This often acknowledged trait- Thirty-nine percent of Harvard alumni have founded a for-profit or nonprofit venture, launching more than 146,000 companies and organizations operating in more than 150 countries. These enterprises account for 20.4 million jobs worldwide and generated nearly $3.9 trillion in revenue in 2014, according to the study.

We second that, we could even go further to say that most leading colleges, B-schools today have managed to do a lot to Instil a business culture (or start-up if you may).

My thoughts here are at an even newer playing field that is working well under the layers of the company. Policies cannot prevent it neither can it be muffled.  

Observations: 

Small: a group of youngsters were outside a Starbucks selling .. Hold it ... pani puri and chaat. (Indian street food). Not only were they outselling seasoned counterparts in the busiest food street at a busy part of Pune. The neatly made hand drawn signboard proclaimed their enterprise. In matching tees, a warm smile and welcome. A CES score would rate them at 7/7 in customer experience. 

Large: The most well running and sought after food vendor at a prominent ITES company is run by an employee of the same company!  The omelets, scrambled eggs and starters will give you the idea. He not only runs one, but a chain of at most  ITES campuses.

Riding a wave: Pick a hot industry that works without advertising and does not need any positioning. Say a leasing out a cab/ or cabs, supplying trainers to companies, with talent sourcing channel. My one time vendor trainer, joined me, saw the business model, and in six months quit to start his own. Eventually the large ITES company called him to partner with them! 

Creative talent: Publishing a book, doing weekend training sessions, applying our skills without the nth rules, processes and red tape of a structured enterprise. 

What prompts folks like these who, for one, never went to Harvard and two 'look in' instead of 'looking out'. 

The levers: 

Trying: What makes employees try this? It’s self-fulfilment of creating something. Like the girls selling pani-puris. The sense of fulfilment of creating a venture. Living the dream. Going beyond just waiting, and hoping for a good appraisal score. A likely trigger is ' there's more to life than just achieving goals.  My own experience of being in hospital for 3 months changed my outlook of what I was doing with my life. Most of us don't wait for a life changing event to begin. 

Money: Let's face It, your current company is not going to give you a 30 or 20 % hike by any stretch of imagination. How do you ' ride the wave' live well despite the paltry increment of 8%! And once the enterprise is registered, a minimum number of customers established, there is little need to micro manage. Then employee focuses on work full time. The weekend could be occupied to put all allied skills learnt on the job to full use. 

Allied businesses: Being in the same industry for 5, or 10 years is passé. A new enterprise can be started in 6 months flat with a sharp mind. Trainers could start their own training companies, an facilities manager can start a vendor company, an IT  guy/ programmer can provide small time IT solutions, a seasoned manager can start a consulting business. They are already familiar with pricing, quotations, norms, hygiene and inbuilt pain areas.

Most get in to it, above all to prove their prowess. An open minded company far from curtailing this would find a way to weave this into their culture and build another employee engagement tool and a better Gallup score!