Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America

by Andrew Yang

My parents came to the United States from Taiwan to make a better life. I wanted to do something to give back to the country that had given my family so much. I mean, here I was, a moderately rich dude in my mid-thirties and I hadn’t had to kill anyone or sell any organs or anything. The United States is still great, and we need to keep it that way. I felt that if I dedicated a number of years I could help make it so that my kids would grow up in a prosperous country where opportunities are yet expanding. I began talking to people about this idea, which I called Venture for America—the most self-explanatory name I could think of. It would be a nonprofit with a three-part mission: To revitalize American cities and communities through entrepreneurship. To enable our best and brightest to create new opportunities for themselves and others. To restore the culture of achievement to include value creation, risk and reward, and the common good.