I can’t recall when I first met George Gilder.  The years and meetings blend together after a while.  But, whether it was when we first made the Inc. 500 (the first two years of the program’s existence) or at one of the first Arthur Young’s Entrepreneur Conferences, it makes no real difference.  It’s been some 35 years, at least.

And, while his politics and mine are vastly different, I have generally enjoyed his discussions that avoided his conservative political bent. We both do agree that business needs to offer something new and different or something much better than already exists to succeed in the marketplace.  It’s why it has been our firms’ goal to aim for the former, but we have helped many of our clients who want the latter’s easier path.

And, George’s new book, “Knowledge and Power” highlights those who have developed scientific and technological marvels, which he considers more important than some entrepreneurs’ efforts.  Those sort of folks have always been my heroes- and I hope some folks consider my exploits among those worth emulating.  George also believes that unfettered knowledge is the key to success.  That is the another major point of agreement we have- we believe that technological advances are critical to the growth of our economy.

And, like my friend and erstwhile mentor, Arthur Lipper, George recognizes that the financial power of the marketplace can best be exploited when it is combined with the knowledge of new developments that occur in a variety of companies- mostly those at the forefront of their respective fields.  And, despite what many of us feared, startups are still responsible for most job creation- at least up through the Great Recession (2009).  (That’s as far as the data exists- it probably is still true, too.)

But, George Gilder also believes that our government creates burdensome regulations and blocks new businesses from success.  I, on the other hand, believe it’s the existing big businesses that impose the impediments, find ways to subvert the government’s stated intent to foster small business (by claiming they too are small business or use them as fronts to obtain the special advantages).  And, since these startups are the engine of job growth, we need to insure their vitality.

I suspect that many of us who have a scientific and/or technical background can discern some new facts from George’s book. Unfortunately, because he asumes on a fair amount of technological knowhow among his readers, others may not glean its value.

Caveat emptor.

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