By Andrew Yang Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrep

by Andrew Yang

Smart People Should Build Things by Andrew Yang has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Politics, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Education, Technology

Unknown Binding

First published February 4, 2014

About the author

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, non-profit leader, and former 2020 presidential candidate.

After working as a lawyer and executive at several early-stage technology companies, Andrew eventually became CEO of an education company that became #1 in the country. He then started a national entrepreneurship non-profit, Venture for America, which worked to empower thousands of young entrepreneurs to bring their dynamism to communities across the country, from New Orleans and Baltimore to Denver and Detroit.

Andrew was named a Presidential Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the White House under the Obama administration and a Champion of Change for his work with Venture for America. Initially dubbed a "longer than long shot" candidate by the New York Times in 2018, Andrew became a top-tier contender for the presidency, raising nearly $40 million in grassroots funding.

With a vision to rewrite the rules of the United States economy through a “Freedom Dividend” of $1,000 a month for every American adult, Andrew became one of the most exciting stories in the 2020 race. Andrew's nationwide support, known as the “Yang Gang,” propelled him to seven Democratic primary debates, outlasting six senators, four governors, three members of congress, two mayors, and one secretary.

Following this unexpected run for president, Andrew formed the non-profit Humanity Forward, successfully lobbying Congress for direct cash relief for struggling American families during the pandemic while simultaneously distributing over $8 million directly to struggling families.

From his presidential and New York mayoral runs, Andrew has seen first-hand what’s preventing our country from getting things done, and he is now directing his energies towards fixing the machinery of our stagnant democracy. With FORWARD: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, Andrew lays out the case for a variety of democracy reform measures that can unclog the pipes of our system and realign the incentives of legislators with the wellbeing of the American people.
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Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had ordered this along with Yang's newer book, The War On Normal People. This one is from 2004 and is more about Yang's life in business and how he created the Venture For America program.

This book is naturally heavy on economics, and since he goes over a lot of the same points in his newest title, I tended to skim quite a bit.

This was interesting to a degree, but it is really geared more for the university student who might be looking for a meaningful way to make a gazillion dollars and do something good with their life at the same time.

However, I can't help but think that Yang is leaving out all those young people who cannot get to university but who have the same types of desires: to do something decent and useful in the world and make money doing it. Don't they deserve the benefits of such a program too? There are plenty of 'smart people' around; I don't think Yang should be as elitist as he ultimately seems to be here, and I got a bit tired of him towards the end.

The basic idea is marvelous: train young people and help them start out in their own business, help them take a chance at success and become who they are meant to be. But I think everyone deserves that chance, not just a few who have advantages already.

[Trey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic message: high-achievers don't have to go to grad school and proceed to work as investment bankers. They can, and "should," take a risk and build a business instead.

The paradigm shift Andrew Yang seeks is a good one. College students are presented with too few options, and have been told to get the best grades in order to find the highest salary. Furthermore, they have been told that this is a secure path, and security and high compensation are the only things that really matter.

I appreciate all of that.

Downsides:

1) Apparently only "smart people," defined as students who go to Ivy League schools, are smart enough to do this. This is evidenced by the title of his book, as well as the focus of his recruiting for his non-profit, Venture for America. Smart people who weren't admitted to Ivy League schools need not apply.

2) This is a typical self-promotional book in that there's plenty of cheese throughout, explaining why Andrew Yang is someone you should respect and listen to. Not entirely overblown but present sufficiently to be tedious.

[James La Vela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be mandatory reading for all college freshman - and graduates. We need more builders!

[Payne Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yang gives a clear and simple thesis that every college student/ recent graduate should hear and consider. He argues that the current education system almost directly guides ambitious college graduates into professional services jobs (investment banking, management consulting, law), and that much of the work in these professions ends up being zero-sum and net neutral (if not net negative) to the overall well-being of the economy. His proposal is that if top college graduates are incentivized and directed towards startups, growth companies, and community-oriented organizations, there would be tremendous value creation in the economy and local communities. If even 20% of the pool of top graduates who go into professional services chasing a big check were to take a risk on a well intentioned growth company, job creation, economic growth, etc., would skyrocket.

