The Entrepreneurs

Anita Sands, board director of multiple companies and venture partner, New Enterprise Associates:
Our future success rests on our ability to harness the creative and innovative potential of all—a quest made possible only by understanding the evolution of entrepreneurship and the factors inherent in shaping the ecosystem in which founders operate. Derek Lidow’s work provides masterful insight into what has come before and how that should inform our efforts to create a more accessible, inclusive, and equitable path to entrepreneurship going forward.

Shanta Devarajan, Georgetown University, former senior director for development economics at the World Bank:
When asked to identify the single most important ingredient to economic success, I would say, “entrepreneurship”. This book not only shows, thankfully, that I was right but does so with what is probably the most comprehensive, rigorous and richly documented treatment of the subject. Derek Lidow carefully defines entrepreneurship and then describes the way entrepreneurs interact with society—the key to their importance. Every concept and paradigm is illustrated with fascinating, historical episodes—from the Han Dynasty in China to the Roman Empire to Silicon Valley. Lidow unpacks the subject (“scaling supply…scaling demand…scaling simplicity”) and then puts the pieces back together in the final chapters on the role of government in regulating entrepreneurs. The book is highly nuanced: the section on “scaling slavery” is disturbing reading. The historical anecdotes reveal delightful tidbits. Who knew that the first semiconductor company located in Palo Alto, California because the director wanted to be close to his mother? This book is three books in one. It is a history book, meticulously describing entrepreneurship through the ages. It is an economics book, analyzing the incentives and behavior of entrepreneurs, their consequences, and society’s reaction. And it is a management book for students and professors of entrepreneurship. That all three are delivered in an engaging and easygoing style bodes well for The Entrepreneurs becoming a classic.

Howard E. Aldrich, Kenan Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill:
Derek Lidow’s intellectual curiosity is infectious! I was dazzled by his ability to use deep-in-the-weeds historical research to illustrate fundamental principles of entrepreneurship through the ages. Not only did I learn about fascinating historical examples previously unknown to me, but I was also treated to great visual imagery as Lidow made the examples come alive. His skill in weaving incisive examples into solid empirical generalization is clearly a skill that stems from his practical business knowledge. He takes the reader around the world and through the centuries, using fascinating case material to document his argument that the principles of entrepreneurship are deeply embedded in the way civilization has evolved over the millennia. Entrepreneurship scholars and other interested readers are going to love this book.