The document discusses the problem of talented college graduates not pursuing careers as entrepreneurs and instead going into finance, consulting, and law. It proposes that redirecting this talent towards starting new businesses in communities across the country could help create millions of new jobs and transform the economy. The organization Venture for America is highlighted as working to solve this problem by connecting top graduates with startups and training them to become entrepreneurs. The goal is to launch a virtuous cycle of innovation, business building, and job creation.

1. Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and
Create New Jobs in America
How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement,

4. We’ve got a PROBLEM right now.

5. Our smart people are doing
the WRONG things.

6. If we can get them to do the RIGHT things,
it will TRANSFORMTHE COUNTRY.

7. The majority of our TALENT is flowing
to finance, consulting, and law…
…and NOT ENOUGH to job-creating
enterprises in our communities.

8. They’re going to BIG
cities like NewYork
Not to places that
really NEED them

9. Major banks and
consulting firms spend
TENS OF MILLIONS
each year recruiting at
major college
campuses.

10. From 2008–2013, more
Harvard graduates
went into finance,
consulting, or law
THAN ANY OTHER
PATH.

11. 23%MED SCHOOL (12%); GRAD SCHOOL (7%);TEACH FOR AMERICA (4%)
13%UNDECIDED (13%)
21%MEDIA, ARTS, SPORTS, COMMUNICATION (11%); IT, INDUSTRY (10%)
36%FINANCE/BANKING (11%); MANAGEMENT CONSULTING (11%); LAW SCHOOL (14%)
7%NONPROFIT, GOVERNMENT, MILITARY (7%)
WHERETHEY’RE GOING:
~1,630 Seniors

12. “If I go to career
services, they’ll tell me
straight out that
THEY ONLY HAVE
FINANCE AND
CONSULTING JOBS
for me to look at.”

13. It’s like we’re INVESTING in layers of frosting
and NEGLECTING to bake the cake.

14. That means there ISN’T ENOUGHTALENT
flowing to businesses that use these services.

15. Businesses that
CREATE NEW JOBS

16. Businesses that
BUILDTHRIVING COMMUNITIES

17. Businesses that
CHANGETHE WORLD

18. So what is the result of this
WAR FORTALENT?

19. Jacques-Philippe Piverger (MPOWERD) Anu Duggal (F Cubed) Miles Lasater (SeeClickFix)
Jon Oringer (Shutterstock) Jen Medbery (Kickboard) Angus Davis (Swipely)
The U.S. economy is currently
NOT PRODUCING ENOUGH of its
next generation of serial entrepreneurs.

20. If the U.S. had generated as many startups for
2009–12 as it had in 2007, the country would have
produced 2.5 MILLION NEW JOBS.

21. We need to get our smart people
BUILDINGTHINGS again.

23. BUILDINGTHINGS IS HARD.

24. Over FIFTY PERCENT of businesses
FAIL in their first THREEYEARS.

25. I know this firsthand.
My first company FAILED
within the first two years.

26. But I OVERCAME the
failure and became CEO
of ManhattanGMAT and
now FOUNDER of
Venture for America.

27. I got to meet President Obama too.
->

29. I worked alongside a more
EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEUR.

30. I learned THREE important lessons
about entrepreneurship.

31. 1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A PROCESS

32. Like with everything else, you become
a better entrepreneur OVERTIME.

33. Rovio Entertainment
was around for six
years and underwent
layoffs before the
“instant” success of
ANGRY BIRDS.

34. BILL GATES
cofounded a
company called
Traf-O-Data that lost
thousands of dollars
and shut down
before he started
Microsoft.

35. SAM WALTON’s
first Arkansas store
went under before
he startedWalmart.

36. Entrepreneurs are forged through
EXPERIENCE.

37. 2. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS ABOUT
PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATION BUILDING

38. Not just CREATIVITY or having a GOOD IDEA

39. There’s an aphorism that
A people hire A’s
B people hire C’s
C people hire losers
“SLOWTO HIRE, FASTTO FIRE”
A common saying in the startup world…

40. You’re hiring someone not to do the job, but
to do or INVENT A BIGGER JOB when the
company expands.
A common saying in the startup world…
“SLOWTO HIRE, FASTTO FIRE”

41. Cultures get built from the BEGINNING, so
whoever joins a company takes cues from
whoever’s already there.
“SLOWTO HIRE, FASTTO FIRE”
A common saying in the startup world…

42. It’s much easier to build a WINNINGTEAM
if the first few players are extraordinary.

43. “Never doubt that a
small group of
thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it is the
only thing that ever has.”
–MARGARET MEAD
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
and cultural anthropologist

44. 3. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS ABOUT
VALUE CREATION

45. THE FUEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

46. Value creation leads to
NEW BUSINESSES and JOBS.

47. Andera,
a software company,
EMPLOYS ALMOST
100 PEOPLE in
Providence, RI.

48. Its founder,
Charlie Kroll, wasn’t
always set on becoming
an ENTREPRENEUR.

49. In 2000,
Charlie was a senior at
Brown University and
wanted to be an
INVESTMENT BANKER.
To his surprise, he didn’t
get the position he
wanted.

50. He recovered from his
disappointment to START
Andera, and the rest is
history.

51. IMAGINE
if Charlie’s story
were the NORM
rather than the
exception.

52. HOW LONG
would it take to generate
THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS,
opportunities, and even
industries?

53. What our country has been
SEEKING a formula for
VALUE CREATION =

54. How can we
encourage our top
people to TAKE RISKS and
BUILD NEWTHINGS?

56. 7.5
A friend once told me
about a PRINCETON
GRADUATE named
Cole.

57. Cole studied Math
and went to work for a
HEDGE FUND directly
out of school.

58. At age 24, he makes
well into SIX FIGURES.

59. By conventional measures,
Cole has achieved the
AMERICAN DREAM.

60. And yet, how
excited are you about
COLE’STRAJECTORY?

61. I’ll admit I’m
NOTTOO PSYCHED
either.

62. Now, imagine someone you think
could take on RISK.

63. Someone
WELL-EDUCATED,
WELL-SUPPORTED,
FREE OF OBLIGATIONS.

64. Someone like…

65. COLE!

66. If we can get smart hardworking people like Cole to build
businesses around the country, our best and brightest
will build ENGINES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH.

67. ??
But how?

68. I created an organization called
to solve this problem.

69. We solve the problem in TWO ways.

70. 1. Help growth companies ACCESSTHETALENT
they need to THRIVE AND EXPAND
Venture for America Selection Day

71. Members of Venture for America Class of 2013
2.Train our best and brightest to become
BUSINESS BUILDERS & ENTPREPRENEURS

72. We want to give rise to a virtuous cycle of
INNOVATION
BUSINESS BUILDING
JOB CREATION

73. 100,000 NEW JOBS BY 2025.
Our goal is to help create

75. Today,Venture for America is a
multi-million dollar organization…

76. …with 108 Fellows…

77. …and 100+ more Fellows on the way…

78. Columbus, OH
LasVegas, NV
New Orleans, LA
Providence, RIDetroit, MI
Baltimore, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Miami, FL
San Antonio, TX
St Louis, MO
…working in startups in cities
across the nation.

79. Let’s put people to work solving problems
and building businesses.

81. Click me!

82. “Andrew is one of those rare
visionaries who puts dreams
into action.This book is a
roadmap for young people in
designing their careers, a
playbook for policy makers for
rebuilding our cities, and a path
forward to moving
entrepreneurship back to the
center of theAmerican
economy.”
–ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the
Huffington Post