Britain backs entrepreneurs. That’s the headline finding of Entrepreneurs Unwrapped, which we put out this week with American Express.
The vast majority, nearly 9 in 10, of the public who haven’t started a business think that entrepreneurs make an important contribution to the UK economy. They also think entrepreneurs’ efforts are more down to hard work than luck – even more so than entrepreneurs themselves, on net. Perhaps because of this, 61% of the public think founders deserve the money they make – against a mere 4% who do not.
Despite the overwhelming support on show for entrepreneurs, many think we don’t appreciate them enough. Nearly four times as many people think entrepreneurs don’t get the recognition they deserve as those who think they do. Honours for Innovators anyone?
Our survey also laid bare a number of myths around entrepreneurship, with two standing out in particular. People massively overestimate how much it costs to start a business. Something that Charlotte Alt focused on in The Times, quoting our Adviser Dana Denis-Smith who founded Obelisk Support with just £500.
We also found that the public thinks entrepreneurship is a young(ish) person’s game – saying 30 is the best age at which to launch a business. As you’ll all know from reading this newsletter, academic research indicates it might be closer to 45.
Our Head of Research and the report’s co-author, Eamonn Ives wrote about it for City A.M. As he puts it:
“Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, and nor should it be. Productive economies, after all, are those which are built upon a healthy division of labour – where workers do what they’re comparatively best at relative to everyone else in society. But at the same time, it’s a fact that startups are engines of innovation and wealth creation. If we’re to continue to harness the unique advantages they confer, myths such as those above must be dispelled.”
(City A.M. also reported on it, and we were pleased to see Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake sharing it enthusiastically on his LinkedIn. We will be equally pleased if you were to do the same!)
Growing Pains?
The Department for Business and Trade has got in touch to ask us to share their upgraded Help to Grow hub. The aim is to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ of support and advice for small firms. If you have any feedback let us know and we can pass it on.
One Day
Inspired by the Federation of American Scientists, UK Day One was recently launched to help advance the UK’s science and tech policy landscape. Specifically, they want to develop a portfolio of proposals that can be implemented by the new government – whoever that is – within the first 100 days.
We’re partnering with them on a salon focused on policies to attract the best and brightest scientists and technologists (we already have a fair few ideas). I’ll share more details in the next couple of weeks, but let me know if you’re keen to be involved. We’ll be looking for people with a deep knowledge of policy in this area, as the paper will be written off the back of the salon.
Into Labour
On the subject of the next government. Given the current polling, I think it’s fair for us to ask: what would a Labour Government mean for entrepreneurs? It’s the question we’re most often asked, so we’re putting on an event where you can garner more insights.
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