Entrepreneurship is Contagious

I read a really insightful article this week by best selling author and CEO and Co-founder of Endeavor, Linda Rottenberg who argues that the best incubator for entrepreneurship occurs when entrepreneurs form close networks and nurture fellow risk-takers with their experience and resources. She points to groundbreaking evidence that the most vibrant entrepreneurship is developed by high-impact entrepreneurs when they operate in tight-knit networks, nurturing fellow risk-takers and trading know-how, capital and tough love. The role that these super-carriers play in creating and accelerating the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is key — a few very successful entrepreneurs spawn others and the effect multiplies over time - this is how the entrepreneurship contagion spreads. Entrepreneurship doesn’t just spread on its own. It spreads because more experienced entrepreneurs actively cultivate the growth of those around them. Once a handful of local scale-ups have succeeded, the multiplier effect can take hold and the ecosystem can begin to sustain its own growth. The key is finding them, helping them scale and encouraging them to let the contagion spread.