The startup myth became a monopoly
Western society glorifies founders (rightfully so).
But unicorn folklore and venture capital hype make it seem like founder mode is the only way to be your own boss.
Help build an institution that gives entrepreneurs another path to fame.
An accelerator that turns around local, legacy businesses at scale.
Prioritizing profitability. Supported by public funds. Building great workplaces and training excellent leaders.
Sustainable profitability|Supported by public funds|Great workplaces
The problem
Why do startups get all the love?
There should be more than one career path for ambitious entrepreneurs.
Sustainable profit is not sexy
Venture funding seeks hockey sticks.
The venture model is driven by valuation and funding rounds. Sustainable, linear profit doesn’t make limited partners rich - so it isn’t interesting through the lens of VC.
Yet most of the world’s successful entrepreneurs aren’t running unicorns. We’ve over-indexed for rocketships.
The opportunity
Legacy businesses are dying
Local small and medium sized businesses are disappearing at an alarming rate. Owner-operators are retiring without anyone to take over. Corporate giants, startups operating at a loss, and private equity-infused consolidation mean it’s a fight to stay alive as an SME.
These businesses could be saved
Many firms could be saved - they have a working product, paying customers and a lot of knowledge. Reviving a legacy business creates impact that lasts: stable jobs, real cash flow, and stronger local economies.
Set up new leaders for success
Just like startup accelerators give founders with the tools they need to build a new company, operators could be given tools and training to improve their chances of turning around the business.
It’s a risky decision to quit your day job and take the leap - why not help these operators with training and a salary from day one?
The solution
A new institution
A program that selects, trains and injects ambitious entrepreneurs into local, legacy businesses to become profitable using modern tools and tried and tested methods. Infusing the local economy. Improving people’s jobs and financial security. Supporting the next generation of business leaders.
Turnarounds that last.
How could this work?
Public Support
Partnering with public economic revitalization programs. Funding a single operator for a year is pocket change compared to the millions already spent on innovation grants, but here impacts the local economy directly.
Guardrails
De-risking both the operator’s likelihood of turning around the business, and ensuring it’s salvageable to start with. A mandatory training program that enables any ambitious enough operator to turn around a business in any vertical. Using best practice frameworks and custom-built ops tools that are industry agnostic. Operators take a revenue share of new profit generated by the business (after year 1).
Core Principles
Laser focus on becoming cash flow positive. But doing so in a kind, human way that saves jobs wherever possible. Profit is generated in order to make the employee’s jobs better. Upskilling managers, creating an empowering workplace, and passing back those benefits to the employees is what sets this apart from PE firms and search funds.
See more on how this works
About me
Join me
My name is Jonathan. I think we can build an institution that does a lot for the public good, and make a lot of people’s jobs a lot better.
I also think that local governments and economic revitalization programs would partner in a heartbeat, they just haven’t seen it done before at scale.
I’m also passionate about what this curriculum should contain - what can turn any ambitious entrepreneur into a drag-and-drop, industry agnostic turnaround pro in 6 months or less.
Read more about it in my manifesto, or just add me on LinkedIn. If you have any interest in joining me to build an entrepreneurial institution that’s rooted in value, not valuation, reach out.