1.
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
231
Forest
Street,
Babson
Park,
MA
02457
USA
disen@babson.edu
+1
(781)
239-­‐6290
OPEN
for
Enterprise
in
Milwaukee
Daniel
Isenberg,
Professor
of
Entrepreneurship
Practice,
Babson
Global
Executive
Director,
Babson
Entrepreneurship
Ecosystem
Project
March
28,
2013
Good
morning
to
everyone,
Governor
Walker,
Mayor
Barrett,
Julia
Taylor,
Mike
Lovell
of
UWM,
Randi
Schochet,
and
all
of
the
guests
and
members
of
the
media.
Let
me
start
by
saying
that
I
am
honored
and
humbled
to
be
a
part
of
this
new
OPEN
For
Enterprise
project,
starting
in
Milwaukee.
Although
I
was
born
close
by
in
Chicago
(longer
ago
than
I
care
to
think
about)
and
visited
Wisconsin’s
lakes
for
vacations
as
a
3-­‐year-­‐old,
I
am
a
complete
newcomer
and
well
aware
of
the
fact
that
I
have
a
lot
to
learn.
I
am
here
in
Israel
for
Passover
with
my
kids,
something
I
could
not
change
to
be
with
you.
I
have
been
engaged
in
almost
every
aspect
of
entrepreneurship
over
the
past
three
decades,
as
an
educator,
researcher,
author,
entrepreneur,
venture
capitalist,
angel
investor,
and
as
a
change
agent
and
policy
advisor.
I
mention
those
things
not
to
boast,
actually,
quite
the
opposite:
because
that
experience,
formulas
for
fostering
entrepreneurship
don’t
exist.
We
do
know
that
when
entrepreneurship
takes
root
and
grows
in
any
region,
such
as
it
appears
to
have
done
in
Milwaukee’s
past,
as
well
as
present
to
some
extent,
it
is
an
incredibly
powerful
force,
spinning
off
employment,
creating
wealth,
contributing
taxes,
and
even
boosting
innovation,
inclusion,
and
philanthropy.
Yet,
despite
its
intrinsic
elusiveness
(it
is
the
“job”
of
entrepreneurs,
so
to
speak,
to
surprise
the
market)
we
do
know
a
few
things
about
entrepreneurship
in
society,
some
of
which
may
be
surprising.
-­‐ One
is
that
we
know
that
it
is
actually
a
very
small
number
of
high
growth
ventures
which
spin
off
the
huge
majority
of
all
of
the
potential
social
and
economic
benefits
of
entrepreneurship.
The
latest
and
growing
evidence
from
many
countries
around
the
world
is
very
clear
that
small
business
per
se
does
not
do
it
even
though
it
is
important.
It
is
a
small
number
of
young
and
rapidly
growing
businesses
that
contribute
jobs
and
wealth
and
taxes
disproportionately.
-­‐ Second,
these
ventures
can
come
from
anywhere,
the
often
defy
logic.
They
can
come
from
any
sector,
be
it
technology,
services,
manufacturing,
innovation,
copycat,
trade,
finance—from
anything
conceivable,
and
a
few
things
that
are
inconceivable
perhaps.
-­‐ Third,
we
know
that
there
is
no
society
that
is
devoid
of
entrepreneurship
–
the
drive
to
grow,
to
achieve,
the
ambition
to
innovate,
make
an
impact
on
markets
and
society
are
ubiquitous.
Entrepreneurship.
I
have
come
to
believe,
is
part
of
the
human
condition.
I
have
been
to
numerous
of
regions
where
they
have
told
me,
“we
don’t
have
the
entrepreneurial
spirit.
We
used
to,
maybe,
but
we
have
lost
it.”
But
every
time
I
have
looked
hard,
it
is
there,
lurking
under
the
surface,
with
the
potential
to
burst
out
and
express
itself.
