When It’s Darkest Men See the Stars

"When It’s Darkest Men See the Stars."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Steve Blank is optimistic entrepreneurs have created the, "dawn of a new era for a new American economy built on entrepreneurship and innovation."  His excellent post focuses on why startups have fundamentally changed and are changing the business landscape by serving as the process incubator for the business world. 

Although Steve uses Silicon Valley for his examples, New Space can learn from and be encouraged by his perspective.  Read Steve's post for some rational optimism and insight on the coming decade of the entrepreneur.  I especially like this (long) quote from Steve (emphasis mine):

When James Watt started the industrial revolution with the steam engine in 1775 no one said, “This is the day everything changes.” When Karl Benz drove around Mannheim in 1885, no one said, “There will be 500 million of these driving around in a century.” And certainly in 1958 when Noyce and Kilby invented the integrated circuit, the idea of a quintillion (10 to the 18th) transistors being produced each year seemed ludicrous. 

Yet it’s possible that we’ll look back to this decade as the beginning of our own revolution. We may remember this as the time when scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs were integrated into the fabric of society faster than they had ever been before. When the speed of how businesses operated changed forever. As the time when we reinvented the American economy and our Gross Domestic Product began to take off and the U.S. and the world reached a level of wealth never seen before.

It may be the dawn of a new era for a new American economy built on entrepreneurship and innovation.  One that our children will look back on and marvel that when it was the darkest, we saw the stars.