me by shock, because I believed that the majority was here at Sauder to become an accountant, financial analyst, etc. I conducted some research about entrepreneurs and read that around 80% of small businesses fail in the first five years! Certainly, Amielle Lake (CMO of Tagga) and Eric Carlson (CEO of Anthem Properties) beat the odds. Mr. Carlson pointed out a key characteristic that all entrepreneurs take risk to make money, and want to make a difference and “leave a mark”.
Seeing so many aspiring entrepreneurs made me wonder what would cause such a high failure rate. This article states that the reason is because “most small businesses are highly dependent on people.” Indeed, Ms. Lake stated that hiring and firing is integral, similarly, having people on her team with the same vision and goal. Throughout Ms. Lake’s speech, she mentioned several times that her company had to revaluate the direction of her company, due to the changing market demands. Perhaps, another reason why so many small businesses fail is due to failure to recognize the effects that changing market demands can have on the business.
Read more about the possible reasons for high failure rate:
Photo Credits:
Entrepreneur. N.d. Photograph. Western Libraries. Western University. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://www.lib.uwo.ca/news/business/2011/07/08/newbooks711variationsonathemeentrepreneurship.html>.