The outsiders
THIS YEAR’S ELECTION is going to be, at least in part, a referendum on America’s openness to immigrants. Are the people who come from other countries a drag on the economy—because they consume resources and steal American jobs— or are they a net gain? While we never set out to take a side on that question with this issue of Inc., the stories you’ll find here do suggest an answer.
It all starts with our cover subject, Robert Herjavec, co-star of Shark Tank and co-founder of cybersecurity company Herjavec Group. Immigrating to Canada from Croatia at age 8, he says, shaped him both as a person and as an entrepreneur. “When you don’t speak the language or have any money, kids make fun of you,” he explains to Inc.’ s Liz Welch, kicking off this year’s How I Did It report (see page 37). “I would say to my mom, ‘Nobody’s nice to me, and all these kids have better lives than me.’ My mom would reply, ‘Nobody in this world is better than you, but you are no better than anyone else.’ That inspired me to get out there and kick some butt and make something of myself.” The Torontobased Herjavec Group employs 250 people (many in the U.S.), and Robert, via Shark Tank, has active investments in 16 American companies and more on the way. Sounds like a net gain to us.
Herjavec isn’t the only entrepreneur whose story caught our attention for How I Did It and who happened to be born elsewhere. Of the 15 entrepreneurs featured in our package, five are from outside the United States, counting Herjavec. The others are Milk’s Mazdack Rassi, FanDuel’s Nigel Eccles, NYX’s Toni Ko, and Crunchyroll’s Kun Gao. (And the two founders who are the focus of another fascinating feature this month, “The Mind Readers” by Tom Foster—see page 76—also show outside influence: Rana June’s parents came from Iran, and Rana el Kaliouby emigrated from Egypt.)
Actually, a wealth of foreign-born founders in a publication devoted to entrepreneurs shouldn’t be all that surprising, given the well-known tendency for immigrants to start companies at a much higher rate than native-born Americans. Luckily for us, people with the guts, focus, and grit to be entrepreneurs still want to come to America to take their shot. As Herjavec puts it, “Whenever I go outside of America, people equate this country with opportunity. It’s not just the American dream—it’s everyone’s dream.” We didn’t plan to stake out a position on immigration, but surely after reading about the entrepreneurs in this issue who’ve adopted this country as their home, you at least have to ask: Will walling such people out really make America great?