“…none of Hackworth’s ideas had ever developed into companies. He lacked an ingredient somewhere, and as he now realized, that ingredient was subversiveness.” – Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

I have been thinking about this for a long time: what separates those who start companies and those who don’t. Maybe this explanation is too simple but it does seem to separate me from my mom, for instance, who I could never imagine having the guts to go out on her own.

To subvert, according to Reference.com: to overthrow (something established or existing). It tends to have government connotations and we have been trained here in the US that subversive activities are bad (i.e., cold war, CIA, etc.).

But this desire to overthrow the status quo, to see how the status quo has failed us, and to attempt to figure out how to do things differently, is a constant theme across almost every entrepreneur I have ever met.

Plus… I kind of like the bad boy image.