Why the future of entrepreneurship is small

The opinions expressed by entrepreneurs contributors are their own.

In his book, Zero to One, iconic investor Peter Thiel said "competition is for losers". Thiel said, "If you want to create and capture lasting value, create a ."

Given the choice, every entrepreneur should drool at the thought of building an ultra-profitable monopoly with no real competitors. But is that a realistic goal for most? And should those who fall short consider this a failure and give up on their ambitions?

Competition is less advertised than incumbents and market monopolies, but it is often resilient and innovative. They also enable millions of founders to achieve financial independence and make meaningful contributions to their communities. In fact, "small" may be the future of entrepreneurship. Here's why.

Related: How Agility and Resilience Helps Small and Medium Businesses Succeed

1. The quest for autonomy

Entrepreneurs are not created in the labs of Silicon Valley incubators. They are partly born. Many factors help predict what psychologists call "entrepreneurial intention". For example, some people are naturally more diligent and more comfortable taking risks than others.

But the most important thing is a strong need for autonomy. Natural entrepreneurs have a vision and need to pursue it in their own way. Running on someone else's vision is not enough. In several surveys asking people why they decide to start their own, "being my own boss" usually comes out on top.

Very few will ever have a real chance of creating a monopoly. Building a really big business is extremely rare, but that doesn't mean they've "lost". For nature-born founders, the first big win isn't even in the marketplace: it's autonomy itself.

Owning a successful and competitive small business is a more realistic and achievable route to this goal than embarking on the creation of a monopoly. The "successful" part, of course, can be tricky. But small businesses are remarkably resilient.

2. The amazing resilience of the little ones

Individually, small companies are less impressive than large monopoly-type companies. Taken together, they are a strength. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses account for more than 60% of new jobs created in the United States and produce about half of American economic output.

Even though many of them end up failing, the overall trend is positive. Economist Dr. Scott Shane has found that since 1977, the failure rate for small businesses has fallen by more than 25%. Leveraging their agility over large enterprises requires constant innovation, which many small businesses are embracing and excelling at.

3. Small drivers of innovation

Small businesses are a constant force of innovation. Large-scale study shows that small companies significantly outperform large companies in patent originality on a "patent per employee" basis.

Monopolies are often set in stone and seek to slow down innovation once they have established dominance. As Michael Riordan argues in the Harvard Business Review, "The absence of competition makes businesses sleepy, and new technologies are patented primarily to consolidate and protect a firm's dominant position in the market rather than to encourage the creation of revolutionary products and services."

This is why acquisitions, i.e. buying small companies that are innovative, are such an attractive strategy for large companies. The spirit of innovation...