As someone who is pretty allured by the professional services route, Yang’s ideas were refreshing and inspiring. I strongly recommend giving this one a read :)

[Vineet]

introduction: great (the entire book is an introduction); methods: vague; surprising; can’t be replicated by others (like me) since senators and tech heroes won’t lend their time; results: missing empirical results; even the selective anecdotal evidence is cringe; discussion: key ideas could be improved upon with more humility, slow boil, and grounding in the real world over school smarts

Difficult to trust this guy

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yang, by the time he was 30, had successively obtained an Ivy League law degree, worked as a high-end corporate attorney, launched a failing-dot.com enterprise, Stargiving, and then started an educational testing company that went big time—Manhattan GMAT—that made him a millionaire. Along the way, he got to party with NBA stars, and even appeared on Oprah before Stargiving failed, basically, because too few people visited its website—an eventuality that Yang hadn't foreseen, even after he had spent hundreds of thousands of his backers' money. More recently, he has gone on to launch Venture for America, an organization for college grads looking for more than just a 'traditional' career path into upwardly-mobile job security. His issue is that too many Ivy League grads take the path that he first did immediately after graduating, to join investment companies, and too few do the hard work of inventing the products and services that will truly drive the 21st-century economy.

He challenges graduates to take a 'less-secure' route than up the tried and true corporate ladder, and instead, to try venture capitalism—launching new companies, and especially, in economically challenged cities of the country, including Detroit and Philadelphia.

My objection is that his advice to grads isn’t ‘practical’ for most of them in any meaningful sense. A quick visit to the Venture for America website shows what an exclusive program it is: of their thousands of applications, they award only 150 or so fellowships each year—hardly enough, I would doubt, to churn out enough entrepreneurs (even if some of them become enormously successful)—to steer the economy as a whole. Not enough, in any case, to reinvent the post-industrial American economic landscape. My aging, cynical self, notes that Venture for America, as a startup founded by Mr. Yang, is conveniently placed at the top of a pyramid of all kinds of other startups. In this sense, at least, he pretty much goes with the status quo in American entrepreneurship.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought provoking read regarding the need for entrepreneurship amongst America's college graduates. Told by the former head of Manhattan GMAT and founder of Venture for America, Andrew Yang makes a compelling argument of how America's talented youth need to be creators in this society. Yang states that an increasing number of graduates go on to law school, banking, or consulting, particularly in one of 5 major metro areas, creating a void in startups and long-term job creation throughout the US. Recommended reading for any college grads considering going against the status quo and considering joining a startup.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to get an insight on Yang the candidate, came away with really valuable perspective on career path, the definition of success on a national level, and what our economy needs. This book was published the year I graduated college - I only wish I had heard of it and read it at the time. Now as a twenty-something with "quarter life crisis," I find a lot of food for thought here and a new way to look at the career choices I'm making.

[Dara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is years old but feels very relevant to my family today with several college bound children! Whatever path they take, we can benefit from his ideas. He’s a great thinker. I love how he lays out different options and pathways. And whether you agree with them or not, he provides actual solutions! I don’t see that often. I don’t think his ideas are the only answer but he gives alternatives and exciting options to (young) people, especially those just attending college, graduating or starting out, that aren’t generally as visible as what the big companies/employers allow you to see. He makes such good points of how the lure of money, status, and most importantly security often lead to careers that are stagnant and unfulfilling for some. But at that point you’re stuck. It’s an easy path for most academic circles who were used to following the rules of studying, getting good grades, doing the appropriate number of extracurriculars, aceing standardized tests, and applying to the next step. So when recruiters come from big companies with good offers, it’s what students are used to. And they feel obligated to not “waste” their tuition on an unknown or more risky venture. Even if it might leave them ultimately more fulfilled. And then there’s also those that don’t really fit that mold, yet they try so hard because it’s “expected” if you’re considered smart. What do these kids do? Yep options... really interesting read.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a non-ivy dumb dumb, parts of this book were pretty hard to relate to. I’d love to see a follow up of some sort on how “normal people” can make a difference through startups as well.

