I was at the PSFK trends conference last week in San Francisco. One of the panels covered, among other topics, the trend of entrepreneurs starting and working on several companies at the same time. They called this shotgun entrepreneurship.
This increasingly common trend is counter to the traditional belief that entrepreneurs need to totally focus on one business to make it a success. The main driver of this trend is the cost of starting and running a small business, especially if it is an online small business, is low enough that entrepreneurs can afford multiple companies.
A second driver is a growing belief by entrepreneurs that multiple sources of income and multiple options provide more opportunity and less risk than betting on one business. When we talk to entrepreneurs who have multiple start-ups, they almost always mention they are following a venture capital model to improve their chances of success and reduce risk. Almost all say they if one of their businesses gets traction and looks to be very successful they will focus on it.
For more on this topic, see our profile of mulitpreneur Joe Gebbia.
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