-­‐ Fourth,
that
means
that
our
biggest
challenge
together,
is
to
help
foster
the
conditions,
which
I
call
an
entrepreneurship
ecosystem,
in
which
that
completely
natural
human
endeavor
can
be
unleashed,
and
that
ventures
can
grow
rapidly
and
scale
up.
Now
it
probably
won’t
surprise
you
to
hear
me
say
again
that
there
is
no
pat
recipe–
fostering
entrepreneurship
is
not
an
engineering
problem
like
building
a
bridge
or
canal.
It
is
a
cultivation
problem,
and
yes,
it
can
be
fostered,
accelerated,
and
catalyzed.

2.
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
231
Forest
Street,
Babson
Park,
MA
02457
USA
disen@babson.edu
+1
(781)
239-­‐6290
-­‐ Fifth,
it
turns
out,
that
start-­‐up
is
relatively
easy
compared
to
scale-­‐up.
That
is
why
we
are
tentatively
calling
your
project
Scale-­‐Up
Milwaukee.
Of
course,
without
Start-­‐ups
you
cant
have
scale-­‐ups,
but
we
have
to
develop
and
maintain
a
clear
focus
on
the
end
goal
–
it
is
scale,
about
aspiration,
about
growth.
-­‐ Sixth,
this
is
Milwaukee’s
project
and
you
will
have
to
name
it.
You
will
have
to
drive
it.
We
can
help,
I
think
we
can
help
a
lot.
But
one
of
our
early
tasks
is
going
to
be
to
help
facilitate
common
understandings,
engagement
and
alignment
of
vision
among
a
broad
group
of
stakeholders,
including
private
sector
actors,
investors,
entrepreneurs,
educators,
large
corporations,
government,
community
groups
and
so
on.
My
impression
–
forgive
me
if
I
am
wrong,
but
I
spend
all
of
my
time
in
cities
throughout
the
world
–
is
that
just
one
of
the
assets
I
think
exists
here
is
the
collaborative
atmosphere
among
various
private
and
public
sector
groups.
I
am
not
saying
that
it
is
a
paradise,
but
it
is
something
that
I
do
not
take
for
granted.
-­‐ Finally,
I
realize
that
there
are
many
open
questions
about
what
and
who
and
where
and
how.
I
will
be
in
Milwaukee
in
mid-­‐April
and
we
will
have
an
official
kick-­‐off
on
May
6.
I
am
excited
about
working
with
you
to
address
and
invent
answers
to
these
questions.
From
my
experience
in
other
cities,
it
will
require
experimentation,
confidence,
commitment
and
collaboration.
An
entrepreneurship
ecosystem
cannot
be
created.
It
is
not
an
engineering
problem,
it
is
a
cultivation
problem.
Thank
you
for
the
opportunity
to
work
with
you
to
cultivate
Milwaukee’s
natural
entrepreneurial
assets.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel
Isenberg
is
a
Babson
Global
Professor
of
Entrepreneurship
Practice
and
the
founding
executive
director
of
the
Babson
Entrepreneurship
Ecosystem
Project
(BEEP).
His
new
book
is
Worthless
Impossible
and
Stupid:
How
Contrarian
Entrepreneurs
Create
and
Capture
Extraordinary
Value
(Harvard
Business
Press,
July
2013).
BEEP
creates
projects
around
the
world
to
foster
substantially
greater
levels
of
entrepreneurship
in
specific
regions.
Daniel
is
also
Adjunct
Professor
at
Columbia
Business
School
and
teaches
Innovation
for
Economic
Development
at
the
Harvard
Kennedy
School,
and
has
been
a
visiting
professor
at
Insead,
Reykjavik
University,
and
the
Technion.
He
has
been
a
venture
capitalist
and
entrepreneur,
and
is
an
active
angel
investor.
For
more
information,
visit
www.entrepreneurial-­‐
revolution.com
and
entrepreneurial.revolution
or
contact
Dr.
Isenberg
at
disen@babson.edu.
Daniel
Isenberg
has
a
Ph.D.
in
social
psychology
from
Harvard
University.