That said, I totally agree that funneling our best and brightest into the same 5 cities in the same 5 professions is counterproductive and unsustainable.

The War on Normal People was a more enjoyable read for me, but, as always, Yang presents his points well and it’s a pretty fun read! I feel like I learned a lot.

[Dave Applegate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thought provoking read I strongly agree with. Our brightest post-college minds are focusing too much on highly lucrative, predictable and minimal value creation jobs instead of working for start-ups. I felt Yang focused to heavily on the Venture for America cause with the likely intention of getting potential press, donations and recruits, instead of giving already start-up minded individuals actionable insights or thought provoking concepts.

[brubs · Rating 1 out of 5]

smart people *should* build things. andrew yang is not smart people.

[Meghana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of graduates from Ivy League and other top-tier schools do one of six things after graduation: law school, medical school, graduate school, finance, consulting, or Teach for America. Most of these careers don't do very much for society. For every lawyer focused on human rights advocacy, there are half a dozen more helping companies avoid their legal obligations. I have issues with Teach for America's operation model. And I really don't understand why so many young people want to help multinational companies make even more money.

Yang doesn't think they do. He thinks all of these young people have been following a path of achievement from a very young age, and they continue to chase these careers because it's safe, easy, and prestigious. But as Yang points out, most brilliant careers don't follow a linear path. So his nonprofit, Venture for America (VFA), helps connect these people to startups in Cincinnati, Detroit, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Providence, Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Miami, San Antonio, St. Louis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Denver, and Pittsburgh. Through VFA and its promotion of entrepreneurship, Yang hoped to create 100,000 jobs by 2025.

As much as Yang rails against prestige (he mentions multiple times he gave up a career as a high-paying lawyer to pursue entrepreneurship), his book reeks of elitism. There's an appendix with profiles of the inaugural VFA fellows, and nearly all of them are graduates from top-tier colleges who would probably otherwise pursue one of the careers mentioned above. But what about other students? Maybe a state school graduate who founded a small catering business. Maybe someone without a college degree, but who has extensive experience in business operations. Maybe even instead of taking a Harvard graduate and placing them in San Antonio, help a UTSA graduate improve his or her own city.

And no matter how admirable the mission, VFA isn't working. Less than 4,000 jobs have been created, and it might not even be anywhere near that number. There's a great article about it here: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/6/13/...

As for the book itself, Yang's enthusiasm helps the book shine, but it's ultimately bogged down by repeating the same information over and over. It really should have been a much shorter book, maybe even a long article. Finally, Yang has an annoying habit of adding footnotes with the most irrelevant information. Did you know that someone who donated to VFA owned a house that appeared in a movie? I bet you didn't care.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will oversimplify matters by focusing on people like Shilpi who get identified as “smart” or “talented” via our national educational system. It’s clear that there are different forms of intelligence (analytical, creative, linguistic, artistic, interpersonal, athletic/kinesthetic, and so on), and that not all brilliant and talented people go to college or even graduate from high school.

By “building things,” we mean forming and helping companies and organizations that are innovating and creating value. People and companies around the country are solving real problems right now.

Rating: 5/5

We’ve got a problem: our smart people are doing the wrong things. If we can get them to do the right things, it will transform the country.

I believe there’s a basic solution to our country’s economic and social problems. We need to get our smart people building things (again). They’re not really doing it right now. They’d like to. But they’re being led down certain paths during and after college and told not to worry, they can figure it out later.

If you graduate from a national university, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to become a banker, lawyer, consultant, or doctor, and the odds are high that you’re going to pursue one of these professions in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Washington, DC, regardless of where you originally grew up.
Why is that?
It’s because achievers want to achieve, and that’s what achievement now looks like.

