Free Investment Advice

Entrepreneurial and business activities show positive signs during these hard times, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2008 National Entrepreneurial Assessment for the United States of America, produced by Babson College and Baruch College.

* Entrepreneurship Increases: Total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) increased to 10.8% in 2008 from 9.6% in 2007.

* Opportunity Obsessed: Opportunity continues to be the main driver for entrepreneurs in the United States - 87% started their businesses because of a business opportunity while only 13% started their businesses out of necessity.

* Early-Stage Entrepreneurs: The United States continues to be at or near the top of the world’s innovation-driven economies in terms of early-stage entrepreneurial activities.

* Substantial Perceived Opportunity: Perceived opportunity is substantial despite a greater fear of failure. This fear of failure has increased appreciably in the U.S. and in the other GEM countries. Perceived opportunity has declined in the U.S. and in the other innovation-driven countries. It is important to note, however, that the decrease in perceived opportunity is only off its high levels of 2007. Thus, perceived opportunity is still substantial despite a greater fear of failure. This contrasts with the marked decrease across the board in GEM countries for individuals who expect to start a business in the next three years. See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSv8MGNpN1c.

The Changing Entrepreneur

* The Aging Entrepreneur: For the total entrepreneurship and the established firms measures, the results indicate a marked reduction (around 8% to 9%) in entrepreneurial activity for individuals in the 18-44 age group and an increase of a similar amount in the 45-98 age group. While previous reports pointed toward this trend, this year’s data indicate the need to follow this trend closely because of possible implications for U.S. entrepreneurial behavior. See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcz3ncjlOaI.

* The Shrinking Entrepreneur: Size of the ventures entrepreneurs are thinking about is changing. From 2007 to 2008, the number of jobs entrepreneurs expected to create from their startups decreased in all categories - no jobs, 1-5 jobs, 6-19 jobs - except in the category of 20+ jobs.

* The Service Economy: GEM indicates a continuation of the trend toward a business service- and away from a manufacturing-economy. Looking at particular sectors of entrepreneurial activity, U.S. activity is more concentrated in the business services sector and less concentrated in the transforming sector than the activities of other countries in the innovation-economy group, for both early-stage and established firms.

Battle Of The Sexes

* Women Rising: The TEA for women shows a marked increase (6.1% to 7.5%) while the TEA for men shows a slight decrease (10.7% to 9.8%). See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvzodL1-CeU.

* Cash Crunch: Women start ventures with eight-times less funding than their male counterparts.

SOURCE Babson College