Building a System Where Entrepreneurs Can Win
If We Want More Entrepreneurs, We Need Policy Designed for Entrepreneurs
November is National Entrepreneurship Month. One government website calls it “a time to celebrate the entrepreneurs … and bolster the American economy”. What will they do? “Organize numerous events and inspire thousands of individuals from all backgrounds to follow in the footsteps of generations of American entrepreneurs”.
The intent is good.
But if we are serious about strengthening our entrepreneurial capacity, we need to move beyond symbolic celebration and toward structural modernization of how policymakers support founders.
Because the reality is:
📉 In 1982, new firms (<5 years old) made up 38% of all U.S. businesses.
📉 By 2018, that number had fallen to 29%.
(Source: Congressional Budget Office)
StartupBlink reports that while the U.S. remains the largest startup-ecosystem by volume, other countries are rapidly catching up. For example China posted a 54.6% year-on-year growth in its startup activity, and Singapore and Japan posted nearly 49% growth each.
A Complex Web of Marginally Effective Programs
To be fair, the government does point to programs it already funds:
🤔 A sprinkling across America of Small Business Development Centers that provide “business coaching, education about funding options, and guidance with startup planning”.
🤨 Eight federal regional commissions and authorities focused on addressing economic distress in certain defined socioeconomic regions.
😐 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs that provide grants for R&D
😕 immigrant worker visas (well, perhaps not anymore…)
But I have yet to see
Real entrepreneurs finding value from a small business development center
People in “economic distress” focused on high risk entrepreneurship instead of the more basic needs like a steady job, childcare, rent.
SBIR and STTR grants that don’t require months of application writing by technical experts with uncertain grant outcomes
We have talent, ideas, and market power — but our systems are not keeping pace.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
After working with and talking to hundreds of founders across industries, stages, and geographies, here are three high-impact policy changes that would directly strengthen our national entrepreneurship pipeline:
1️⃣ Easily accessible early-stage R&D seed funding
Innovation costs real $$ that only larger enterprises have available to allocate. Entrepreneurs need the room to develop (without the pressure of VC’s breathing down their backs).
Current federal innovation programs (SBIR, STTR, etc.) are valuable in theory — but in practice, they require months of academic-style proposals that feel more like defending a Ph.D thesis than innovating, all for a highly uncertain outcome.
What’s needed: ✅ Fast-track, lightweight micro-grants for early validation and prototyping ✅ Seed funding, not tax credits ✅ Decisions in weeks, not quarters
Seed-stage R&D funding should mirror modern innovation cycles — agile, fast, and milestone-based — not the slow grant processes designed in the 1980s.
2️⃣ Tax incentives for enterprises that buy from startups
The #1 barrier founders report is not lack of mentoring — it’s lack of customers, preferably larger ones.
But large companies are often reluctant to buy products from startups that may not be around in a few years. A simple, targeted incentive — a tax credit for enterprises purchasing from early-stage U.S. startups — would:
🔹 De-risk procurement
🔹 Accelerate revenue to founders (instead of having to rely on venture capital to fund operations)
🔹 Strengthen domestic supply chains and tech competitiveness
Government already uses tax incentives to shape corporate behavior — this is a high-ROI use case.
3️⃣ A single, unified entrepreneurship portal
The current system is fragmented across dozens of agencies and programs with separate forms, eligibility rules, deadlines, and acronyms.
There are so many different regional and national programs each with so many different requirements, it’s hard for an entrepreneur to know how to find what they qualify for. There are SBA loans, SBIR grants, Regional Innovation Cluster Programs, DOE Hub Programs, Clean Energy Innovation Programs — the list is endless.
For an entrepreneur, this is not “support” — it’s friction.
We need one front door.
One application. One intelligent system that routes founders to the right capital, program, or resource.
If the private sector can use AI to match consumers to mortgage products in 60 seconds, the United States government should be able to provide deploy today’s technology and automatically match entrepreneurial funding applications with available grants
A New Kind of Entrepreneurship Month?
If we are to building a system where more entrepreneurs can win in more geographically diverse places, here's what we don't need more of:
❌ Another awareness campaign
❌ More “entrepreneurship month” events
❌ More ceremonial councils and 12 point programs
Instead, we need a 21st-century U.S. entrepreneurship system that matches the speed of the founders we claim to champion.
Three levers policymakers can pull immediately:
Modernize and simplify early R&D funding
Incentivize enterprise-startup purchasing through tax policy
Consolidate and unify federal entrepreneurship programs under one digital entry point
If we believe entrepreneurship is core to American competitiveness, then National Entrepreneurship Month should be more than recognition — it should be a catalyst for reform.
Policy makers, what would it take to make this real? I’d welcome a conversation.
