The author uses his late uncle as an example of a "big E" entrepreneur and I agree completely.
I like to take the terminology a step further because this is not the only "textbook" example of a successful non-Capitalist entrepreneur.
When you strictly consider capital to be Other Peoples' Money (OPM), you do have to admit that you can't be much of a capitalist without capital.
If all you are using is your own money & resources of some kind, and leveraging that, even if you prosper in a truly capitalist market, you're not really in the same business as those who are manipulating OPM.
By the same token his instant observation of how fundamentally different an entrepreneur's "schedule" is supposed to be compared to an employee's is noteworthy.
Across a spectrum the plain non-capitalist entrepreneurialism of the late uncle is at one extreme, an example many people do not have. At the other end of the spectrum is the poor employee's schedule, where if the whip is going to be cracked it cracks hardest.
Somewhere in between is the well-funded capitalist entrepreneur, and I would say much closer to the poor employee's schedule is the not-so-well-funded capitalist.
fuzzfactor•1d ago
The author uses his late uncle as an example of a "big E" entrepreneur and I agree completely.
I like to take the terminology a step further because this is not the only "textbook" example of a successful non-Capitalist entrepreneur.
When you strictly consider capital to be Other Peoples' Money (OPM), you do have to admit that you can't be much of a capitalist without capital.
If all you are using is your own money & resources of some kind, and leveraging that, even if you prosper in a truly capitalist market, you're not really in the same business as those who are manipulating OPM.
By the same token his instant observation of how fundamentally different an entrepreneur's "schedule" is supposed to be compared to an employee's is noteworthy.
Across a spectrum the plain non-capitalist entrepreneurialism of the late uncle is at one extreme, an example many people do not have. At the other end of the spectrum is the poor employee's schedule, where if the whip is going to be cracked it cracks hardest.
Somewhere in between is the well-funded capitalist entrepreneur, and I would say much closer to the poor employee's schedule is the not-so-well-funded capitalist.