Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity

Front Cover
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009 - Business & Economics - 192 pages
Nearly seven in ten Americans believe the American dream will be harder for their children to achieve than for themselves. Yet the myths around rugged individualism, meritocracy, and rags-to-riches upward mobility stubbornly persist. As “pro-entrepreneurship” as the United States seems, most Americans aren't very knowledgeable about how business really works. Millions of newly minted business owners don't know the importance—or even existence—of invisible capital.

Invisible capital is a complex set of factors—our skills, knowledge, networks, resources, and experiences—that can mean the difference between success and failure. Chris Rabb details how people can identify, grow, and leverage their invisible capital and explains why starting a business with deep community roots increases the chance of success.

Understanding invisible capital will enable more Americans to be better prepared to pursue entrepreneurship and level the playing field—because hard work, a great idea, and a good attitude simply aren't enough.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
1 Dreaming a Difficult Dream
21
2 The Landscape of Modern American Enterprise
37
3 Invisible Capital Exposed
51
4 Democratizing Entrepreneurial Opportunity
83
5 Reframing Entrepreneurial Success and Failure
115
6 Toward Commonwealth Entrepreneurship
133
Notes
153
Acknowledgments
161
Resources
166
Index
167
About the Author
172
Copyright

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About the author (2009)

A native of Chicago, Chris Rabb is a visiting researcher at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and is a fellow at Demos, a non-partisan think-tank in New York City.

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