www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/DownLoadableResources/companies-that-matter.pdf (9 pages),
Paul Kedrosky
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
May 2013,
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INTRODUCTION
There are few constants in entrepreneurship—perhaps none. That is why when
something appears to be even semi-stable across meaningful periods, it is
usually worth further investigation.
This short paper investigates just such an apparent constant. Specifically, it is
often claimed that there only are fifteen to twenty information technology
companies created per year in the United States that turn out to “matter,” where
matter is defined as the company (relatively) promptly going from founding to
$100 million in revenues. Further, and of real consequence to cities and regional
economies, is that most such companies founded in any given year are thought
to be in California. This paper tries to find out if the preceding is true.
...
For our purposes,
companies that matter must meet (at least) the following three criteria:
- They must be scalable. They must, in other words, be able to grow to at
least $100 million in revenues, and ideally, much larger.
- They must be disproportionate creators of jobs. They must be able to
generate jobs quickly and broadly, even if they may not generate jobs in
line with their revenue growth.
- They must be disproportionate creators of wealth. Both directly,
through profits, salaries, and profit-sharing, and indirectly, through equity,
options, and perhaps a public listing, they must put wealth back in the
hands of the company’s ecosystem.
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