Where have all the Entrepreneurs Gone?

If you read technology news or watch Shark Tank, you might get the impression that the US economy is booming with start ups. But recent research by Brookings and others suggests new company formation over the last 30 years is in decline. From 1978 to 2011, the fraction of U.S. economic activity from startups declined from 15% to 8%. Though there are periods of up ticks the data is pretty stark. Entrepreneurial centers like San Jose, New York and Boston continue to grow year after year, but what about everywhere else? Is innovation really in short supply?

Older firms provide certain economic efficiency allowing them to grow, unfortunately slowly, through periods of contraction. But young firms, when they exist and thrive, add jobs. From 1980 through 2010, start-ups on average created 2.9 million jobs each year, but resulted in a net job creation of 1.4 million annually because big companies banked their productivity gains by reducing their labor force. Economists like Paul Samuelson cite challenges in capital formation and increased regulation as a burden to startups, perhaps an explanation for the numbers sited by Brookings.

The iSelectFund is designed to shift the capital formation dynamic and streamline regulations concerning venture investing. In each region iSelectFund operates, our team of successful entrepreneurs work with our portfolio companies to grow ventures that build on unique local talent (i.e. BioTech, Defense, IT, Agriculture). iSelectFund’s strict process of due diligence, designed to inform investors and meet SEC/FINRA regulations, allows Financial Advisers and their clients to invest in local ventures. iSelectFund concentrates the capital and talent required to accelerate new ventures, helping local regions leverage their unique talents and local investors to achieve growth akin to hot regions like San Jose, Boston and New York City.

The “Big Idea” and mission behind iSelectFund is to streamline capital formation in local markets, support high growth opportunities, provide exceptional return to investors, and unlock the forces of Creative Destruction/innovation on vexing challenges. The companies iSelectFund invests in today will be the economic base of the future in places like St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Houston, etc.

Related Posts:

Washington Post: Samuelson Article

Brookings Research: The Other Aging of America: The Increasing Dominance of Older Firms

Journal of Economic Perspectives: The Role of Entrepreneurship in US Job Creation and Economic Dynamism

Consideration

With 2021 well underway and with public markets still strong, we think it is an important time to highlight some of the key private market, venture investment themes that iSelect fund has identified for the year. We believe technologies transforming the Agriculture, Food and Wellness markets will flourish, with a focus on four areas: technologies that enable better food choices to drive better health outcomes, technologies that drive better, more profitable farm operations, technologies that drive the Consumerization of Healthcare, and biome-based treatment technologies. At iSelect, we invest for impact AND performance. We offer qualified investors access to emerging growth companies through our national venture capital strategy. Our unique structure allows our investors to continue to invest in these companies as they develop.

Timing

Why is now the right time for venture? The answer is that now is not explicitly the right time. Venture is something we need in our economy at all times. Now is not better than any other particular time. The question is, why ever stop? When we look at the challenges we’re facing in food and healthcare the reality is there is someone, somewhere who has an insight about how to build a product that will solve those problems. And if they put the right resources to it, they will succeed. As long as we need new technology to make life better or make our lives more enjoyable, we need venture capital to help fuel those entrepreneurs.

What is iSelect as a product?

iSelect is a very unique product, but when you break it into its parts it’s fairly easy to understand. On the front end we’re a traditional venture capital fund. We have a diligence process. We have an investment process. We have categories of industries where we have focus and real expertise, and we invest in companies in those areas that meet requirements for the fund. On the back end we’re unique in that we don’t raise a large amount of capital at one time and deploy it over the life of our fund. Each deal that we bring onto the fund, our investors have to prove and determine to invest in that deal. We have to constantly prove our diligence standards. It’s accessible, transparent and easy for investors to come in and see our comprehensive process.

What is the ideal iSelect company?

We are looking for founders that are passionate and we want the problem they’re trying to solve to be big, real, and painful. We want the solution to be revolutionary and we want our capital to be able to help them solve that problem. We want to know that they have customers involved and that the solution they’ve come up with actually meets those customers’ and market needs. And we want the team to be capital efficient with the money they’re spending.

What does the ideal iSelect company look like?

We’re looking for a company that has an opportunity to have a 10x return to our investment or greater in a period of three to seven years. What excites us at iSelect are companies that are solving big problems. We want companies that are going to be the Monsantos of the future. Not just in the size and the scope, but the impact they have on people’s lives. We want to create positive impacts on people’s lives, so we invest in areas like agricultural production and areas like producing healthy foods for our kids. They are problems that impact real people’s lives on a daily basis. That’s what we’re trying to do at iSelect. We’re trying to solve the big problems out there. Find ways to bring capital to the entrepreneurs who are the real heroes out there getting up every morning, beating away at these things that are problems that you and me and everyone else faces in their everyday lives.

What is iSelect?

iSelect is a venture capital firm. What that means is we look at hundreds and hundreds of different companies and we apply tough diligence standards to each of them, looking at whether the team has a good plan for growing the business, whether the team is qualified and credible, and more. We do that to resolve the few who provide the best opportunities for investors. And then iSelect takes that smaller set of investments and goes to investors who are interested in venture capital and provides a way for them to invest in these companies, either individually or all at once. We co-invest alongside other venture capitalists. We source transactions through to an exit where the company would become public or get bought. And we manage that whole investment process on behalf of our investors.