Why are more people a fit for for-profit? I think for-profits require many of the same skills but far less focus on impact (even if the founder of that for-profit aims to donate their earnings). I think the M/E and fundraising requirements of an NGO are harder than the equivalent in the for-profit space.
Why 20%? It’s not a deeply considered number. I can easily imagine it being 10%, although the stats I saw suggested the current population was somewhere between those two numbers. I think one could argue both that too many people are doing for-profit founding relative to population, and that tons of people still do not consider it. It might also be worth considering the pool we are in, e.g., what % of EAs might it fit for.
VC’s view: I think the VC market is very unicorn-focused and I definitely would not claim that 20% of people succeed in their ventures, or would end up with high valuations, or would even get VC funded (although 20% of EAs seems a lot more plausible).
I agree M/E and fundraising are harder for NGO’s or even impact startups who have concessionary returns, I’ve seen that a lot. I’m not completely sure how that translates to more (difficult to get) skills being needed by NGO entrepreneurs than for-profit entrepreneurs. There are certainly skills an NGO entrepreneur need that for-profit entrepreneurs don’t need, but I think that goes the other way too.
Thank you for the view on the 20%. I guess it depends on what you think “suits” means. To me that’s people who enjoy being a founder and have higher than average odds of being a succesful founder, and with that in mind I think the number is close to 5% than 20%.
I’m very happy CE exists, because it enables people who care to start NGO’s that solve problems they think are important. I think there are a lot of potential founders who want to start NGO’s or impact first businesses, but don’t because the organizations, people, information and infrastructure that’s out there for them lacks a lot compared to those who want to start a for-profit.
Short responses here:
Why are more people a fit for for-profit? I think for-profits require many of the same skills but far less focus on impact (even if the founder of that for-profit aims to donate their earnings). I think the M/E and fundraising requirements of an NGO are harder than the equivalent in the for-profit space.
Why 20%? It’s not a deeply considered number. I can easily imagine it being 10%, although the stats I saw suggested the current population was somewhere between those two numbers. I think one could argue both that too many people are doing for-profit founding relative to population, and that tons of people still do not consider it. It might also be worth considering the pool we are in, e.g., what % of EAs might it fit for.
VC’s view: I think the VC market is very unicorn-focused and I definitely would not claim that 20% of people succeed in their ventures, or would end up with high valuations, or would even get VC funded (although 20% of EAs seems a lot more plausible).
I agree M/E and fundraising are harder for NGO’s or even impact startups who have concessionary returns, I’ve seen that a lot. I’m not completely sure how that translates to more (difficult to get) skills being needed by NGO entrepreneurs than for-profit entrepreneurs. There are certainly skills an NGO entrepreneur need that for-profit entrepreneurs don’t need, but I think that goes the other way too.
Thank you for the view on the 20%. I guess it depends on what you think “suits” means. To me that’s people who enjoy being a founder and have higher than average odds of being a succesful founder, and with that in mind I think the number is close to 5% than 20%.
I’m very happy CE exists, because it enables people who care to start NGO’s that solve problems they think are important. I think there are a lot of potential founders who want to start NGO’s or impact first businesses, but don’t because the organizations, people, information and infrastructure that’s out there for them lacks a lot compared to those who want to start a for-profit.