[ezl]

love this.

some of the discussion notes here seem to center on whether the requirements of serving mormon missions is a driver for entrepreneurship, but i think the obvious real story here is that 2 years of truly focused, single minded dedication to a cause is the sort of tenacity that most people in (American) society never really experience.

Tenacity and focus seem to be huge drivers in startup success.

I don't know about "mission == ultimate startup accelerator" but I'd back the claim that it's the sort of mental training ground that I don't think much else in American life stands up against.

[ezl]

I'd also love anything other than anecdotal evidence from Mormons that UT or Mormons produce a disproportionately large number of businesses or entrepreneurs -- I'll happily bet on CA, NY, and FL for state entrepreneurship rates.

[saosebastiao]

And you would win that bet.

http://www.kauffman.org/research-and-policy/kiea-interactive...

Edit: I found it interesting that the state of Utah has one of the worst bankruptcy rates in the nation, while Vermont has one of the lowest...despite being the second highest in entrepreneurship activity, and being the least religious to boot.

[ezl]

wow cool.

NY was surprisingly low on the entrepreneurship index to me. My guess is:

* really high absolute entrepreneurship activity, but really high population * i'm biased b/c i erroneously think of NYC as New York State