...professional services socialize individuals in ways that are not conducive to their ability to contribute in other ways. All of us, and particularly young people, have a tendency to view ourselves and our natures as static: you’ll choose to do something for a few years, and you’ll still be the same you. This isn’t the case. Spending your twenties traveling four days a week, interviewing employees, and writing detailed reports on how to cut costs will change you, as will spending years editing contracts and arguing about events that will never come to pass, or years producing Excel spreadsheets and moving deals along. After a while, regardless of your initial motivations, your lifestyle and personality will change to fit your role. You will become a better dispenser of well-presented recommendations, or editor of contracts, or generator of financial projections. And you will in all likelihood become less good at other things. You will not be the same person you were when you started.

Sure, there are self-parodying, economically delusional, psychotherapy-needing, despicable people on Wall Street . . . but there are also a lot of people who went there because it was easy and stayed because they decided they couldn’t afford not to and talked themselves into it.

Their problem isn’t just theirs—it affects all of us. We’re breeding large battalions of indifferent professionals in a handful of cities when what we need is something very different. We need committed builders.

A successful startup or growth company will begin channeling talent, money, know-how, resources, and culture into its environment. People who have done it will do it again.

Entrepreneurship is about creativity. Entrepreneurs can move mountains individually. Entrepreneurs are born different.
None of these is correct.
There is a common and persistent belief out there that entrepreneurship is about creativity, that it’s about having a great idea. But it’s not, really. Entrepreneurship isn’t about creativity. It’s about organization building—which, in turn, is about people.

People focus way too much on the inspiration, but, like conception, having a good idea isn’t much of an accomplishment. You need the action and follow-through, which involves the right people, know-how, money, resources, and years of hard work.

So, yes, the bar is high when you want to start a company. You’ll have the chance to work on something you own and care about from day to day. You’ll be 100 percent engaged and motivated, and doing something you believe in. You can lead an integrated life, as opposed to a compartmentalized one in which you play a role in an office and then try to forget about it when you get home. You can define an organization, not the other way around.

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

When building a team, a common saying in the startup world is, “Slow to hire, fast to fire.” Good organizations work very hard at recruiting and retaining the right people for every task—for production, sales and marketing, operations, customer service, finance, administration, and so on. Getting high-caliber people in place can mean the difference between a company failing or going on to hire thousands of employees. To paraphrase Margaret Mead, don’t doubt what a small group of smart, committed people can accomplish—because that’s the way everything starts.

Leadership matters. We have to show our young people what is possible and support their training and development in those directions. Why would we make it so easy to become what we don’t need while making it so hard to become that which we need most? We have to make it as easy and obvious to be an entrepreneur or team member at an early-stage growth company as it presently is to become a lawyer, banker, doctor, or consultant. We should invest in giving rise to a set of builders who will address the needs of our age.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, wisely responded, “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

[Alex Devero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great title and maybe be very good intention. However, the book could do a much better job providing some hands-on advice, guidance or lessons learned on entrepreneurship. It is more like a pledge to get people into building things, than a manual on how to actually do it. There is a lot of talk, some lessons learned and a lot of "nice" ideas on what builders can do.

This book might be a good read for people interested in entrepreneurship, who has nothing else to do and no better books to read. Otherwise, I would NOT recommend it. You will not learn much from it. There are dozens of books that will teach you much more about how to build a startup and/or become an entrepreneur. For example, Hard Things about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz and Zero to One by Peter Thiel will by much better choices.

Conclusion? Highly overrated and not recommended.

[Robert Bowlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It accomplishes it’s goal, but really could have been condensed to an excellent essay. Once you’ve gone through the first few chapters you’ve read the meat of it. A few interesting points in the appendix as well.

[Stuart Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Good read. Andrew Yang is very astute in his understanding of entrepreneurship's role in economic growth and the steps we can take to champion said growth. Lots to take in. Can he just be our president now?

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a well-researched rallying call to reverse the downward-trending career impact of millions of Americans.

