

The accidental entrepreneur.. how some are handling the recession - yanowitz
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/business/smallbusiness/23venture.html?_r=1&ref=business

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profquail
I understand what the author is try to do with the headline, but I think it is
literally impossible to _accidentally_ start your own business (especially
when you incorporate it). These people saw a problem ("I lost my job and I
need money to live off of") and a way to solve it ("I can spend some time
making product X and setting up a website to sell it online") and then
_consciously_ decided to go ahead with that plan.

Successful people aren't successful by accident.

~~~
dagw
While it is technically impossible to accidentally start a company, it is
quite possible to accindentally find oneself in a position where starting a
company seems like the best realistic option, which I imagine is what the
title was hinting at.

Like my girlfriend, within a relatively short time frame she lost her job, got
turned town at the last minute for this other job she had been promised and
then met a guy who also was thinking about starting a company and who not only
shared the same professional interests she did, but had a complementing skill
set. All of these where unplanned circumstances which all accumulated in her
starting a company.

~~~
profquail
I know what you mean. Someone could invent something for themselves, then make
a few more for friends and family that want it, and so one until they have
realized a business. Then you might consciously decide to incorporate or
otherwise take it to the next level.

Still, I don't like how the author made it seem like the people in the article
won the lottery or something. They made the decision to make the best of their
situation, instead of just stumbling into something new.

------
indiejade
_The silver lining may be that the survival rate is about the same in
expansions and recessions, says Dane Stangler, senior analyst at Kauffman. ...

Research from Kauffman in June found that more than half of the companies on
the Fortune 500 list in 2009 and nearly half of the companies on the Inc.
magazine 2008 list were founded during a recession or bear market._

This makes either perfect sense or no sense at all. Would it also follow that
given the cyclical nature of the economy, about half the time we're in a
"bull" market and half the time we're in a "bear" market? Not sure how useful
this statistic is. After all, it takes many companies awhile to get to the
Fortune 500.

(Edit) My brain must still be stuck on Seth Goldin's 50-50 Suburban/Prius math
problem from yesterday. I guess what this article amounts to is anything that
can be construed as good news would be encouraging to the entrepreneur!

~~~
hristov
Even if it is true that we are in a bull market half the time and in a bear
one half the time, this can still be viewed as encouraging statistic because
it means that companies that start in a bear market do not suffer any
excessive weeding out on their way to the fortune 500 as a result of starting
in a bear market.

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three14
This reminds me a lot of a previous NYTimes article:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-
ups/14sta...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-
ups/14startup.html) "Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own"

Which I thought was discussed here, but I can't find a link.

