I think one of the largest reasons why Silicon Valley has so many startups and other places have so few is Paul Graham's reason #15 for not starting a startup: "Parents want you to be a doctor".
Not literally, of course; but rather in the general sense of social pressure against creating a startup. In the Valley, you can say that you're thinking of creating your own business, and people will tell you that they think that's cool, will talk about startups they have been involved in, and generally support the idea. In most of the rest of the world, people will look at you as if you've announced that you're planning on getting a sex change: A small amount of admiration for making such a hard decision, mixed with a large amount of skepticism about your sanity. After all, everybody knows that 50%/80%/90%/99% of small businesses fail within X years, right?
I've been very lucky that, in spite of being surrounded by generally skeptical people, I've encountered a lot of support; as my girlfriend put it, "most small businesses fail, but if anyone can succeed, it will be you". If it weren't for how much my friends apparently believe in me personally, I'm sure I'd have been convinced to not even attempt this based on those same statistics about failure rates.
<i>as my girlfriend put it, "most small businesses fail, but if anyone can succeed, it will be you"</i>
That's funny, that's almost exactly what my girlfriend said too... Must be a girlfriend thing :)
The reactions I've received have either been support mixed with a bit of admiration and envy, or "ah yes I've been through that 10 years ago, if you ever want to do it now's the time" followed by some advice. Only one person reacted with "why would you ever want to do that".
My wife says the same thing. It must be a loss aversion response to their choice of mate.
Reactions I receive (since I'm currently churning through the decision) tend to be offers for funding support, some of it not insignificant. To me, that is a much higher confidence indicator, although I have will some skin in the game, too.
Not literally, of course; but rather in the general sense of social pressure against creating a startup. In the Valley, you can say that you're thinking of creating your own business, and people will tell you that they think that's cool, will talk about startups they have been involved in, and generally support the idea. In most of the rest of the world, people will look at you as if you've announced that you're planning on getting a sex change: A small amount of admiration for making such a hard decision, mixed with a large amount of skepticism about your sanity. After all, everybody knows that 50%/80%/90%/99% of small businesses fail within X years, right?
I've been very lucky that, in spite of being surrounded by generally skeptical people, I've encountered a lot of support; as my girlfriend put it, "most small businesses fail, but if anyone can succeed, it will be you". If it weren't for how much my friends apparently believe in me personally, I'm sure I'd have been convinced to not even attempt this based on those same statistics about failure rates.