It’s time to change the thinking that starting a business is everyone’s business. As Y Combinator president Michael Seibel recently told me: “I used to think my job was to convince people to start companies. Now, everyone wants to start a company, so I think my job is to talk them out of it.”
Seibel’s not overstating the surge in entrepreneurship: Over the past decade, the number of businesses less than a year old has grown by nearly 50%. More than 300 schools now offer entrepreneurship studies. Compared to baby boomers, millennials and Gen-Zers are 188% more likely to start their own business. For many, nothing sounds better than being your own boss—the reason 29% of surveyed small-business owners started their business. One in six cited “following their passion” as their primary motivator.
Being your own boss, following your passion: These sound like compelling reasons for starting a company . . . until five years into …