Wanna Kill American Startups Before They Start? Force Entrepreneurs to Risk Too Much

America is a startup nation built on risk-taking entrepreneurs. But when the personal risk of starting a company becomes too high — healthcare costs, student debt, regulatory burden — we kill ventures before they begin. A call for policies that protect the entrepreneurial engine.

This article originally appeared in Forbes . America is a startup nation. Risk taking entrepreneurs have helped our country lead the world in innovation. New ventures create most of our jobs, grow our economy, and increasingly compete on a global scale. We’re living through unprecedented redefinition and churn among big business today (734 of the companies on the F1000 list a decade ago no longer appear there, and half of the 500 largest companies in America will cease to exist a decade from now). The future of work for individuals is being redefined too, and that could unleash a torrent of new entrepreneurial activity. But we can’t take any of this change and potential momentum for granted... it’s precarious, and fraught with failure. I’ve written in Forbes before that overall entrepreneurial activity in America actually peaked more than 30 years ago. I’ve also argued a million new jobs a year could be created by American startups with just a few smart public policy changes out of Washington, D.C. and state houses across the country. One of the surest ways to stunt the growth of new startups and prevent entrepreneurs from making the leap is to force them to take unreasonable risk with their family’s healthcare and well-being. One of the top reasons people don’t leave their jobs at BigCo and chase new ideas on their own is the intolerable risk of losing healthcare coverage. The GOP in the U. S. House of Representative recently took one of the swiftest swipes at killing America’s startups before they even start. One in five customers on the ACA health exchanges are small business owners. Without access to those shared risk pools, many otherwise-would-be entrepreneurs remain tethered to their employers. I have started, mentored, incubated and funded a great many startups, and none of them could have launched without a brave entrepreneur willing to take risks. I've also seen too many unable to make that jump because of uncertainty over health care. But beyond dissolvin

By Terry Howerton at TechNexus Venture Collaborative