Living in America for six years was the best wake up call a budding entreprenuer could dream of. For me, in the late 70’s and early 80’s living in Los Angeles, New York and Boston was just the ‘shock and scare’ I needed. The staggering difference in culture is often overlooked because of the ‘common language’ It is not until you have been ‘completely integrated’ do you realise the huge difference of what a truly capitalistic society is all about. Over 10% of Americans are actively involved in creating or growing a business and roughly 4.6 of adults are informal investors. Further, over the past few years anything from 40 billion dollars to 112 billion dollars a year has been invested in start-ups and smaller businesses by angel investors, far outstripping what formal venture capitalists invest in business. Perhaps the most important thing of all is that individuals don’t need government persuasion to invest in small business. It’s inbred as part of the culture that it is the obvious and right thing to do. It comes with years of education and understanding. A major part of my consultancy business revolves around introducing small business owners to high-net-worth individuals.
