A Call to All Entrepreneurs: Let’s Get it Started-up In Here

While Google and Facebook are now all household names/brands there was a time when few of us knew of them-- when they were simple start-ups. Google was initially founded as a privately held company in 1998. It wasn't until 2005 that they had their IPO. Facebook launched in Feburary of 2004 accumulating "only" 1M active users by December of that year. Today, Facebook now reports that they have more than 500M active users.

All of these companies started from somewhere; they started as start-ups. But that is quickly changing. 18 years into its existence the Web now has a huge consolidation of power. This stat from Compete says it all: the top 10 Web sites accounted for 31 percent of US pageviews in 2001, 40 percent in 2006, and about 75 percent in 2010.

Think about that for a minute. The path of the Web is the same of traditional media -- a monolithic few control the masses. Sure there are millions of websites out there -- and ideally that will remain -- but consider where the sheer majority of web sessions start, and end.

And this consolidation of information and traffic will continue. Google has acquired over 75 start-ups. You use, possibly even rely, on the technology and innovations of these start-ups every day. How many can you name?

The challenge is that start-ups are fragile -- 1/2 of startups go out of business within five years. Furthermore, so much legislation isn't in the interest of these small businesses. Instead, it is the behemoths that get all the attention and more importantly tax credits. For example, recently KIA's received a $400M tax break for the new plant in West Point, Georgia.

When considering Behemoths vs Start-ups, Techcrunch Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa says it best:

If we are serious about lifting the economy out of its rut, we need to focus all of our energy on helping entrepreneurs. Provide them with the incentives (tax breaks and seed financing); education; and infrastructure. And gear public policy—like patent-protection laws—toward the startups. Let’s not bet on the companies that are too big to fail or too clumsy to innovate.