Steve Case: Jobs Created by High-Growth Startups, not Small Biz
Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and current CEO of investment firm Revolution, appeared on the FOX Business Network Wednesday to discuss the influence of technology across all sectors and why supporting entrepreneurship is key to boosting U.S. job growth.
Case acknowledged that tax reform is important to U.S. economic competitiveness, telling Maria Bartiromo, “I think everybody agrees that we need to have a simpler tax code and something that’s more kind of globally consistent.”
But Case sees job creation as a priority and pointed to support and funding for startups as key to driving job growth in America.
“What the bias should be I think is on job creation and most of the jobs are not created by small businesses or the big businesses – they’re created by the young, high-growth startups. So, how do you create incentives around job creation and fund those startups?”
Though there are entrepreneurs across America, Case raised concerns that attention and funding are not being spread out enough, citing 80% of venture capital last year going to just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts.
Case says this impacted the presidential election as many Americans across the middle of the country felt left behind because entrepreneurs haven’t been able to get the capital needed to grow and hire.
“When people say President Trump won in part because a lot of people and a lot of parts of the country feel left out, left behind by globalization, by digitization, it’s because they have been left behind.”
Case sees the need to look beyond those three states to support entrepreneurship across the country.
“We’ve really funded entrepreneurs on the coasts and that has to change, we have to level the playing field so everybody, everywhere really does have a shot at the American Dream.”
Case then discussed the influence of technology on how businesses operate across all sectors, claiming it is so ubiquitous that it can no longer be thought of as just an individual entity or sector.
“The tech sector is really being integrated because almost every company’s now a tech company.”