I perform career coaching for over 500 successful young professionals in New York City every year (who excel at impressive firms such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, McKinsey & Co, Deloitte, and Google). And so very many of these high performers state that they are unhappy with their "prestigious" jobs, express the desperation to create something of their own and make a difference, but confess hopelessness around where to start.

This book details how author Andrew Yang and his non-profit Venture For America are actualizing a bold and broad-spectrum solution: a entrepreneurial career ecosystem that ensures our nation's best and brightest are working towards keeping America the vanguard of innovation. The book showcases dozens of real-world examples of college grads who have "taken the road less traveled by" and are transformed as a result.

The book also details how Yang and his non-profit are partnering with private enterprise to restore to greatness America's "transitioning" cities of Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Providence, Cleveland, Philadelphia, downtown Las Vegas, and more.

Lastly, the book provides a well-documented summary of all of the major private, corporate, academic and government supporters who are tag-teaming this effort with Yang around the country -- it's such an impressive coterie of powerful players that it tempts and invites readers to consider Yang's vision jump onto the Venture For America rocket ship.

A captivating read.

[Swarnabh Sinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book that deals with the over glorification of selected few career paths at finance, consulting or law firms.
It discusses the important aspect as to how grads/young minds need an institution(like Venture for America) that will take them down the path of entrepreneurship .
It further shows that with the best minds rushing towards investment banking, consulting (which at the end of the day are ‘helping industries’ ) settling in already good-going metro cities leaves the country gasping for talent in other industries and cities which are waiting to be built or overhauled.

It is the idea that deserves the stars, as for the writing I wish he could have cut down on the self promotion which usually many American authors are guilty of.
Overall a really good read.

[Maggie Sun · Rating 3 out of 5]

The message points in the right direction but I found the narration somewhat condescending. The book also seems to focus exclusively on success scenarios while ignoring the possibility of failure, and the fact that VFA might not be the right fit for everyone.

[Simon Gravel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree completely with the premise, but this book contains more self-promotion than new ideas - half the book is 4 stars, the rest is filling material.

[Siah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe in Yang and am still voting for him but this book was uni-dimensional and tiring. The title is pretty much the conclusion.

[Chris Branch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Yang didn't run for president because he wanted a position of power - he ran because he truly wants to make the world a better place. This book from 2014 presents more evidence of that, as well as for the fact that he's an intelligent, rational, and understanding person - and he's also a pretty good writer.

While he was campaigning, we heard a lot from Yang about his broad, sweeping proposals for the improvement of society, starting, of course, with his top priority, UBI. For anyone not familiar with Yang and his ideas, I would highly recommend his later book, The War on Normal People to see his updated thinking and impressive vision for the country and the world.

This book, on the other hand, targets a narrower issue: that of the highest performing college students being funneled into high paying jobs after graduation that don't contribute meaningfully to society. It seems to me that he's right on target with his criticism of the system - his (always data-backed) eloquence in describing the current situation and the issues with it is absolutely convincing. Yang's solution for the problem was Venture For America, his non-profit organization designed to appeal to that fraction of those elite grads who long to do something more meaningful with their lives. Yang comes across as a like-minded person, and describes himself the same way: he's ultra-ambitious, which perhaps makes sense given his presidential run, and he's all-in on the entrepreneurial mindset of building high-performing teams, reducing inefficiency, and finding marketable solutions to complex problems. We owe it to ourselves as a society to give people like this the opportunity and the incentive to contribute in the best way they can, since we all stand to benefit from the results.

As far as it goes, this is exactly the right approach. But the focus on a decidedly minor slice of US society strikes me as aiming lower than I'd expect from him, and in fact Yang also repeated many times on the campaign trail his realization that his plan amounted to "pouring water into a bathtub that has a giant hole ripped in the bottom." Yang's presidential platform, of course, went far beyond this approach, out of necessity - addressing the looming issue of automation will require a much larger scale operation than this. He also correctly recognized that non-profit organizations and commercial businesses will not be enough - it will take significant participation and coordination from the highest levels of government.

