"Change the world and create your fortune"

Knowledge@Wharton has an article based on the ever colorful Tim Draper's speech at the recent Wharton Private Equity and Venture Capital Conference.

Timothy Draper, founder and managing director of the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson...urged entrepreneurs to "change the world. That's what it's all about. If you see something wrong, or a little unusual, or something that makes you mad, go change it. Then change it for everybody else. You'll become very wealthy and very successful."

Draper pointed to some of the problems that entrepreneurs should take on: Energy, security, health care, traffic, pollution, war, poverty, education, roads, prisons and airport development. He said politicians, at best, help bring these problems to light; at worst, they create problems.

"Who solves problems?" he asked. "It's business."

Business, he suggested, is better equipped to develop lasting solutions for society's problems than government because it is perpetual, not limited by elections, terms of office, or political boundaries. With advances in telecommunications, national borders are fading away. As a result, governments are now forced to compete with one another to attract capital and develop promising businesses to generate jobs and economic growth.

Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the Private Equity and Venture Capital ecosystem in India. View sample issues of Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.

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