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Victor Hwang, CEO and founder of Right to Start, visited Seattle on Thursday for an event at Create33. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)
Victor Hwang has been a founder, an investor, and a champion of people who start companies. His grandfather ran a small retail store in Taiwan, and his parents started a business to help put their kids through college. He knows about the power of entrepreneurship.
“It shapes and lifts up the lives of ordinary people everywhere,” he told GeekWire during his visit to Seattle on Thursday. “At the same time, it’s kind of forgotten in the American narrative. It doesn’t get talked about, doesn’t get elevated.”
Hwang is the CEO of Right to Start, a national nonprofit founded in 2020 that aims to expand entrepreneurial opportunity for Americans.
The Harvard grad and former Kauffman Foundation exec recently embarked on a cross-country road trip that will end in Washington D.C., where he’ll pitch lawmakers about how the U.S. government should help break down barriers to entrepreneurship.
“We believe that entrepreneurial opportunity is a basic fundamental right. Everyone deserves equal access to be able to start and grow a business to build their own version of the American dream,” said Hwang, who co-founded a water filtration startup and was president of Larta Institute. “At the same time, we feel like entrepreneurship gets ignored in civic life.”
In Hwang’s view, entrepreneurship is critical for job growth, inequality, wealth creation, and helping the U.S. maintain its competitive edge in the world.
But while technology has made it easier than ever to start a business, he believes the safety nets to protect entrepreneurs as they pursue their own ventures are still lacking.
“If you look at what affects entrepreneurs, it’s everything from the tax system, regulatory hurdles, capital access, healthcare access, access to government contracts, workforce training, education, childcare — you name it,” Hwang said.
There are government programs focused on small business and entrepreneurship, but they aren’t consistent and often only offer help on a periodic basis, Hwang said.
Right to Start wants cities, states, and national agencies to create offices dedicated to helping entrepreneurs.
Since launching four years ago, Right to Start has engaged with all 50 U.S. states, and two recently enacted Right to Start legislation. Missouri’s Right to Start Act, which takes effect later this month, creates an Office of Entrepreneurship to support companies with less than 10 employees, among other directives.
Nevada passed similar legislation last year. Hwang said there is bipartisan support for Right to Act’s initiatives.