The ideas behind Venture For America are absolutely still valuable, and it's fascinating and inspiring to read about the process that let Yang to that point. If even a few of the brilliant young people who were attracted away from the financial sector end up in a career that produces world-changing technology, then the effort was justified. So I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in this problem and the potential solutions, as well as to anyone who is, or who knows one of these ambitious and idealistic young people looking for ways to make meaningful contributions to society.

[Rebecca Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I agreed with and appreciated the premise: if talented young people went to work for "value-creating" startups, rather than the "rent-seeking" professional services industry (specifically finance, consulting, and law), we'd have a much more robust and productive economy. Every year top investment banks, consulting companies, and law firms descend on top schools and provide offers that are difficult to refuse for promising students who might otherwise go on to start businesses or help existing startups grow. The way we define "success" as a society often involves getting into a top medical, law, or business school and then landing jobs at top firms or banks, further siphoning away talent from other fields.

Challenges I had with the book:
1. While I do find myself wondering what the economy might look like if the collective brainpower of the management consulting industry was spent "building" things rather than providing consulting services, I do think it is a stretch to dismiss it outright. There are skills to be gained from working in a field such as finance or consulting, and these fields provide structure and a clear path that many young people seek upon leaving the education system for the very first time. Perhaps these "safe" environments are not reflective of the "real" world, but expecting that a majority of recent graduates will be ready and willing to openly embrace a world lacking in any structure and with immense risk that is the startup world (especially if they are saddled with high student debt) is a bit of a stretch. There is nothing wrong with encouraging students to pursue dreams and be an entrepreneur if they have the drive and ambition, but I don't think we should criticize young people who are seeking a more structured, lower risk environment.
2. There were a couple moments in the book that made me cringe from a gender/equity perspective... at one part, he mentions how he was able to find a space for an event hosted by his organization at the last minute in an unfinished apartment building, and joking writes that it worked apart from the fact that none of the bathrooms had toilet seats - that must have been uncomfortable and discouraging for women or anyone handicapped attending.
3. At a certain point, the book skewed toward less of a discussion of rebuilding the US economy and workforce and more of a memoir / plug for the author's nonprofit (focused on mobilizing talented recent grads to work for startups). I can see that this book is a great platform to generate awareness for the cause, but it made me feel like I was reading a pitch deck after a while.

I'd be curious what a 2021 version of this book might look like, now that major tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, and so on are capturing a growing share of top talent each year.

[Lindsay Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very insightful read, whether you want Yang to win the Democratic Nomination or not, it would be beneficial for other candidates to read this to get some solid ideas regarding a large part of the population in the United States.
I think this should be an assigned book for every incoming college freshmen because of two things: this book will help young people realize there are countless ways to make money, no matter their major, and it will be the first time they are told the truth about certain job prospects. Did you know that universities are producing more lawyers, doctors, and Wall Street Ready accountants and traders than are retiring or quitting the profession every year? So going into one of these 'job ready' majors doesn't promise you a job?
Yang isn't someone that thinks college is not necessary, in fact he is a product of it, a businessman, lawyer, and proud Brown alum, he thinks college is great--but he is young enough to remember that the only reason he chose his major was because everyone else was choosing the same one. He has some great ideas, that I believe no matter who is president, should strongly consider, his first idea is to copy Israel with kids when they graduate high school. Make it mandatory to 'serve' the country for two years, this doesn't mean military service, it could be teaching, Peace Corps, working at a Post Office, or other government or civil service jobs. The reason for this two year gap is to give young people the chance to understand the real world of business, jobs, and job security before choosing their career. Yang makes a great point that when people graduate from college they are going into a completely foreign environment, they've spent the last 17 years in a school atmosphere and now they are thrown into a world of business, dress codes, salaries, benefits, hourly rates, and bills.
His other good idea is to start encouraging job creators, instead of job fillers. This means instead of only looking at doctors and lawyers as the 'best jobs' start helping students be creators, whether in Start-Ups or in their own businesses. His point with this is that becoming a lawyer fills one job, opening your own business, or helping run a new business could provide dozens of jobs to regions of the country that greatly need them.

