On Thanksgiving, Steve Blank wrote a very timely post entitled “When it’s darkest, men see the stars” that talked off the current economic upheaval and the future of American business.   Where many see a time of uncertainty, Blank perfectly captured the potential that he foresees when he wrote:

I believe that we will look back at this decade as the beginning of an economic revolution as important as the scientific revolution in the 16th century and the industrial revolution in the 18th century. We’re standing at the beginning of the entrepreneurial revolution. This doesn’t mean just more technology stuff, though we’ll get that. This is a revolution that will permanently reshape business as we know it and more importantly, change the quality of life across the entire planet for all who come after us.

As further proof of the potential before all of us, Blank went on to talk about the key drivers of the growth in entrepreneurship that include:

The emergence of incubators and super angels have dramatically expanded the sources of seed capital. The globalization of entrepreneurship means the worldwide pool of potential startups has increased at least ten fold since the turn of this century… The economic downturn in the United States has had an unexpected consequence for startups – it has created more of them. Young and old, innovators who are unemployed or underemployed now face less risk in starting a company.  They have a lot less to lose and a lot more to gain

I would like to think that The Brandery is part of this global movement and entrepreneurial revolution.  Demo Day on November 18th seemed to validate that, at least from the great press coverage we received in AdAge and the Cincinnati Enquirer.  And I’d further say that Rockfish is as well, since the entrepreneurial spirit of the company was a major reason I joined.

But the entrepreneurial revolution goes beyond the world of start-ups and agencies to the very fabric of business, marketing and even brand management. While no one can argue the tremendous strain caused by this recession, I would side with Blank on the potential it has created for all of us.  As Blank wrote at the end of his post:

Yet it’s possible that we’ll look back to this decade as the beginning of our own revolution. We may remember this as the time when scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs were integrated into the fabric of society faster than they had ever been before. When the speed of how businesses operated changed forever. As the time when we reinvented the American economy and our Gross Domestic Product began to take off and the U.S. and the world reached a level of wealth never seen before.  It may be the dawn of a new era for a new American economy built on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Ask yourself which side you want to be on for this revolution in the American economy.  Are you going to be sitting on the sidelines as the world changes?  Or you going to jump in and help drive us towards the dawn of a new era built on entrepreneurship and innovation?