There’s is lots of news about innovation, startups, growth and jobs. If you believe our politicians startups is where innovation happens and it is the main game for the future. There is a more sophisticated conversation to be had around building an ecosystem for entrepreneurship, jobs and growth.
Startups have a failure rate of 90% plus. Very few employ 3 or more people despite startup programs springing up around the world. Venture capitalists tell me that fewer than 1% of startups are investor ready. Don’t get me wrong startups are a critical part of our future ecosystem.
The point is they are not the main game. So, who is the generator of jobs and growth in an economy? Some say big business. Sorry, they are recording net negative growth on the jobs front. What about small business? Maybe, most are struggling to survive. There is a group of SME’s though that truly stand out.
They are called Scale-ups. Scale-ups have been identified as the true powerhouse for jobs and growth. They are the powerhouse for any economy. Scale Ups drive growth, many of them go into hyper growth and they employ. When Scale-ups cluster, then towns and cities scale-up too.
The UK discovered this (read the Scale Up Report UK.) Germany has discovered it too, Herman Simon calls them the hidden champions of the 21st century. The USA has worked it out as well. The City of Milwaukee is scaling up – check out Scale Up Milwaukee
Towns and cities across the world have created a more sophisticated conversation about creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurship like the places Andrew Davis cites in his research in Town Inc. When Scale-ups foster start-ups the success rate sky rockets. We need a bigger and better conversation.