[Neeraj Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Yang discusses entrepreneurship at a high level - why does it mean to the nation and also discusses it at a low level - what does it mean to the individual. It offers valuable insights in to the subject. What does it mean if smartest people are not building business? "Best minds are not working on the toughest problems of our time" - this is the quote from the book which i liked the most.
In this book, he discusses current American job market. He wishes America gets back to the culture of building things again. America which once created large business are now focused on finance, consulting and law. He argues these, and especially the established firms, do not necessarily create value, have a assured revenue model. But these are attracting the top most talent in the country while the startups struggle to find worthy people. And we have a problem.
Andrew discusses in detail what it means to work at a large corporate and what can it mean to work at a small startup building things. He offers various anecdotes from his own life and from people around him. This is a good learning from this book. It makes us think about our own experience in professional life and challenges its meaning. Whatever maybe the answer, you come out with a better perspective of your own work after reading this.
His own experience at Manhattan Prep is discussed which is interesting. His initiative Venture For America is also discussed in detail. He tells about experience of various people in detail. At some point, you may feel that you are reading about too many people and too little about the ideas you wanted to read about.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship and want to know some of the stories of struggle, this is a worthy read. Entrepreneurship is a very vast and difficult subject with many dimensions. Here we get know, few things about it. But if you have already read few books about the subject or know good deal about it, you may find this one trivial. For anyone who is starting on the subject, it is a good read.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Yang narrates his own experiences of being part of the academic elite and becoming a lawyer for 5 months before leaving to start a business.

He explains how graduates of top tier US universities tend to follow the same paths after graduation- finance, consulting, medicine, law, and grad school. These countries’ top minds tend to flock to 5 cities- New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, and maybe Chicago. Using data, Yang outlines that in recent years fewer businesses are being created, and much of the wealth is now generated through financial analyses. Young people from such elite institutions are saddled with college debt and are faced with the financial and peer pressures to pursue a stable, well-paying, and prestigious career.

But what if there was an alternative path? What if entrepreneurially-minded individuals were able to create a business and effect a positive change within their local communities? Instead of having the brightest, young minds being funneled into a number of soul-sucking so-called prestigious companies, one could start her own business that generates something of value.

This is the premise that Yang’s organization, Venture for America, was built upon. VFA selects high-achieving college grads and places them in 2nd tier cities for 2 years, testing out and building their business. VFA fellows are given seed money, mentor ship, and a network to help build their business.
They are able to learn, develop, and utilize skills that would not have been possible at a large established company.

Overall, I enjoyed this book as it gave me some insight on what types of jobs and career opportunities are out there. The writing is detailed and substantive. But there was a bit of an elitist undertone to the whole book. The “smart people” are narrowly defined as those who graduate from top tier universities. I’m sure this is just a reflection of the author’s own experiences and the lives of those who occupy his hyper competitive circle. There are many smart and hardworking people that were not afforded the opportunities to attend top-tier colleges and gain access to the people and lifestyles associated with the elite.

[David Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in this book because it speaks to the big questions on my mind as a college senior. No, not questions like “How do I make my grad school application stand out” or “What’s the link to the Leetcode cheat sheet again?” Rather, questions like “Why are professional services like consulting, banking and law so highly sought even after people complain that they’re life-sucking and parasitic?” and “Americans get into an elite college with an outstanding reputation to free up more paths for career and life- why do the options my friends consider worthy feel narrower than ever?” And lately, “maybe I want to re-examine my ideas of what a useful next summer looks like?”

To this end, I think the book’s first part delivers a stunning argument about “the persistent inefficiencies in human capital markets”, which is fancyspeak for “why the jobs that people ought to vie for aren’t what they vie for, and why they’re vying for what they oughtn’t” (speaking normatively of course, but I’ll get to that.) Even though he kind of skirts around the medical profession, which is a bit of a fuzzy counterexample to his point because the world really does need doctors, I really appreciated his examination of law school and everything “wrong” (more like unexamined) with the different parts of the process, from priming to preparation to actual careering.

