Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

CHAPTER TEN

CONTRASTS BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURS AND GOVERNMENT

A reliance on government is one of the classic problems in startup communities that I discussed earlier. We routinely anthropomorphize government and say things like “Our government did X.”

Although it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing government as an abstract entity, especially given the amount of time and energy it consumes around specific issues, it’s important to always remember that government is a collection of people. Many of them are well intentioned, especially around anything that creates jobs or new tax revenue, but they often have no understanding of what entrepreneurs do or the pressures they face.

However, if you understand a few differences between entrepreneurs and government (and I recognize I’m anthropomorphizing in this case), entrepreneurial leaders can effectively incorporate government into a startup community. Let’s go a little deeper on this topic and explore what government can do to be helpful.