Founder Institute’s Adeo Ressi says you can’t teach entrepreneurship (video)

Adeo Ressi, the founder of VC-review website TheFunded and entrepreneur training program the Founder Institute, says it’s nearly impossible to teach entrepreneurship.

Ressi made the statement at a talk in Singapore back in October, which has just been posted online. If that seems like an odd statement coming from the head of a startup incubator, well, Ressi isn’t arguing that we should throw up our hands and give up on entrepreneurship.

Instead, he said that with only 2 percent of the population really suited to creating a company (due to genetics, motivation, and other factors — factors that the Founder Institute tries to identify in its application test), it’s all the more crucial for governments and others to create the right environment for startups to flourish. In an email, Ressi elaborated:

The success of entrepreneurship in a society is dependent on the characteristics of the local ecosystem. Subtle changes in the availability of capital and in regulation can change the type of companies created. For example, weak bankruptcy protection fosters service businesses. Over-funding leads to many me-too businesses with a high failure rate.

Adeo Ressi on Global Entrepreneurship from Video3 Ressi on Vimeo.