So on board was I with his ideas for a second when it all kind of came crashing down … the second and third parts of the book were basically autobiographical and a straight shill for his nonprofit Venture For America. The last part was all about how VFA is making Detroit great again and several policy recommendations for encouraging startups as a panacea for jobs and the American economy. (No doubt Yang would have put all these in place had he been elected to office.) Some of those suggestions raise more questions, too. How would Yang respond to concerns about gentrification and inequality? Why does his ideal approach to startup recruitment sound so much like the admissions processes of colleges/law schools that he derides?

I’m intrigued, and I wish I read this earlier, but it surely wasn’t all a smooth sailing read.

[Matt C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yang makes the case that the students of today are trained to “get the grade or ace an application,” but little else. Modern companies are focused more on offering services than building things; they misguide new graduates with golden handcuffs (lots of money). This leads to the breeding of indifferent professionals, those who are taught that perpetual advancement is far superior to risk taking. Beware! Your lifestyle and personality will change to fit your role.

Here is a list of steps that Yang encourages young entrepreneurs to follow in the creation of new businesses:

Phase 1:
1: Research your idea (figure out your market, talk to prospective customers about what they would like, see who your competitors are)
2: Undertake legal incorporation and trademark protection
3: Claim a web URL and build a website, get company email accounts
4: Get a bank account and credit card
5: Initiate a Facebook page, a blog, and a twitter account
6: Develop branding (logo design, business cards, etc)
7: Talk it up to your network (interested parties as cofounders, staff, investors, and advisors)
8: Build financial projections and draft a business plan
9: Engage in personal financial planning (cut back on expenses and budget for startup costs)
10: Create a mock prototype and presentation for potential investors or customers

Phase 2:
1: Raise money
2: Develop the product
3: Build a team

Yang argues that “entrepreneurship is less about creativity and intellect, and more about will, determination, and the willingness to take on a multitude of micro-issues in service of the big goal.” Learning and recovery are paramount to positive transformation! We are forged through experience! We need more intelligent risk-takers and value creators to rebuild our economy and restore our culture. There are hundreds of budding companies and thousands of young people who want to help develop them; we must build a bridge to connect these two groups!

*I thought that the inclusion of several testimonials from those who were a part of Venture for America was a little too “in your face,” which is why I took a star away.*

[Nithin Vejendla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yang's successfully diagnoses what's wrong with the way we allocate human capital from top universities in this country ("smart people"). Because of their impressively large recruitment budgets, relative stability, and prestige, the finance and consulting industry are able to capture a sizable share of elite university graduates (more than 60% of Harvard's graduating class, for example).

He rightly diagnoses the fact that our economy would be better if those graduates joined startups and growth companies that are focused on value creation, rather than professional service companies focused on rent seeking. He takes cues from the success of Teach for America, and forms Venture for America to route some of those graduates into startups in emerging ecosystems. VFA provides the network, prestige, training and apprenticeship needed to convince these graduates to forgo Wall Street, while training them to be the next generation of American entrepreneurs.

My rating is because Yang implicitly assumes the reason that these cities - including Detroit, New Orleans, Providence - are struggling is because of a lack of dynamic companies. He thinks that training more entrepreneurs (many of whom aren't from the community) is the way to revitalize a city like Detroit. There's almost no mention of the systemic issues plaguing these cities (redlining, deindustrialization, globalization, gutting of social services). The failure to understand the root cause of economic decline in some of these cities leads me to question the validity of the solution he proposes.

That's not to say VFA or its fellows can't be a source for positive change in the communities they join. Many VFA Fellows have gotten involved in their community in various ways, improving them for the better. VFA's new CEO, Amy Nelson, has moved the organization away from its "conservative peace corps" roots, and towards an organization that understands the holistic and inclusive nature of equitable economic revitalization. That's a good step, but I wish Yang had articulated that vision from the beginning.