This is a great writeup, and I generally agree we might be underestimating entrepeneurship for ETG.
However, as others said, 2014 onwards seems like a macroeconomic anomaly, and an even bigger anomaly if you focus on just tech startups. YC is predominantly tech, and I think the returns on tech will regress to the mean, so your numbers are inflated there.
The bigger issue is using YC as a baseline. It’s incredibly hard to get into YC (they are currently at a <1% acceptance rate) and YC focuses on tech. The average entrepeneur is likely to make significantly less than the entrepeneur who got into YC with a tech startup. I would like to see someone (I’m too busy, sorry) run the numbers on the average entrepeneur/founder in north america or europe, and I think the numbers will be significantly lower.
This is anecdotal, but many incubators and startup advisors mention it’s better to work for a corporate or scaleup if you’re looking to become rich, the vast majority of founders don’t make it.
Having said that, I think entrepeneurship (especially EA entrepeneurship) is still a very compelling story in terms of ETG and expected impact.
This is a great writeup, and I generally agree we might be underestimating entrepeneurship for ETG.
However, as others said, 2014 onwards seems like a macroeconomic anomaly, and an even bigger anomaly if you focus on just tech startups. YC is predominantly tech, and I think the returns on tech will regress to the mean, so your numbers are inflated there.
The bigger issue is using YC as a baseline. It’s incredibly hard to get into YC (they are currently at a <1% acceptance rate) and YC focuses on tech. The average entrepeneur is likely to make significantly less than the entrepeneur who got into YC with a tech startup. I would like to see someone (I’m too busy, sorry) run the numbers on the average entrepeneur/founder in north america or europe, and I think the numbers will be significantly lower.
This is anecdotal, but many incubators and startup advisors mention it’s better to work for a corporate or scaleup if you’re looking to become rich, the vast majority of founders don’t make it.
Having said that, I think entrepeneurship (especially EA entrepeneurship) is still a very compelling story in terms of ETG and expected impact.